Every good office needs a good supply of gear to keep it running. If you’re a small office, there is probably some sucker (usually the IT guy, or someone else who’s “handy”) who gets all the facilities and similar requests. That sucker usually happens to be me because… I’m handy (that and I love being prepared). I’ve put together a list of equipment that I end up collecting at just about every company and figured it was worth sharing. Plus, at the next company I won’t need to remember what it was I bought last time around.
Werner 17-foot Ladder. Who doesn’t need a ladder around the office? Well, probably someone in a large office with a dedicated team of facilities people. For the smaller offices, having a ladder is immensely useful (when you need it). I really like the Werner telescoping ladders because they can be adjusted in a number of different ways and feel way more stable than your standard 8′ Home Depot ladder.
58 Piece Home / Office Tool Kit. My general office toolkit comes in handy at least once a week, if not more. There is always a screw that needs tightening (office chairs…) or someone who needs to measure something. The hammer is also good for NSA code breaking.
iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit. For $70, this little toolkit is amazingly useful. Sure, it’s got every tool, screw driver, spludger, and doodad that you could ever need to take apart a computer. On the flip side, all those little tools a great for working on anything that has small screws. I’ve become the g oto guy for eye glass repair because the iFixIt has the only screwdrivers small enough for the job.
Fellowes Laminator. I’ll admit it, I’ve got a twisted obsession with laminators. They are so amazingly useful and versatile. Okay, well, maybe it’s more about the versatility of what you can do with something that has been laminated. Avery Business cards means you can print anything you want; adding a laminator means you can provide something cheap and durable to hand out. I’ve used this biz card/laminator combo for: support/intranet site reminders, cube “addresses”, even the occasional ID card. Of course you can go up to 8*10 with a 10mil laminate for REALLY long lasting signs.
Harper Heavy Duty Hand Truck. The 2-in-1 hand truck provides you a manner in which to move around heavy or bulky loads (like when a shipment of 10 LCDs arrive, or you need to move a dozen banker boxes from one floor to the other), and generally eliminates the need for some other sort of dolly/cart. These hand trucks are great BUT please, for the love of god (and your pocket book) don’t buy a cheap one. The first hand truck I bought for an office, I bought one of the cheap ones, good for 400 pounds… it didn’t last. The receptionist and I were loading up the hand truck with banker boxes from finance when one of the (plastic) wheels exploded. We’d overloaded the weight limit. Go for a nice big, tough unit… and you’ll never have to buy another (hopefully).
Brother P-Touch Label “System”. Another item I have a twisted obsession with is label makers. I will label anything and everything, I don’t joke around with labels. I find accessories like Apple (computer) power adapters are much less likely to wander away when they’ve got the company name printed on them. The Brother P-Touch units are particularly nice because they can print up to 1″ wide labels (I’ve labeled my ladder), can print any number of copies (for labeling dozens of power packs at a time), and can be connected via USB (for all sorts of crazy designs).
50′ Extension Cord. “Boy, it sure would be nice if we could plug in a fan over here so we can air out the smoke from the laminator fire. IF ONLY WE HAD AN EXTENSION CORD!” They are cheap, easy, and when you need them… you REALLY need them.
Belkin 12 Outlet Surge Protector. Admittedly these particular surge protectors are bloody massive, but they are wonderfully useful in today’s “wall wart” everywhere society. In general, I don’t particularly care about the “surge protector” functionality, I just need more plugs. In one office I had 2 of these under my desk, both maxed out.