How it all works

Polypropylene chairs

We also maintain a password protected area on our website which holds all the information about your transactions – what you have bought and what has been resold on your behalf. Only you will have access to this register but it will be valuable to you in demonstrating your recycling credentials to your funding local authority or government department. These records will also be valuable when judging takes place for the recycling prizes to be offered annually.

In the unlikely event that the old chairs have not found a buyer, ZOOT will arrange to collect and recycle them free of charge when we deliver your new chairs.

Gopak tables As tables are one of the largest volume items in any educational establishment’s purchasing list, the availability and price of classroom tables will be key considerations in any buying decision. So, at ZOOT we offer you;

• A very competitive price (just check our prices against the competition)
• Unrivalled delivery times
• An unbeatable after sales service

In the unlikely event that the old tables have not found a buyer, ZOOT will arrange to collect and recycle them free of charge when we deliver your new tables

(* Our buyback offer will depend on the condition of your old tables. Once we receive the photo and condition report for advertising them on our website we will also be able to place a second-hand value on them and will, normally, make you an offer based on this)

Our educational furniture policy

Reuse, recycle, recover

Our offer to resell used tables, desks and chairs free of charge also extends to all classroom, lecture room and specialist school or college furniture when you purchase new furniture from ZOOT.

This policy is not restricted to ‘like-for-like’ so that purchasing any new furniture from us entitles you to advertise to sell on any used furniture from your school or college free of charge through our website. And our free recycling offer is based on the same principle so that when you purchase from us either;

• You recover some value to be credited against your purchase of new furniture

• Disposal of your old furniture costs you nothing

At ZOOT we believe that virtually all used educational furniture has some value and that there is no longer any need to dispose of it in landfill. Landfill is an unsustainable activity which is both economically wasteful and environmentally unacceptable. Metals, plastics and wood can all be reused in some way. Unrecyclable plastics and man-made timber composites can now be turned into energy.

Aggregating your purchasing

As a leading furniture broker we have made it our job to work with education establishments to plan ahead for their furniture requirements. Not only is this helpful for budgeting purposes but by involving ZOOT at the earliest stage gives us the opportunity to bring together the total demand for furniture over, for example, a 3 month period strengthening our negotiating position with our manufacturing suppliers to obtain the best volume prices. This means passing on savings to you

So, planning ahead not only helps to bring down our selling price to you but also greatly increases the opportunity for us to have found a buyer for your old furniture before you take delivery of the new.

We can then collect your used furniture at the same time as we deliver the new, thereby reducing the disruption to a minimum and helping you avoid having to find storage space until the used furniture either finds a buyer of goes for recycling.

ZOOT’s Responsibility Service Contract (RSC)

In line with an increasing number of suppliers in other sectors (for example vehicles, electrical goods and household appliances) at ZOOT we take our environmental responsibilities seriously. This means ensuring that our furniture is sources from manufacturers who share our concerns for the environment and social issues.

We seek to verify the social and environmental credentials of our suppliers and to select, wherever possible, our products from sources that;

• Do not use child labour or exploit their workers
• If appropriate, support Fair Trade practices
• Source their materials from renewable sources
• Operate internal waste management policies which minimise waste and maximise recycling opportunities
• Have energy policies in place to minimise their carbon footprint

The ZOOT service offer

At ZOOT we have always believed that value for money is a high priority for any customer but that this means more than the lowest price and the quickest delivery.

Whilst we continually strive to achieve this, we also believe that the relationship we enjoy with our customers through all the other aspects of our commercial activities is built on trust and an ability to minimise all the other costs of doing business with one another. We like to think of it as a lifetime relationship in which we maintain an interest in what we supply for as long as you own it and to ensure your experience as a customer is part of the benefit you get when you do business with ZOOT.

Here are just some of the aspects we consider important in our relationship with our customers;

• We always phone after receipt of order to check that all the details are as intended and make sure we fully understand your requirements – this helps to avoid misunderstandings later on! We also check what you plan to dispose of, if anything.

• We immediately alert other education establishments in the area to see if they would like to buy your used furniture.

• We also check if any of them have plans to purchase quantities of the same items your organisation has ordered to ensure we do whatever we can to aggregate demand and drive down prices. When we can we will contact you again to offer you any savings we are able to pass on as a result.

• As soon as we have confirmed delivery dates from our manufacturers we will contact you to give you plenty of advance notice of availability so as to schedule delivery at the most convenient time for you (and to arrange collection of used furniture for onward supply to a buyer or for recycling elsewhere)

• We contact you periodically to check that you are satisfied with your furniture, whether you need any additional items and to monitor its condition to help you manage your asset register. We can also help maximise your budget potential by alerting you to possible buyers of your existing furniture and the price those buyers would be willing to pay. Sometimes this can make it advantageous to dispose of the furniture before normal replacement date in order to minimise the difference between the value of the old and cost of the new furniture.

• We are always available to provide advice and supply more information where it is available. In particular we strive to resolve any problems that might arise quickly and efficiently. We can also discuss with you any preferences relating to recycling. We have contacts with a number of charities both in the UK and abroad who often interested in acquiring used furniture of the type used in schools.

Helping you make the most of your available budgets and optimising the value of your assets we believe to be a service that is not only unusual but is the essence of good customer relations. By helping you to manage your assets effectively we not only ensure we maintain an interest in the products we supply you with but become an indispensable partner able to provide you with real “best value”.