Alera ALESW604818BA 48 in. x 18 in. x 72 in. NSF Certified 4-Shelf Wire Shelving Kit with Casters - Black Anthracite

We are getting ready to move after over 30 years of being collectors of our stuff and our two kids stuff and inherited stuff and work stuff. You get the picture, our little house is packed so we are trying to stage things but there is no more floor space for that purpose - we need a place to live and move.... I had been out looking on Craigs and elsewhere for some used shelves and looked at Costco and these were priced in-between, new and HAD WHEELS!I have had these a couple of days and have uncovered under our ping pong table for the first time in years. One is fully loaded and wheeled out to the garage and the other is getting ready for the rest of the floor-boxes. Vertical storage on wheels is far better than floor storage.Now to the Alera Complete Wire Shelving Units themselves. They came almost overnight from United Stationers, packed in extremely heavy cardboard and intact. The clear tape was a little pulled off but there were no holes for missing parts. And in fact, there could not be missing parts because the shelves are stacked with spacers all strongly and tightly cinched together with one of our modern miracles - cable ties. And all the small parts were in small bags in a larger bag, also cable tied in between the shelves, as well as the two part legs. All in all a great packaging job. I was already impressed. I read the Warning sheet and made sure all the parts were there and started to assemble in a rather tight space - remember .... collector.So here is how it went after I cut everything apart and debagged. I would suggest reading through all of this assembly as there is only a very basic few pictures that come with the shelves. One thing you should do is familiarize yourself with the 32 supplied [+4 extra] plastic retainers that will hold the shelves up. They are marked up and are smaller at the top to fit inside the sleeves at the corner of the shelves, which are larger at bottom. Note that shelves are installed flush top and support grid down. The little two part sleeves join around the pole into regularly spaced very small grooves around pole. Believe it or not, this tiny edge, when compressed inside the shelf sleeve will take part in supporting the 2000# floor mount or 500# wheeled mount shelves. To me it is reassuring that as I am using it on wheels, I know they are the weak spot and I should not abuse them by pushing them willy-nilly over things, but also that the shelves themselves are very strong.Laid the four shelves upright against something. I put the four - marked on package - bottom legs upright between my legs with the screw receiver end upward so I could screw the four wheels into them. After running them down finger tight, I used the little wrench provide to snug them down. [I would think a little Lock-tite on the wheel carrier threads might be a good idea].Then I took one shelf upright and with it flush side away inserted two wheeled poles into the sleeves almost to the wheels. One thing I forgot to mention, you must think about where you want the two Locking Wheels. I put mine at one end and I suppose the other choice may be at diagonal corners. That is something to think about. Now or earlier is the time for some thought to how you want the shelves assembled as they are very flexible. Decide how far off floor you want the bottom shelf. I went with the second "groove" and assembled the two-part shelf support around the pole and moved it around until it dropped in. Note that there is an etched "UP" and there is a groove at the top of the joiner notch to help you place it on the pole. Do this with both poles and then gently push the poles with the plastic supports up into the shelf sleeves, just enough to get them to stay. [This is so if you want to reposition them it is not a chore.]Now slowly, turn the shelf over so the two poles are at the bottom and repeat the process for the other two bottom support poles. If you have gently but firmly pushed the four poles in you should be able to turn the shelf right side up. Yes, it may take a couple of times re-seating the shelf supports but it shall come.So far you can do all the above by yourself but the building of shelves upward could use the help of someone else to hold the shelf up while you put the shelf retainers in. I hope you have already thought about where you want the shelves and either counted grooves, or made marks or found the very subtle extra minimal grooves on the poles themselves.Lay the next shelf, flush side up, onto the wheeled frame in front of you and have someone hold it while you snap the four corner shelf retainers in place. If you did the first part right, the second shelf should easily line up and slide on. Congratulations! Slowly help your holder lower all four corners down onto the supports and make sure they are all at the same height. Once in place, gently push down on shelf to initially seat it.Next, take the four poles marked upper on the package and screw them into the lower sections. Repeat the second shelf two more times and stand back and start to be amazed that you just did this in about a half hour or less. One reviewer said it would be difficult to adjust the shelves at a later time, but I think you could turn the shelves up-side-down and with a rubber mallet you could tap/pound as necessary the shelves downward at the support sleeve and release the pressure fit. This is supposition but is also why I suggest only loosely inserting shelf retainers into sleeves until you have settled where they would be to your liking. Of course that rubber mallet will be handy here too. There are four 'spare' plastic retainers with each unit.The shelf spacing seems quite large but actually very usable. I dropped them all progressively a bit and left about 10" of pole at top to catch thing going off the end and not have the top, where the lightest things should go, be too high for my wife to reach. There are additional shelves available at about 25$ but not sure they will really be needed. I would rather buy another complete shelf system for a third more [thank you Amazon Prime] than the cost of two shelves [I have two of these].Please go back and read the title for my feelings. There have been few things that I thought I wanted/needed and they exceeded my expectations. A microwave, a propane grill, my first computer, a 65" TV and strangely low tech - these shelves. They are nicely designed, easy to put together, quite attractive with a black doppling over the chrome making them very subtle, and most of all very flexible and very useable! Thank you Alera and United Stationers, and I expect to order at least another pair and will extole them at all cocktail parties.

