Receiving Training Checklist

New to Receiving? Have no fear! This guide will teach you what you need to know to keep things running smoothly.

Your main responsibilities are to:

• Teach Adoption volunteers basic intake procedures using this page as a guide.
• Teach Adoption volunteers about Safety Procedures. Learn about what to do with potentially hazardous stuff.
• Manage flow of gizmos through the Receiving area:
  • Learn about the Receiving Boxes and where things go when they leave Receiving
  • How to handle large donations from businesses keeping e-waste legislation in mind
• Keep staff updated on changes in receiving
• Ensure that Receiving is well integrated with Free Geek's production, sales, and recycling areas:
  • Run Basic Testing so that the adoption volunteers, the store, and grants get what they need.
• Maintain sanity and be a good role model for your volunteers! Be calm, positive, and fun.
• Strive to improve the organization, training, and communication within receiving and with other areas.

Checklist

This is a training checklist for new Receiving staff members and interns. Print it out and keep it in the binder in Receiving until the new staff member/intern is fully trained.

New staff member/intern's name: __________________________________

Trainer's Name: _____________________________________

Receiving Basics	Date	New Hire Initials	Staff Initials
The 3 Priorities (Assisting the Donor, Clearing the Carts, Sorting)
Assisting the Donor
Tallying
OR E-Cycles Training and Stickering (see Ewaste Training)
Identifying tricky gizmos (e.g systems vs. servers, copiers vs. multi-function printers, etc.)
Clearing the Carts
Secure Data Area (SDA) Incoming
CRT Monitor Incoming
CRT TV Incoming
Printer Incoming
LCD Incoming
MacLand Incoming

Receiving/Sorting Boxes (Including how to sort/empty each box)	Date	New Hire Initials	Staff Initials
Review Receiving Boxes wiki page
Cords
Re-use/Testing
Recycling
Tapes and Disks
Styrofoam and Packaging Materials
Copper Bearing Materials
Dirty/Junk plastic,filmy plastic, E-plastic
Cardboard boxes and Recycling
Garbage
A/V Incoming Area
Keyboard/Mice Testing Area
Speaker Testing

Health and Safety in Receiving	Date	New Hire Initials	Staff Initials
Review Safety Procedures in Receiving
Review Hazardous chemicals list
Safe Lifting
Carts
Avoiding tripping hazards in standing/walking areas
Safe Stacking Procedures in SDA and A/V incoming area
Broken/Open CRT Monitors
Broken Fluorescent Light Bulbs
Leaking Batteries
Mercury bearing thermostats or thermometers
What we don't accept due to safety concerns

Data Security	Date	New Hire Initials	Staff Initials
Explain why data security is important
Laptops (to SDA --no power supplies)
Hard drives (to SDA)
External hard drives (to SDA--with cord)
Cell phones, PDAs, Digital Cameras, flash drives, etc. (to the Lock Box in Receiving)
Tivos, DVRs, and other misc. with potential hard drives (to SDA)
XBox 360, Playstation 3, other newer gaming systems (to SDA)
CDs/DVDs (shred/cut if home-made) and other media

Opening Receiving	Date	New Hire Initials	Staff Initials
Bring in "No Dumping" sandwich board
Bring in and tally any dumps
Check Receiving calendar, notes, email on laptop
Check to make sure we have enough tally slips and request more from the Front Desk if necessary
Request more "uncovered" stickers if necessary
Empty any boxes that need it and replace boxes as needed
Tidy and clean the area as needed
Introduce yourself to all volunteers
Assess new volunteers' abilities (check schedule to verify) and train them accordingly

During a Shift	Date	New Hire Initials	Staff Initials
Watch the door for incoming donations
Be available to answer questions from volunteers
Sort and empty boxes that are filling up
Make sure safety protocols are being followed
Communicate with appropriate staff/areas about unusual gizmos
If it's slow, find tasks for all volunteers (if necessary, move them to another area)
Tidy and clean the area as needed

