{"id":8983,"date":"2006-03-11T09:45:35","date_gmt":"2006-03-11T16:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2006\/03\/11\/how-you-gonna-keep-em-down-on-the-cube-farm.html"},"modified":"2006-03-11T09:45:35","modified_gmt":"2006-03-11T16:45:35","slug":"how_you_gonna_k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/03\/11\/how_you_gonna_k.html","title":{"rendered":"How you gonna keep ’em down on the cube farm?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The history of the cubicle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Economics was the one thing Propst had failed to take into account. But it was also what triggered the cubicle’s runaway success. Around the time the Action Office was born, a growing breed of white-collar workers, whose job titles fell between secretary and boss, was swelling the workforce. Also, real estate prices were rising, as was the cost of reconfiguring office buildings, making the physical office a drag on the corporate budget. Cubicles, or “systems furniture,” as they are euphemistically called, offered a cheaper alternative for redoing the floorplan.<\/p>\n

Another critical factor in the cubicle’s rapid ascent was Uncle Sam. During the 1960s, to stimulate business spending, the Treasury created new rules for depreciating assets. The changes specified clearer ranges for depreciation and established a shorter life for furniture and equipment, vs. longer ranges assigned to buildings or leasehold improvements. (Today companies can depreciate office furniture in seven years, whereas permanent structures–that is, offices with walls–are assigned a 39.5-year rate.)<\/p>\n

The upshot: A company could recover its costs quicker if it purchased cubes. When clients told Herman Miller of that unexpected benefit, it became a new selling point for the Action Office. After only two years on the market, sales soared. Competitors took notice.<\/p>\n

That’s when Propst’s original vision began to fade. “They kept shrinking the Action Office until it became a cubicle,” says Schwartz, now 80. As Steelcase, Knoll, and Haworth brought their versions to market, they figured out that what businesses wanted wasn’t to give employees a holistic experience. The customers wanted a cheap way to pack workers in.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, bearing in mind that the cubicle leveraged away the “bull pen” of rows of mere desks, where one’s workspace was a desktop and an in box, cubes aren’t all that bad. I suspect most of the animus against them has to do with dislike of work, work conditions, and office culture in general, with “cube hell” being a convenient (and sometimes justifiable) target.<\/p>\n

But, then, I’ve been oddly fortunate enough to have office space for much of my professional career, so I’m probably not the right person to talk. And, given that so much of my job is spent (ugh) on the phone, hopefully that will remain true.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The history of the cubicle. Economics was the one thing Propst had failed to take into account. But it was also what triggered the cubicle’s runaway success. Around the time…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":29804,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/14\/losing-our-downtown-office-depot.html","url_meta":{"origin":8983,"position":0},"title":"Losing our downtown Office Depot","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 14-Aug-12 11:42am","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm sure that it's a cool think that there will be more restaurants and office space and residential lofts in a key downtown Denver area ... but, dagnabbit, I use that OD, for a variety of light technical and non-standard office supplies. \u00a0Not really a good replacement within easy walking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28009,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/05\/25\/office-with-a-view.html","url_meta":{"origin":8983,"position":1},"title":"Office with a view","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 25-May-12 1:14pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The \"Captivate\" network runs on the TV screens in my office building's elevators, with little news blurb and weather maps, etc. They also have this \"View from your office\" photo submission feature that solicits pictures from folks showing the views from their office.What makes this one particularly amusing is that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32928,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/03\/27\/denver-office-drip-coffee-po.html","url_meta":{"origin":8983,"position":2},"title":"Denver office: drip coffee, po…","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 27-Mar-13 3:55am","format":false,"excerpt":"Denver office: drip coffee, powdered creamer. Glasgow office: instant coffee, real milk. Which is the better compromise?","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24535,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/14\/office-to-be.html","url_meta":{"origin":8983,"position":3},"title":"Office To Be","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 14-Dec-11 3:34pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Got a sneak peek my new temporary office come February. Pretty nice.","rel":"","context":"In "Job Jollies"","block_context":{"text":"Job Jollies","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/job-jollies"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33000,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/04\/02\/two-umbrellas-at-the-office-a.html","url_meta":{"origin":8983,"position":4},"title":"Two umbrellas at the office, a…","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 2-Apr-13 1:47pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Two umbrellas at the office, and I still didn't take one with me at lunch. It is a (damp) puzzlement.","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12354,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/05\/22\/location_location_locatio.html","url_meta":{"origin":8983,"position":5},"title":"Location, location, location","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 22-May-08 8:39am","format":false,"excerpt":"Where to work, where to work ...?\u00a0 No, not thinking of changing employers, but the whole \"office, office, who's got my office\" thing is bubbling even more. 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