He quoted a price and then made a pitch if we needed any upscale Steelcase furniture (in pristine near-new condition) where a desk and return would cost $115 delivered

Every large user has their standard finishes. If one company wants to dispose of some furniture, it will be very difficult to unload, because it probably will not match anyone else's standard finishes. So resale value is peanuts, compared to the exorbitant price Steelcase charged for that stuff new.

I was walking through the warehouse one day, and the guy who did furniture asset management for AT&T was looking over what had just come off a truck for addition to inventory. I can't remember what started the conversation, but Randy mentioned he was going to throw a perfectly good Hon 4-drawer letter size file in scrap. "Why?" Randy said AT&T only keeps Steelcase, this was a Hon, so did not meet their standard, so was going to scrap. Randy also pointed out that the bottom drawer didn't close all the way. I had worked with Hon files, a lot, when I worked at Office Depot. I pulled the reluctant drawer open. It had an aftermarket Pendaflex frame in it, that had been cut too long. I took the frame out, and the drawer worked perfectly. There was a process for glomming on to stuff being disposed of. I pencil whipped the form, had the warehouse manager sign off, grabbed a hand truck, and that Hon file got a ride out to my Civic hatchback, which swallowed that 4 drawer file with no problem. I use that file to this day.

The waste in the office furniture business is enough to make a cheapskate like me cry.

Meanwhile, HNI, the parent of Hon, expects it's buyout of Steelcase to close by the end of this year.

Steve