Don’t you just hate it when you cannot find valuable documents and have to go through a lot of paperwork to find just what you were looking for? You can waste a great deal of time and effort doing so, not to mention the additional mental stress this can cause. The use of filing cabinets can help save your energy and may even reduce any business losses you may incur in case documents are not found when needed.
The importance of filing cabinets
The humble filing cabinet has been a staple in offices for years. Even while a great deal of work is done digitally and using wi-fi and cloud-based storage solutions, paperwork is still required for many reasons. Contracts, legal documents, wills, certificates, medical documents, power of attorney, appointment letters, and more are all valuable documents that need to be organized in filing cabinets.
Filing cabinets reduce clutter as long as you use a proper filing system in place. This may in the form of numerical or alphabetical order. You may also require proper files to put the documents in and these can be narrow folders or larger box files.
When labeled correctly, filing cabinets make documents easy to find and use. Proper storage is important. And it’s not only paperwork that needs to be stored. You may need storage in the form of discs as well so that you always have a digital copy on hand. Keep in mind that filing cabinets can save you time, money, and effort and improve productivity.
You can get filing cabinets that can store just files. Or you can get them with drawers if you need to keep documents flat. You can also get a mix of storage solutions when it comes to filing cabinets with some having open shelving to store other items or those that are required daily, with drawers and filing space.
Kinds of filing cabinets
Filing cabinets come in different sizes and you can get narrow, vertical ones, floating ones, under-the-desk storage, or even wall-to-wall storage filing cabinets. You need to assess your needs first, check out the available space, and then measure so that the filing cabinets you buy will fit the available space and suit your needs.
Metal cabinets
These can be steel or powder-coated or even light-weight aluminum. Metal filing cabinets are usually durable, but heavy and difficult to move around. While metal cabinets often come in neutral colors, you can also get them painted in colorful shades if you so want. White, black, grey, and brown usually fit any design aesthetic and décor.
Metal cabinets may be full metal or with glass inserts so that you can see inside. Metal cabinets may also come with locks or locking systems so that you can store valuable documents safely.
Wood cabinets
These are available in different sizes and shapes. You can get them to match your existing décor as well. Wooden cabinets, unless they are laminated, require regular polishing to maintain their look. Laminated ones can be done with an occasional wipe-down.
High-quality wood is durable. Filing cabinets made of board, plywood, or rubber wood may not be as durable as those made of real wood but can last for decades.
Plastic cabinets
These are a cheaper and temporary option. Plastic is not extremely durable and can be prone to deterioration over time. However, it can do the job of storing documents and files. Plastic cabinets are typically lighther in weight than wood or metal. Plastic cabinets are also not lockable.
Final words
Filing cabinets are usually needed in almost all offices. You need to check out how much space you have, how much you need, what kind of storage you require and then shortlist the filing cabinets that you can afford. For sensitive documents, it is best to go for sturdy and lockable filing cabinets, some of which may be fireproof as well.
