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Google to cut down on employee laptops, services and staplers

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Re: Google to cut down on employee laptops, services and staplers

#31
post #5

“We have been asked to pull all tape/dispensers through out the building,” a San Francisco facility directive stated. “If you need a stapler or tape, the receptionist desk has them to borrow.”

Also... how bad off is the company if they are worried about the expense of staples/tape!? Just, wow.

One wonders how large that line item could possibly be across literally the entire company.

Running a quick Fermi calculation, multiplying my personal rate of staple usage over the past year by the number of employees at Google we get... $0 spent on staplers.

This may be an underestimate.

Still... here's 5,000 staples for 4.29, with no particular effort put into price shopping: https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/749601/Office-Depot-B... which yields 1.2 million staples for a cool $1000. In reality I'm sure bulk buying could push that down even more.

I'm finding it hard to believe even Google goes through much more than that in a year. But even if I'm wrong, does it go through 120 million staples per year, necessary to get up to even a semblance of one employee's salary?

What an astonishing message to send to stockholders and investors.

Re: Google to cut down on employee laptops, services and staplers

#34

I’m not a major Google shareholder, but if I were I would fire the management. I’ve never heard of such a large company itemizing an expense as trivial as staplers. It’s pretty clear the company has lost its innovation culture.

> as trivial as staplers. I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were merry, but then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it's not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll set the building on fire...

Came here for Milton. Was not disappointed.

Re: Google to cut down on employee laptops, services and staplers

#35

This is a company that provides free food all day, and their first inclination is to cut the tape and staplers? Cutting one meal service across all locations would save a lot more, but maybe that would cause more employees to complain.

Yeah no. Free food != superflous staplers. Hard disagree on that one

I'm not suggesting they should do it, but that cutting office supplies seems like kind of a joke or PR motivated move considering their known expenses like food. That said I think it's definitely on the table to cut given the current trend of companies behaving hostile to their employees.

Re: Google to cut down on employee laptops, services and staplers

#36

I’m not a major Google shareholder, but if I were I would fire the management. I’ve never heard of such a large company itemizing an expense as trivial as staplers. It’s pretty clear the company has lost its innovation culture.

> as trivial as staplers. I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were merry, but then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it's not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll set the building on fire...

[flagged]

Re: Google to cut down on employee laptops, services and staplers

#40

Surely I can't be the only HN reader that thought, "I can't remember the last time I touched a stapler." Frankly, I think the headline writer threw staplers in there just for the sizzle. If I might so boldly suggest reading TFA, staplers are just one example of other things that made a lot of sense. Yoga classes on a Friday afternoon when a lot of folks WFH (or not at all on a Friday afternoon)? Handing out multi-cor…

My first thought when I saw this story was Milton in the movie Office Space. Google is coming for your stapler!
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