Receiving Staff FYI Update Archive

This page is out of date and no longer being used to pass messages on what needs to be saved. To make a request of Receiving please use the Receiving Q in the RT tracking system. They will be seen by the Receiving email list and added to the white board in Receiving. -Austin C 1/15/2013

2009

12/17 - (Special request from Vagrant) Server build wants 50 one to two foot ethernet cables (cat 5e). There is now a clear box with an orange label on it to stash them in when you find them. - (from Brittany) Let's try to improve communication with the thrift store by documenting what they like (or hate) and why! I started a list in the FYI binder. For example, did you know they'd only like common USB cables (A to B, mini) that are USB 2.0 or Ultra/High Speed? Any other tidbits of info, write them down!!!

12/10 - (from Advanced Testing) Please train volunteers what processors look like, and then tell them to treat them delicately and hand them to a staff member! Pins are getting bent, and many of them end up in the fans/heat sink box. Once you have the processor, place it on the foam for Advanced Testing Incoming.

12/8 - Build would like us to save Ubuntu CDs. They only want ones that have been produced by distributors, not burned by joe shmoe (if that makes sense). There's a CD spindle right next to the CD box that's labeled -- don't recycle them! - (from Annie) There are boxes of wireless keyboards and mice underneath the table - we should start taking them to Advanced Testing when they are ready for them

12/5 - (from Recycling/Cliff): New procedure - whenever you bring a monitor to the warehouse to be RECYCLED (older than Dec. 1999), put a tally mark on the clipboard in the appropriate place (from receiving, uncovered or covered, etc.). DO NOT place monitors directly into gaylords. Ask the recycling coordinators if you have any questions. - (from NPAs) Mark ALL incoming towers (even barebones cases with nothing in them) as systems, because that's how they get recycled. - (from Liane): All monitors larger than 19 inches and are rounded (not flat) should be auto-recycled.

12/1 - (from Advanced Testing): Please keep the fans and heat sinks AND their attachments all together instead of pulling them apart and recycling pieces.

11/10 - Liane needs CD spindles as an ongoing project. I labeled a box and put it in basic testing. Save them for her! - Sophia if looking for a working 26" TV for a Hardware Grant. Keep your eyes peeled for one, test it, and label it as such.

11/4 - Jake would like staff to train volunteers to keep the wall warts and the paper trays with the printers (but you can take away cables & manuals). The trays are apparently pretty valuable for his purposes because our buyer isn't interested in printers without them. So, instead of recycling printer trays as e-plastic, put them in the Printer Ink & Toner box or bring them back to Jake directly. - Please train volunteers to physically destroy 5 1/4" inch floppy disks before putting them into dirty plastic. Use scissors to cut them up!

11/3 - George and Cliff have gently reminded us to place "uncovered electronic device" stickers in the appropriate places on monitors. Rather than on the screen, or anywhere on the top or bottom, let's try to put those stickers in a standard location: top right corner of the frame. - When we train volunteers where to put keeper monitors, emphasize placing them in the shelves first. If there's no room on the shelves, then place them in front of keeper monitor overflow, not in front of the monitor testing station (makes sense, right?). If monitors get stacked in front of the ones we're trying to test, then the testers can't get to them.

10/20 - Q: Where did the VGA, SATA, and Figure 8 cable boxes go? A: They are temporarily removed because it says on the thrift store cord wall that the thrift store needs those cables! If and when the pictures of the cables come down off of the thrift store cord wall, than we should replace the boxes accordingly.

10/13 - Dave only wants cash registers, not the cash drawers and tills. Cash drawers (with working keys) might be able to used for infrastructure, so ask Tony when you get them. Otherwise, they can be recycled with deconstruction! - CGL no longer wants Mac games (unless they are old and in the box). - We're now saving packing foam for Santiago for packing e-bay sales.

9/9 - Send all webcams to the Monkeyhouse (USB and other kinds, too!)

9/1 - No more sorting wall warts! Please have volunteers untangle them and wrap them nicely first with rubber bands, and then give to advanced testing to sort them.

8/18 - Mac keyboards without an eject button (top right corner, upward arrow) can be immediately recycled. We test new Mac keyboards now. Bring them to the Mac Build area when done.

8/11 - Mice without a scroll button can immediately be recycled. We test newer Mac mice (oval, not round). - Blue Zip drives can go to the deconstruction box rather than CBM (the e-plastic can be removed).

