Buyer Beware: Avoid Cheap, "Affordable" Office Phone Booths

 

Secluded areas are necessary in every workplace so employees concentrate on assignments & make important phone calls. Portable office privacy booths can easily meet these needs. The question lies in which model or brand fits best with the buyer's expectations & budget.

Why the Right Phone Booth Is Important for Your Office

When looking for the right office phone booth, buyers should research the product carefully before spending thousands of dollars. 

What potential consumers will find is that not every phone booth is created equal. Some designs fail to meet even the minimum standards of performance. Chief among these is weak construction with poor materials, which can result in the booths not blocking out enough sound.

Others have issues with more basic elements, such as the functionality of their door.

Beyond wanting obvious design and functional features in tact, you may also have bigger goals in mind. For example, products that meet environmental standards or are made in America, which not all phone booth makers can claim. 

Affordable Office Phone Booths Lack The Necessity of Sturdy, Soundproof Walls

Walls serve as the most important design feature in an office booth. Occupants need barriers to guard against both audio and visual distractions. All too many office phone booths in production come with relatively flimsy materials.

On the other hand, the Zenbooths gives employees a safe, quiet, and secure location to work and communicate. Our models have double walled construction putting a robust 3.5 inches of hard surface material between the occupant and outside noise.

We also use denim insulation, which is among the best at blocking distracting office sounds. 

Door Quality and Design Issues with "Affordable" Office Phone Booths

Doors should be simple, but not every office phone booth provides one that is easy to use.

For example, some booths on the market today have doors that resemble a poorly designed closet. It may slide, but only allows enough room for a person to enter walking sideways. Good luck bringing in files and a laptop!

Conversely, Zenbooth’s door is designed for easy access. Occupants can enter comfortably without contorting themselves and even bring in work materials.

Our executive size office booth can easily handle two employees for small scale team work sessions.

Another design issue with competitors lies in their portability. At just under 500 pounds, a fully assembled Zenbooth would require only a small team to maneuver it.

Meanwhile, competitors’ booths can come in at a whopping 770 or even 1100 pounds, rendering them virtually immobile without disassembly.

Cheap Office Phone Booths Are Not Eco-Friendly

Many companies, non-profits, and government offices strive to reduce their environmental footprint. They do this through making informed decisions on their office design, which products they buy, and even employee travel choices. 

Office phone booths from the right company can have a smaller imprint on the environment. 

Out of the entire phone booth market, only a handful work to make their products as eco-friendly as possible. Most have very little construction features that reflect an eco-friendly mentality.

Get eco-friendly office phone booths

As described in a recent New York Times article, Zenbooth utilizes recycled wood, plastic, and paper materials in its design. 

When Zenbooth does need wood, it sources from local forests near its San Francisco manufacturing facility. As one of the few products that allows a skylight, our models can even reduce the need for using electricity. 

Our company also plants one tree for every booth built to mitigate the impact of its construction.

Office Phone Booths Not Made in the USA

Similar to a growing concern about environmental impact, more companies have elevated the "Made in the USA" status as an important factor when purchasing office products. Companies want to make sure that they support American jobs & workers. 

Some of the least expensive office booth options hail from Portugal. Others are manufactured in France, Finland, or Poland.

Only a few, including Zenbooth, commit to manufacturing their products using American workers.

Avoid "affordable" low quality office phone booths. Instead, go with Zenbooth

Why It's Important to Modernize Your Office & Add Flexibility

Office designs and concepts constantly evolve as managers of private sector, non-profit, and government facilities alike search out the best way to inspire the most productivity out of their workers. 

Yesterday’s ideal set up, the “open office” design, was meant to break down every wall and barrier to facilitate communication. Advocates of the concept believed that it would lead to enhanced innovation and productivity.

They, however, got it very wrong. There were far more cons than pros to this new layout. Extroverted younger people tended to favor it (no word on if it made them more productive). But studies showed that most people struggled with open offices overall. 

Avoid "affordable" low quality office phone booths. Instead, go with Zenbooth

Many who worked in the open office merely faced too much distraction. Studies indicate that once lost, concentration on work could take up to 20 minutes to be restored. 

Some saw the effects of constant noise and no escape from others harmful to people's health. And in fact, open office workers use two thirds more sick days than their counterparts in other workplace designs. 

Some of the illness could be traceable to the ease through which germs can travel in the open office. But others suffer health problems due to noise induced anxiety symptoms.

Enter the next phase in office evolution: the agile office. 

An agile office combines the positive ideas of the open office with the recognition that many employees have different needs when it comes to creating a productive environment. With the purchase of office phone booths, you can enjoy the best of both worlds. 

Avoid the Mistake of Low-Priced Office Phone Booths

Cheap does not always mean less costly. Cost to an office can come in lost productivity, frustration, and other issues. That's why many companies choose to spend a few dollars more to get a product that functions as expected or meets other organizational goals like protecting the environment. 

A quick look at the features and production attributes of each manufacturer provides a clear guide as to which one you should buy.

With Zenbooth, you can get a well constructed office phone booth, made in America, and with a reduced impact on the planet for a competitive price.

Call or email today for more details. Zenbooth’s expert and professional staff stand ready to help in any way possible.

Leave a comment: