Receiving Training Checklist
New to Hardware Donations? Have no fear! This guide will teach you what you need to know to run Receiving successfully and 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 hazardous stuff.
- Manage flow of gizmos through the hardware donations receiving area:
- Learn about where to take boxes when they're full
- How to handle large donations from businesses keeping e-waste legislation in mind
- Keep staff updated on changes in receiving
- Ensure that Hardware Donations is well integrated with Free Geek's production and 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! Your stress escalates their stress and potential nervousness.
- Strive to improve the organization, training, and communication within receiving and other areas.
Checklist
This is a training checklist for new Receiving staff members and interns.
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 | |||
| What we don't take | |||
| Distinguishing between systems and servers | |||
| Clearing the Carts | |||
| System Evaluation Incoming | |||
| CRT Monitor Incoming | |||
| CRT TV Incoming | |||
| Printerland Incoming | |||
| LCD Incoming | |||
| MacLand Incoming |
| Receiving Boxes (Remember to show them where the boxes go and which boxes get sorted through first) wiki page | Date | New Hire Initials | Staff Initials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cord Chart | |||
| Purple Boxes (Cords) | |||
| Green Boxes (Computers) | |||
| Yellow Boxes (Peripherals) | |||
| White Boxes (Recycling) | |||
| Blue Boxes (Tapes and Disks) | |||
| Styrofoam and Packaging Materials | |||
| Copper Bearing Materials | |||
| Dirty plastic,filmy plastic, E-plastic | |||
| Cardboard boxes and Recycling | |||
| Garbage |
| Safety in Receiving wiki page and Hazardous Materials wiki page | Date | New Hire Initials | Staff Initials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safe Lifting | |||
| Carts | |||
| Safe System Stacking Procedures | |||
| 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 the Laptop box--no power supplies) | |||
| Hard drives (to SysEval) | |||
| External hard drives (to Laptop box--with cord) | |||
| Cell phones, PDAs, Digital Cameras, flash drives, etc. (to the Lock Box) | |||
| Tivos, DVRs, and other misc. with hard drives (to system evaluation) | |||
| XBox 360, Playstation 3, other newer gaming systems (to the store) | |||
| CDs/DVDs (shred 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 | |||
| Empty any boxes that need it and replace boxes as necessary | |||
| Introduce yourself to all volunteers | |||
| Assess new volunteers' abilities (check schedule to verify) and train them accordingly |
| Closing Receiving | Date | New Hire Initials | Staff Initials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Put out "No Dumping" sandwich board | |||
| Close and lock doors at 6:00pm | |||
| Laptop Cart to Laptops (Macs to MacLand and external hard drives in Tardis) | |||
| Empty lock box and bring to Tardis | |||
| Take paper recycling out on Thursday | |||
| Double check that no hard drives (or other data-bearing devices) are left out | |||
| Turn off laptop and computers in basic testing area | |||
| Turn off lights |
| Handling Large Donations wiki page and Staffing Receiving Alone | Date | New Hire Initials | Staff Initials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Large Donations - Tallying Covered and Uncovered items | |||
| Organize and tally the carts, then have volunteers bring carts back to the warehouse | |||
| If single staffed, stay at the front. Have volunteers help donors and take carts to the warehouse | |||
| Instruct volunteers to take full boxes to the warehouse; name each box and explain where it goes | |||
| If alone (without volunteers), load up carts and consolidate items going to the same area | |||
| Get someone at the front desk to cover the front door while you take carts back |
| When things get slow | Date | New Hire Initials | Staff Initials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sort and bag batteries | |||
| Go through boxes to ensure they have appropriate items in them and re-wrap cords if needed | |||
| Basic testing | |||
| Clean receiving area (sweep, put away unused 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) | |||
| Speakers (Testing, Sorting and Storage) |
| Volunteers In Receiving | Date | New Hire Initials | Staff Initials |
|---|---|---|---|
| White Board for Names | |||
| Training Volunteers in Receiving | |||
| 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, don't go through system evaluation) | |||
| Monitor Tetris | |||
| Steel bin | |||
| Cardboard bin | |||
| Paper Bins | |||
| Gaylords (where to set our boxes) | |||
| Advanced Recycling/Deconstruction pallet | |||
| 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 store 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 (Santiago) about | |||
| Items that Bulk Sales likes | |||
| What to communicate with bulk sales stuff (John) aobut |
| 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 :)
Potential projects/improvements:
- Documentation for training boxes
- Staff FYI clipboard (add two? Make into a binder?)
- Basic testing
Daily
Before Opening:
- Put away any hardware left over from the night before and tally any dumps.
- Empty any boxes that need it and replace boxes as necessary.
- Make sure that you have enough donation tally sheets on each clip board (if not see if there are any that can erased at the front desk or print more) and make sure each clipboard has a sharpened pencil.
- Gather and clear all carts.
- Bring in the anti-dumping sandwich board.
- If appropriate, put out the big white tent.
At the beginning of your shift:
- Introduce yourself to all volunteers.
- Assess new volunteers' abilities and train them accordingly.
- Show volunteers that will be assisting with taking donations where things belong, including a quick tour of the building to show them monitor testing, evaluation, and printerland incoming.
- Teach speaker, mice and keyboard testing, and answer related questions.
Throughout shift:
- Assist donors in unloading donations. Be available to answer questions donors have that volunteers may not have the answers to.
- Assist volunteers in sorting smaller things, as well as dealing with larger hardware.
- Empty boxes on shelves as necessary, as well as the cardboard and paper.
- Are things slow?
- Tie up cords
- Make sure all plastic bins have appropriate plastics in them
- Go through boxes to make sure they have the appropriate things in them
- Show someone how to do keyboard/mouse/speaker testing
- Sweep floor
- Purge room of dirty dishes
- Are things slow?
At closing:
- Empty boxes as necessary.
- Empty laptop lock box.
- Empty cell phone/camera lock box
- Turn off lights and shutdown testing computer and stereo system.
- Thursday night = take out paper recycling
- Leave a visible note indicating that any hardware leftover on the table, floor, or carts is not a dump.
- Put the anti-dumping sandwich board out.
Other notes:
- Thursdays and Saturdays are adoption classes; do your best to have enough materials ready (i.e. 8 speaker sets, a combination of white and black keyboards, and a combination of black and white mice).