Stream fishing
List of Policies - Policy Development
Policy
The following policy was approved at the collective meeting on 12.17.2010:
If a paid staff person wishes to authorize an item "from the back" to be sold, he or she may do so bringing the item to the Thrift Store with a Stream-Fishing Form, complete with staff signature, the name of the person who will purchase the item, the date and time, and the length of time the item should be put on hold. That paid staff person should ideally work in the department that would normally have rights to the gizmo, or at least be familiar enough with the department to be able to judge the gizmo either saleable or too precious to let go. Store staff will price the item. The paid staff person authorizing the sale will direct the purchaser to enter the store through the front door to purchase the item(s). Volunteers forfeit their 20% discount when they stream fish. Store staff may request alternate arrangements for storage or pickup. Different departments/areas (for example Build or Receiving) are free to set their own policies for what/how items are to be sold, if at all. No one is required to sell anything. A paid staff person may not fill a stream-fishing form for an item that he/she intends to purchase. S/he needs another paid staff person to do it.
Notes
History
Since Free Geek's inception, volunteers (and staff) have wanted to get things out of the "stream" (total flow of gizmos in, around, and out of the building). Many of these requests are unique to the person asking and not part of an established process of panning from the stream to send to the store. Over time, these requests got to be really inconvenient for coordinators to fulfill. Additionally, a few volunteers were making most of the requests and doing so nearly daily. It has long been recognized that making exceptions is a powerful volunteer retention tool (as it is a way to confer merit and/or status). The idea was to make a system flexible enough to allow exceptions, but rigid enough to discourage regular use. There was a related goal of cutting down on "mommy and daddy" behavior by volunteers (asking multiple staff people for a favor or exception until the volunteer gets the "best" answer). All the power to grant exceptions is in the hands of the coordinator actively working with that volunteer. All the power to price the goods in question are on the store coordinators. By separating those who allow exceptions from those who price the excepted good, there is a robust check against outright corruption (intentionally pricing valuable items well below their value).
This policy was part of a reuse committee decision in early (January) 2009. Sadly, those minutes seem to be missing.
- A production or recycling coordinator can choose to allow a volunteer to purchase a good out of the stream by filling out a Stream Fishing Form (located in an envelope behind the counter in the store). It is *highly recommended* that exceptions are limited to goods that would not normally make it to the store and do not have a high market cost. No coordinator is required to ever make an exception.