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 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 Hardware Donations 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) | |||
| What we don't take | |||
| Identifying tricky gizmos (e.g systems vs. servers, copiers vs. multi-function printers, etc.) | |||
| Clearing the Carts | |||
| System Evaluation Incoming | |||
| CRT Monitor Incoming | |||
| CRT TV Incoming | |||
| Printerland Incoming | |||
| LCD Incoming | |||
| MacLand Incoming |
| Receiving Boxes (Including how to sort/empty each box) | Date | New Hire Initials | Staff Initials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Review Receiving Boxes wiki page | |||
| 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 | |||
| A/V Cart | |||
| Basic Testing area |
| Health and Safety in Receiving | Date | New Hire Initials | Staff Initials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Review Safety Procedures in receiving | |||
| Review Hazardous chemicals list | |||
| Safe Lifting | |||
| Carts | |||
| Removing tripping hazards in standing/walking areas | |||
| Safe Stacking Procedures in SysEval and A/V cart | |||
| 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 | |||
| Check to make sure we have enough tally slips and request more from the Front Desk if necessary | |||
| Print 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 | |||
| 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 | |||
| 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) | |||
| 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 :)