Binders, anybody still use them?

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Author Message David G. Axt, CCS, CSI ,SCIP Senior Member Username: david_axt Post Number: 1657 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2018 - 06:44 pm:    UPS just dropped off a product binder that I had not requested. I'm going to call the representative and ask that he pick up the binder. I would hate to throw a new binder away. I have a small office in my house and unfortunately do not have the space or time to keep an extensive product binder library. Nowadays up to date product information can be found online. (Out of date product literature is always a problem.) There is the advantage that electronic product literature can be emailed. I work for a medium size office that just threw out about ten 8'-0" tall bookshelves full of binders. The secretary told me they are going all electronic. So I ask, does anybody still use binders? David G. Axt, CCS, CSI, SCIP Specifications Consultant Axt Consulting LLC Lynn Javoroski FCSI CCS LEEDŽ AP SCIP Affiliate Senior Member Username: lynn_javoroski Post Number: 2151 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2018 - 06:51 pm:    They are useful for the pictures and overall presentation of product lines to enable a preliminary selection. But that's about it. (And therefore they can be a lot smaller) Steven Bruneel, AIA, CSI-CDT, LEED-AP, EDAC Senior Member Username: redseca2 Post Number: 642 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2018 - 07:47 pm:    Our library is now down to just actual samples. I keep a small collection (4 feet of binders) on my desk for non-visual or hard to browse items (sealants, sealers, fire stopping, the dreaded Hafele catalog), roofing manuals, UL books plus some new and interesting product flavors of the year. We have a large open plan office with no hierarchy where we relocate our desks at least once a year as teams ebb and flow. That is my recycle day where I do a purge. Jeffrey Wilson CSI CCS SCIP Senior Member Username: wilsonconsulting Post Number: 253 Registered: 03-2006 Posted on Friday, April 27, 2018 - 09:41 am:    Your question prompted me to discard the last few binders & pamphlets I had kept, thinking I might look at them but never did. My office is now binder-free. Jeffrey Wilson CCS CSI SCIP Wilson Consulting Inc Ardmore PA ken hercenberg Senior Member Username: khercenberg Post Number: 1164 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Friday, April 27, 2018 - 09:59 am:    We have an interiors sample library and a small library area for code books and reference standards. No product binders. I won't even take pamphlets. If I can't find it online I email my reps and ask them for what I need. Amazing how many reps are still responding to emails at 11 PM. David J. Wyatt, CDT Senior Member Username: david_j_wyatt_cdt Post Number: 243 Registered: 03-2011 Posted on Friday, April 27, 2018 - 10:43 am:    I keep a few binders that do not change much over time, such as pre-cast concrete and masonry. I also keep binders of product representatives I have known for many years, out of respect for their service to the firms I have worked for. Other than those few, my present firm no longer keeps them. Last quarter, we did a clean-out and recycled the contents of hundreds of old binders. The paper and cardboard went to the paper recycler. With a claw hammer, we were able to separate the metal binder rings and send them to a scrap metal recycler. Michael Chusid, RA FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: michael_chusid Post Number: 390 Registered: 10-2003 Posted on Friday, April 27, 2018 - 02:39 pm:    David -- Thank you for recycling. I found an elementary school that was grateful to receive binders for their students to use. Michael Chusid, RA FCSI CCS 1-818-219-4937 www.chusid.com www.buildingproduct.guru Don Harris CSI, CCS, CCCA, AIA Senior Member Username: don_harris Post Number: 304 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Monday, April 30, 2018 - 05:37 pm:    I just had to switch spaces in my office. You would not believe how much carp I tossed. Binders, product data and brochures that I had filed by MasterFormat. The only binders I kept were ones that were educational, which were very few. This is a huge load off my shoulders and have not missed them a bit. We recycled the pages and people took the binder covers to give to their schools. Win, win! David J. Wyatt, CDT Senior Member Username: david_j_wyatt_cdt Post Number: 244 Registered: 03-2011 Posted on Tuesday, May 01, 2018 - 08:23 am:    Good for you, Don. But, we need set aside some time to talk about the "carp" at some point. Lynn Javoroski FCSI CCS LEEDŽ AP SCIP Affiliate Senior Member Username: lynn_javoroski Post Number: 2152 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Tuesday, May 01, 2018 - 08:32 am:    Yeah, that sounded fishy to me, too. But then, who wouldn't want to get rid of old carp? David J. Wyatt, CDT Senior Member Username: david_j_wyatt_cdt Post Number: 245 Registered: 03-2011 Posted on Tuesday, May 01, 2018 - 09:30 am:    Ouch, Lynn! Sounds like you're feeding us a line! Don Harris CSI, CCS, CCCA, AIA Senior Member Username: don_harris Post Number: 305 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Monday, May 07, 2018 - 10:20 am:    I posted a message to a board using the real word and it rejected me, for unsavory language. So I just use carp now, fishy as that might be. Chris Grimm, CSI, CCS, SCIP, LEED AP BD+C Senior Member Username: chris_grimm_ccs_scip Post Number: 398 Registered: 02-2014 Posted on Monday, May 07, 2018 - 12:44 pm:    I've noticed that occasionally manufacturers have info in binders that is not online. Extremely rare though anymore. I have saved just a few. Sometimes an application guide or insert that actually does help distinguish the different products. Nothing worse than going to a website and you have to already be intimately familiar with umpteen products by their brand names in order to get anywhere. Paper has still got that one thing going for it, you can flip through a lot of it in a second, whereas with web pages you click, look around, click, look around, click... David G. Axt, CCS, CSI ,SCIP Senior Member Username: david_axt Post Number: 1659 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Monday, May 07, 2018 - 02:25 pm:    Chris, My rule of thumb is if I cannot find a product in 3 mouse clicks or less on a website then I move on to their competitor. Are you listening out there manufacturers?! Remember when representatives handed out CDs? I almost never used them and ended up tossing most. CDs were hard to load and find information. And like binders, once they were printed (burned) they were out of date. Do computers even come with CD/DVD readers anymore? I occasionally will get a thumbdrive from a manufacturer. They are only slightly more useful but usually end up getting lost. David G. Axt, CCS, CSI, SCIP Specifications Consultant Axt Consulting LLC Lynn Javoroski FCSI CCS LEEDŽ AP SCIP Affiliate Senior Member Username: lynn_javoroski Post Number: 2153 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Monday, May 07, 2018 - 09:17 pm:    David, there's a lot of us who have been telling manufacturers "3 clicks". Joy Davis suggested we might allow 4, if that first one was to get to a specific page on the site, like "technical info" or "specifications". And Colin has been spreading that same word. Thumb drives are useful to store my data, so I'll take them. J. Peter Jordan Senior Member Username: jpjordan Post Number: 1036 Registered: 05-2004 Posted on Tuesday, May 08, 2018 - 09:27 am:    We lost our lease and will be relocating at the end of the month. Between deadlines and downsizing, we will be trashing a bunch of binders since I don't have time to notify manufacturers. I have been resisting taking binders recently, but we still have a good many to discard. A number of them are more than 4 or 5 years old and have not been opened since they were originally shelved. J. Peter Jordan, FCSI, AIA, CCS, LEED AP, SCIP George A. Everding, FCSI, CCS, CCCA, AIA Senior Member Username: geverding Post Number: 876 Registered: 11-2004 Posted on Tuesday, May 08, 2018 - 07:33 pm:    Anti- binder, here, too. I am still amazed that even though I walk the show floor at CONSTRUCT and tell people that I am retired and stress I do not want binders, I end up with a half dozen being mailed to me every year after the show. Old habits are hard to break. Maybe this year I will not allow them to scan my badge, although they probably use # of scans to justify to their bosses exhibiting at the show next year. Sheldon Wolfe Senior Member Username: sheldon_wolfe Post Number: 1014 Registered: 01-2003 Posted on Tuesday, May 08, 2018 - 09:38 pm:    Be nice to the reps; they're paying for the show - and everything else! J. Peter Jordan Senior Member Username: jpjordan Post Number: 1037 Registered: 05-2004 Posted on Wednesday, May 09, 2018 - 07:13 am:    A little off-topic, but I agree with Sheldon. I also try to make sure that the manufacturers know that I call their local reps and appreciate what they bring to the table. J. Peter Jordan, FCSI, AIA, CCS, LEED AP, SCIP Steven Bruneel, AIA, CSI-CDT, LEED-AP, EDAC Senior Member Username: redseca2 Post Number: 643 Registered: 12-2006 Posted on Wednesday, May 09, 2018 - 01:33 pm:    As I sit at my desk in an open studio that is 230 feet long in the office we relocated to in 2013, I think about all of the things that were part of the essence of architectural offices that we no longer have the need for. Yes, the binder catalogs have virtually disappeared. The book library is no longer a library, but decoratively placed nooks of books in the office lounge area. I was sitting on an ottoman type thing there yesterday and I realized that the shelf my shins were pushing against held the "le Corbusier Oeuvre Complete", something I dreamed of owning someday when I was in college. Same with the professional magazines. So too, the legions of flat files. Now, a few dozen drawers only hold archive materials. Our desks no longer are big enough to look at a full size drawing on. Sometimes the first time you see your complete drawings for a project in full size is at the Contractor's site office. We haven't printed a "blue print" in the office since 1999. I think there is a fax machine, somewhere. A walk in closet of drawing paper, pens and thousands of pencils (you might use up a pencil before lunch) is now down to about 8 feet of shelving. We don't have the grime anymore created by a hundred or more people sharpening and shaping pencil leads every couple minutes all day long. We don't even have ceilings anymore, much to the chagrin of the Armstrong rep. Our eyes are on bright computer screens, so I have never turned on my task light (I just did, it works). Cheers! Michael Chusid, RA FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: michael_chusid Post Number: 391 Registered: 10-2003 Posted on Wednesday, May 09, 2018 - 02:55 pm:    Ah yes. 4H on 1000H. Michael Chusid, RA FCSI CCS 1-818-219-4937 www.chusid.com www.buildingproduct.guru Dale Hurttgam, NCARB, AIA,LEED AP, CSI Senior Member Username: dwhurttgam Post Number: 136 Registered: 10-2005 Posted on Monday, May 14, 2018 - 12:35 pm:    I saw some one mention "magazines". Does anyone have time to read all of the magazines, product literature, etc. etc. that they receive? I leave mine pile-up in my remote "mailbox". When it gets too full one of our marketing staff who does not like to see my overflowing mailbox brings it over and places it on my desk. Usually in a few minutes I sort out a few items that I want to keep and the balance (about 98%) goes to the recycling bin. I do not reply to their urgent requests that I need to reply to continue to receive whatever the item is. I rarely take their circulation department calls now that I can see who is calling. When I do take the calls and tell them that I don't want to receive whatever the publication is anymore because it goes directly into recycling - they ignore my request. What a waste of money and postage, but it is the way that they make money. They need to show their advertisers that they have a following and readership even if it is a pile of carp! Does anyone else have this problem or peeve? Michael Chusid, RA FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: michael_chusid Post Number: 392 Registered: 10-2003 Posted on Monday, May 14, 2018 - 03:11 pm:    If the circulation department does not remove you from the mail list, contact the publisher. That should take care of it, especially if the magazine is paying for print. Otherwise, for digital publications - create an autoreply that sends the magazine directly to trash and sends an email to publisher complaining. I do not read all the magazines all the time, but can usually skim a magazine in about 10 minutes to stay up to date, and pull out articles and ads I need to read or file. I looked at 10 magazines this weekend, including a lot of trade pubs like Concrete Construction and Modern Steel. I would be lost without them. Michael Chusid, RA FCSI CCS 1-818-219-4937 www.chusid.com www.buildingproduct.guru