The U.S. government is sitting on a mountain of debt — literally. According to The Daily, since 2005 federal agencies have spent nearly $500,000 on trendy office chairs; and while government spokesmen claim the ergonomic chairs have been purchased solely for medical reasons, evidence indicates that they are, in fact, bought routinely for perfectly healthy employees.
The pricey chairs, called Aerons, are “the sleek, adjustable seats that first gained popularity during the 1990s dot-com boom,” in the words of The Daily, which noted that the chairs became so ubiquitous at “dot-coms, Fortune 500 companies, and A-list Hollywood production sets” that the Museum of Modern Art added one to its permanent collection. Manufactured by Michigan-based Herman Miller, Inc., Aerons retail for $750 to $1,150.
The federal government pays considerably less than that but still isn’t exactly pinching pennies. It bought 1,002 ergonomic chairs between 2005 and 2011, of which 81 percent were Aerons. “Uncle Sam spent at least $497,494 on the chairs during that period,” writes the iPad newspaper, “at an average cost of more than $500 each,” including 235 Aerons at $545 apiece for the Department of State in 2009 and 30 Aerons at $588 apiece for the Department of Health and Human Services in 2011.
If you think $588 is a bit steep for an office chair — even a quality ergonomic one — you aren’t alone.
“I don’t know why they’re paying that amount. You can find [ergonomic chairs] for $350,” Paul Light, a professor of public service at New York University’s Wagner School, told The Daily. (In an interview with the Holland Sentinel, Herman Miller spokesman Mark Schurman countered that the Aeron is priced similarly to comparable competitors’ chairs.)
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Dr. Michelle Kmiec – Over time in this crazy, fast-paced world it’s easy to develop bad habits. Many are triggered by particular major setbacks in life such as the loss of a job, friends that let us down, broken relationships, perceived failures, or the death of a loved one. It may even come out of a less serious circumstance such as being too busy with work and/or family matters, an injury, or maybe just having too much fun even though we know that it is at the expense of our health and will catch up with us.