Closing Receiving	Date	New Hire Initials	Staff Initials
Put out "No Dumping" sandwich board
Close and lock doors at 6:00pm
Empty lock box and bring to SDA
Take paper recycling out on Thursday
Double check that no hard drives (or other data-bearing devices) are left out
If you need to leave anything on the carts, leave a visible note with it indicated whether it's been tallied
Turn off laptop and computers in basic testing area
Turn off lights

Large Donations and Staffing Receiving Alone	Date	New Hire Initials	Staff Initials
Large Donations - Tallying Covered and Uncovered items (see Handling Large Donations at Receiving)
Organize and tally the carts, then have volunteers bring carts back to the warehouse
If single staffed, stay at the front. Have volunteers take carts/boxes to other areas
If alone (without volunteers), load up carts and consolidate items going to the same area
Ask nearby staff members to cover/provide backup (or have the Front desk page for backup) when needed

When Things Are Slow	Date	New Hire Initials	Staff Initials
Sort and bag batteries
Go through boxes to ensure they have appropriate items in them (see Receiving Boxes)
Basic testing (but leave enough work for seated tasks days)
Clean receiving area (sweep, put away extra cups, remove stuff from under the table and in corners)
Break down and bag Styrofoam
Sort anti-static bags and shopping bags for the Store
Ask the Warehouse if there are any slow-time tasks for receivers
Clean up basic testing area (cull ugly keyboards, mice, speakers)

Basic Testing	Date	New Hire Initials	Staff Initials
Keyboards (Testing, Sorting and Storage)
Mouse (Testing, Sorting and Storage)

Volunteers In Receiving	Date	New Hire Initials	Staff Initials
White Board for Names
Training Volunteers in Receiving
Passive Solicitation Policy: review, sign & file
Shadow two staff members as they orient volunteers
Volunteer Safety
Volunteer Recognition (Geek Love notes, etc)
Volunteer Break Policy
Volunteers with different abilities
Streamfishing
Preventing theft (no coats hanging in receiving!) wiki page

The Warehouse	Date	New Hire Initials	Staff Initials
Going to the warehouse (use carts)
Monitor Tetris
Steel bin
Cardboard bin
Paper Bins
Gaylords (where to set our boxes)
Advanced Recycling/Deconstruction shelves
What to communicate with the warehouse staff about

The Store	Date	New Hire Initials	Staff Initials
Tour the store--see what they sell.
Explain why the store is important to Free Geek and Receiving's role in generating funds.
To leave in the packaging or not in the packaging? Cords, no! Some other stuff, yes.
Bringing items to the store
Items that the store likes/does not like
What to communicate with the sales staff about (large donations, etc)

Online Sales and Bulk Sales	Date	New Hire Initials	Staff Initials
Sales priorities: 1. Thrift store, 2. Online sales, 3. Bulk Sales
Items that online sales likes
What to communicate with Online Sales staff about
Items that Bulk Sales likes
What to communicate with Bulk Sales about

Other Areas	Date	New Hire Initials	Staff Initials
Hardware [Advanced] testing (incoming, what they test, etc.)
Build
Laptops
MacLand

Admin	Date	New Hire Initials	Staff Initials
The Receiving Wiki Category
Receiving Boxes
Receiving E-Mail List (subscribe and explain)
Printing 'Uncovered' Stickers
Printing and Laminating Signs

Valuable Lessons!

Lastly, here are some valuable lessons we've learned and want to pass along:

• It's not the end of the world if you recycle something you shouldn't have, or if you have things leftover when you're supposed to end your shift. There's always more stuff and always more volunteers tomorrow!
• People LOVE to repackage their stuff, so don't always assume what's in the box is what's pictured on the outside
• Don't leave unlabeled bins around (especially ones that look like trash cans!): people will inevitably put a mix of stuff into it (trash, food, paper, electronics) and then you'll have to sort it out again. You've been warned.
• Ask lots of questions and write down who said what, because everyone has a slightly different idea of things.
• The "handoff" is your friend :)