WHAT IS A
VERTICAL FILING
FOUR DRAWER CABINET
19th
Century Technology being used in the 21st Century.The four-drawer file cabinet or variations with 2 ,3 or 5 drawers has been standard equipment for the smaller office. Their future in the records environment is doubtful as the cost of running and maintaining these monstrosities is becoming more expensive.
They
are the most labour-intensive, and labour is the largest cost component of
filing.
The multi-drawer cabinet is an effective tool in the home office and
little more. If I see one in a service station office, I don’t
cringe, when I see them used for active filing in any office I
cringe. There are several styles. (See illustration)
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Comment |
It is almost impossible to use the cabinet to its maximum storage capacity. When used in conjunction with suspension sleeves, almost 200mm of space is lost in each drawer before any files are added. When a square metre of space in CBD is over $600 pa. the annual cost of the floor space is greater than the total cost of the cabinet. Other more efficient methods are available. The cover of this book conveys my opinion completely. |
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Footprint |
0.25 m2 (450 x 600mm) |
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Floor Space |
0.72 m2 (450 x 1600mm) - see illustration below |
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Storage Capacity |
550cm per drawer maximum possible or 350 cm per drawer practical when allowing for suspension sleeves and hand space. |
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5 |
Maximum |
Practical |
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4 |
3.80:1 |
2.43:1 |
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3 |
3.00:1 |
1.90:1 |
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2 |
2.29:1 |
1.45:1 |
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1 |
.76:1 |
.48:1 |
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Reference Rate |
25 -35 file actions per hour. |
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When to use |
For personal use in a VERY small office. One employee may complete as many as 280 file actions per day. |
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Recommendation |
Should be replaced with lateral filing as soon as possible, to improve both floor space usage and filing efficiency. (See colour illustration below) |
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Haxton Rating |
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Style |
Comment |
Alternatives |
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Conventional drawer cabinet |
An Australian icon demonstrating that some things are just taken for granted. |
Open shelving, cupboards, tilt-n-file, shelf boxes, T-Glide. |
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In a desk drawer |
Virtually forces you to buy the real thing. When the drawer gets full, you have no other obvious option than to transfer the files to the four-drawer cabinet. |
Take away the drawer altogether and place a filing hutch into the workstation. File boxes on the desk will prove to be more efficient. |
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Sliding tubs in shelving units |
An excuse by the shelving salespeople who were so desperate to sell you steel, that they let you continue with the world’s most inefficient filing system. |
Take our advice and go straight to lateral file covers. Once you have made the change you will never look back. You have the right steel, use the right file. |
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Frame / Tub on wheels |
When the desk drawer gets too full, let’s use the next best thing. |
If it must be mobile, use the shelf box or steel library -style carts to store lateral files. |
Haxton Rating
Related Topics
Lateral Shelving
COMPACTUS
Denstor
Sites to see:-