Office cubicles mark their 40th anniversary | McClatchy Washington Bureau

×
Sign In
Sign In
    • Customer Service
    • Mobile & Apps
    • Contact Us
    • Newsletters
    • Subscriber Services

    • All White House
    • Russia
    • All Congress
    • Budget
    • All Justice
    • Supreme Court
    • DOJ
    • Criminal Justice
    • All Elections
    • Campaigns
    • Midterms
    • The Influencer Series
    • All Policy
    • National Security
    • Guantanamo
    • Environment
    • Climate
    • Energy
    • Water Rights
    • Guns
    • Poverty
    • Health Care
    • Immigration
    • Trade
    • Civil Rights
    • Agriculture
    • Technology
    • Cybersecurity
    • All Nation & World
    • National
    • Regional
    • The East
    • The West
    • The Midwest
    • The South
    • World
    • Diplomacy
    • Latin America
    • Investigations
  • Podcasts
    • All Opinion
    • Political Cartoons

  • Our Newsrooms

You have viewed all your free articles this month

Subscribe

Or subscribe with your Google account and let Google manage your subscription.

National

Office cubicles mark their 40th anniversary

Edward M. Eveld - The Kansas City Star

July 21, 2008 03:37 PM

The cubicle celebrates its 40th birthday this month. A party is unlikely.

What's to celebrate? The cubicle office system is one of the most derided realities of modern work life.

Somehow, the spaces that white-collar worker bees unlovingly refer to as "cubes" have become an icon for all that is confining, uninspiring, soulless and humdrum in our workaday lives.

Warrens. Honeycombs. Cube farms. Even "veal-fattening pens."

The sarcasm — cynicism — wrapped around those fabric-covered panels is remarkable for a system marketed back in 1968 as the Action Office.

Bad rap?

"This was a wonderful concept," Joe Schwartz said. He was the marketing director at Herman Miller in Michigan when the furniture company shopped a new office system concept around the country.

Read the complete story at kansascity.com.

Read Next

Congress

’I’m not a softy by any means,’ Clyburn says as he prepares to help lead Democrats

By Emma Dumain

December 28, 2018 09:29 AM

Rep. Jim Clyburn is out to not only lead Democrats as majority whip, but to prove himself amidst rumblings that he didn’t do enough the last time he had the job.

KEEP READING

MORE NATIONAL

Elections

California Republicans fear even bigger trouble ahead for their wounded party

December 27, 2018 09:37 AM

Congress

‘Remember the Alamo’: Meadows steels conservatives, Trump for border wall fight

December 22, 2018 12:34 PM

National Security

Israel confounded, confused by Syria withdrawal, Mattis resignation

December 21, 2018 04:51 PM

Guantanamo

Did Pentagon ban on Guantánamo art create a market for it? See who owns prison art.

December 21, 2018 10:24 AM

Congress

House backs spending bill with $5.7 billion in wall funding, shutdown inches closer

December 20, 2018 11:29 AM

White House

Trump administration wants huge limits on food stamps — even though Congress said ‘no’

December 20, 2018 05:00 AM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

McClatchy Washington Bureau App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Newsletters
Learn More
  • Customer Service
  • Securely Share News Tips
  • Contact Us
Advertising
  • Advertise With Us
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service