Beautiful! Painted Black Anthracite - silver with black flecks, the prettiest wire shelf that I have - and I have a lot of these types of shelves in all sizes. They are my favorite type of shelf since they let more light through, you can buy additional shelves and poles to expand, and it has wheels (or not, if you don't want to use them). Best yet, it has proved indestructible and very strong.Very sturdy! yet light weight.The first time you put this type of shelf together it's a bit difficult, but after the first one it's very fast and easy and doesn't need any tools - it took me 15 minutes to unpack and put up.I love how you can make the shelves any height you want, and adjust them as your needs change. Highly recommended.Holds 500 lbs with wheels attached, or without wheels it holds several thousand pounds.Nothing better unless you prefer the look of quality wood shelves - but wood costs a lot more and eventually warps under the weight of books. These metal shelves last forever, or at least the 3 years that I've had this type of shelving, without any change in appearance.I've bought this type of shelving unit at Target, Home Depot, Lowes, and Amazon (they come in an amazing array of sizes and shapes). This specific shelf painted Black Anthracite is by far my favorite of all of them due to the color (I've bought white, silver, black, and dark copper colors). But any of these same type shelves are excellent.To build the shelving unit: Screw the wheels on the bottom of 4 poles or screw on the leveling feet (individually adjustable to make sure the shelves are level). Poles screw into one another. The poles have an indentation every inch so you can easily make sure the shelves are level and at your desired height. Plastic parts snap around the pole (to hold the metal shelf firmly in place), Metal shelf slides over the top of the 4 metal poles and down over the plastic pieces to form one shelf at any height you want. Metal shelf has a 1 inch lip on the bottom to make them sturdy (or turn the shelves over when installing the shelves, with the lip on top, then items don't slide off the sides of the shelf when you are using it).If you wish, buy more shelves or rods or other accessories for your shelving unit to expand it's usefulness, or adjust the shelf heights as much as you want - just take everything off the shelf and hit the shelf from the bottom until it pops up from the plastic part then move the plastic part to a different height and push the metal shelf back down over the plastic part at the new height. Easy! No tools needed! Unlike other shelves, the plastic part is completely covered and compressed to hold the shelf, no chance of it breaking off or fatiguing like plastic parts can do with other shelving types.

Pretty easy to assemble. Nice finish and very sturdy. Just what I needed to get things organized.

I used 4 of these shelves as cooler carts for floral design. Worked great because the load was very lightweight. Then I used them temporarily to store boxes on during a reno. The wheels all bent. Now they are all useless.