2010

-Use a smaller tub for wall Warts! They get very heavy and should be sent to Adv. Testing more frequently. All Wall Warts should be screened for proper rubber banding as a courtesy to our fellow geeks in Adv. Testing. It saves them work and avoids huge tangles of cords. Great project for when things are slow.

-Speaking of tubs, having a surplus of tubs can be a real time saver when things gets hectic. You can store them under the table or on the shelf with the cardboard boxes. If a donor has tubage don't be shy about asking if they are planning on donating the tub as well. WE NEVER CAN HAVE TOO MANY TUBS. We use them, as does the warehouse, and every other program at Free Geek.

-Ballasts ( a device used to provide the starting voltage or to stabilize the current in a circuit ie,from a fluorescent lamp or indoor growing lights) are nasty chemical hazards and can't be processed here. We can accept them but we would PREFER not to, since Total Reclaim will charge us a fee. If ballast is unmarked or states that it contains PCB's then we CAN NOT ACCEPT them. Customers should be referred to Metro Hazardous Recycling for free disposal. If the ballast is labeled NO PCB's then we can take them but once again, we get charged for them by our vendor. Ballasts that we receive then go to adv. recycling area.

-All Mac's can now go to system evaluation for processing. Place them separate from the PC's, left of the pillars by the servers. (we don't want them to mate and produce mutant systems which might try to take over the world!!!) This does not include any mac's with LCD's or CRT's. These will go to the regular mac incoming area. Most of the Mac's have curved sides and do not stack, so they become a avalanche hazard if placed with regular systems.

-Store Returns have a special spot now and specially labeled tubs. The Store Returns go on the shelves by speaker testing and where we do the tv testing. There is an bright orange label marked "store returns" where these tubs should go. It is important to keep these separate from the regular incoming and returns from store should all be recycled. We don't want eager volunteers to put them back into the stream. The store NEVER wants to see these items again.

-Give Voltmeters to build. Zip Drives with usb connections to Adv. Testing. (they will go to store if they work) Zip drives from systems can go to deconstruction box.

-RF Modulators can go to thrift store. (is a small device that takes an input signal and outputs -modulated signals. Most commonly these are found in home computers or video game systems that display graphics on a television receiver.) They have coaxial cable connectors and three RCA connectors. They are about the size of small camera. They will say RF Modulator on the device and don't get tested so they can go directly to the store.

-Small Systems that have bases for support (ie, Gateway E series. See System Evaluation for example) should be kept with the system or given directly to pre-build interns or staff for future use.

-Volunteers should be instructed to give processors to staff so they can be safely transported to their new home in Adv. Test. The pins on such processors can be easily bent and ruined, so let the guys in Adv. Test handle them. They should go to the Adv. Testing incoming shelf in the container for incoming processors. There is no need to do this for Slot based processors, since they will find a new home in recycling. Same goes for processors less than 2.0 GHz. There is a bin to recycle them on the same shelf where UPS's live, just higher up on the shelf.

-Wireless Keyboards and mice go to Adv. Testing, because they just enjoy testing them SO MUCH. (That, and our former tester retired from testing them.)

-Please save Ubuntu CD's for Build. Not burned copies but actual manufactured disks. Does not matter if its and old version as long as its Ubuntu.

-Webcams go into the yellow special requests box en route to the monkey house.

-GAMES...Keeper games should be kept with manuals, artwork, original boxes, etc. The art and manuals are often worth more than the games.

-Mac Games DO NOT go to CGL (unless they are old and in the box). PC Games should be kept in boxes with any manuals. Only if its a game that does not suck. Games that suck should be treated like any other CD and be shredded like any other CD.

-Game Systems, especially the newer ones have hard drives in them. If they somehow make there way back to receiving from CGL or are donated in an obviously broken condition then they must go to system evaluation for processing like any other system. As per data security protocol. If in doubt, open it up and have a look see. We can never be too careful with data security.

-Save packing foam for Santiago for online sales and for Adv. Test. There is a box for packing foam, but use common sense. HUGE pieces of packing material are garbage. If the box is overflowing then toss some out. Adv. Testing really likes packing foam and the boxes from motherboards or similar sizes and shapes of packing materials. In most cases packing foam like Styrofoam, should be politely handed back to the donor as they are on our list of “things that we do not take” You can very quickly be up to your eyeballs in Styrofoam and packing material if you are not careful.