19 Jun
On being cheap and office supplies…
When we were setting up the new Antair offices, we were trying to be as cheap (thrifty?) as possible when it comes to nonsense, so that we can afford to spend good money on things that count, like chairs, desks, computers, etc…
When it came to buying cups, I decided, based on my immense experience in office management (none whatsoever), that it was worth buying LOTS of cups in bulk to save a few pennies on each. After all, Andrey though, cups don’t spoil — bring on the cups!
We ordered 2,000 cups.
Read that again …
2,000 cups!
Do you have any idea how much space is needed to store 2,000 cups? Neither did I. Sure, they stack, but they don’t stack THAT much.
In case you’re wondering what 2,000 cups look like, sorry, I can’t help you. I couldn’t fit all of them into the camera viewport — but here is what a fraction of that delivery looks like several months later.
Wait … there’s more in that batch:
How many cups do we actually use?
Posted by ColinM on 19.06.08 at 9:01 am
You couldn’t just of bought a non-Styrofoam cup for each employee??
Of course that would involve washing cups instead of throwing them away…
Posted by Anton on 19.06.08 at 9:01 am
Why not just get 5 metal cups? Cheap AND good for environment.
Posted by Andrey on 19.06.08 at 9:01 am
Buying disposables seemed more appropriate at the time — for times when guests are at the office, or when we simply need more than 1 cup per person at the same time (it happens). Plus, ‘dedicated’ cups don’t scale well — is buying a cup going to be part of a new employee checklist?
But the environmental point is a good one — we may reconsider the disposable cups when these run out.
Posted by Anon on 19.06.08 at 9:01 am
Not only do they take a lot of space to store, think of that in terms of the land fill you’ve just added to. What’s wrong with a pack of glasses? They’re hardly expensive (probably cheaper than these cups) and can be easily recycled. Shame.
Posted by Andrey on 19.06.08 at 9:01 am
Point taken and agreed with — see above note.