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[Unofficial] Computer Recycling Blog

My, my, where has the time gone? My last post on this blog was way back in 2013, 6 years ago. The first post(s) to this blog was way back on June 7, 2008, almost 11 years ago. Back then I was posting about interesting items that came into The Working Centre's Computer Recycling Project. Somewhere along the way I stopped posting on this blog and started cross-posting about the items on my own web site. It seems fitting now that personal projects be separated to my domain https://www.charlesmccolm.com/ (defunct) and Computer Recycling projects be listed here.
A lot has changed over the years, but many things also remain the same. I've been very blessed over the years to have a lot of fantastic volunteers, and I hope this will continue into the future. Among the things volunteers do are:
  • Receive and organize incoming donations
  • Sort and evaluate donated equipment
  • Build Windows (through the Microsoft Registered Refurbisher Program) computers for qualified Low-Income individuals and families.
  • Build Xubuntu Linux systems
  • Assess, Book, and repair computers
  • Tidy the shop and the receiving space
  • Help send items to our OES-Approved primary processor
  • Answer phone questions about repairs, issues, donations
  • Help new volunteers learn our processes
  • Helping people who come in looking for a computer or repair help
  • Check other volunteers computer builds (Quality Assurance)
  • Help organize smaller parts
  • Inventory finished systems, monitors, printers and scanners (sometimes the odd small LCD TV).
  • Help rewrite, print, and evaluate shop forms.
This is just the short list of what volunteers typically do. It's a lot of work. Having good technical skills is helpful, but the most helpful skills tend to be a willingness to help people and being able to multi-task. Helping people is a bit of a chicken-egg scenario where we cannot always help people in the way they want, when they want. Nature tends towards us wanting help right away, but not every job can be done in 5 minutes, 1 hour, or even a day, especially considering the task list above more experienced volunteers usually do on a daily basis. Jon Rosen Systems, Inc., has an excellent article entitled How Long Does it Take to Repair a Computer?

Keep in mind that a shop like Jon's has full-time technicians employed just for the purpose of repairing systems. Our volunteers often have other commitments, or may volunteer once or twice per week. This is one of the reasons why a repair might take weeks instead of days, despite the fact that it may only be a few hours of concentrated effort to get the job done. Concentrated effort is something that can be a bit of a challenge in our open-concept shop. Jon's article covers a lot of the talking points about running a repair shop.

One of the things that helps us stay on track with repairs is that we use/log an electronic repair system: PC Repair Tracker. PCRT makes it easy for one volunteer to work on a repair and leave notes, prioritize, and track time, parts, and calls.

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