The Sam Vimes “Boots” theory of socioeconomic unfairness, often called simply the boots theory, is an economic theory that people in poverty have to buy cheap and subpar products that need to be replaced repeatedly, proving more expensive in the long run than more expensive items.
I bought a Herman Miller chair 12 years ago when I started working from home full time. It was close to $1,000 and I was hesitant to spend that much, but I’m sure I would have gone through at least 3 office chairs by now had I bought cheap ones. This chair will probably still be solid until I retire. Definitely worth the investment.
Also, you can buy replacement parts years afterwards further extending the life of the product.
15 years ago I bought designer chairs for the living room, each one was north of 400 Euro, although my flat is really small and looks the opposite of posh.
High quality, massive steel and thick leather, will last for the rest of my life.
Same, but mine are dot-com surplus Aeron chairs bought second-hand for $300.
My steelcase leap was ex lehman bros lol
What is this ‘retirement’ you speak of and can we all have one too?
I’ll take this opportunity to plug Crandall Office Furniture, since I learned about them in a similar reddit thread a couple of years ago. My girlfriend was looking for a new office chair because all the cheap ones she’s tried have destroyed her back. We got her a refurbished Leap v2 for about $600, compared to the $1200+ it would be new. She absolutely loves the chair and has had significantly fewer issues with her back. And you’d never know the chair was used, they do an excellent job refinishing everything. Highly recommend, I’ll be going with them when I need a new office chair.
+1 to this! I bought the same chair from them a couple years ago, and as a remote worker it’s been worth every cent. Oddly enough I had the Leap v1 as a previous job and hated it, but the v2 has been great for me. I found the armrests a bit uncomfortable but some cheap memory foam covers solved that.
I had one of their stupid chairs for years, foolishly thinking “well it’s really expensive, it must be good!”, it wasn’t until I replaced it with something cheaper and more comfortable that my back pain went away