Originally Posted by
Breakage
The main issue we have with workflow is that we get things brought to us in boxes and we end up sorting, piece by piece. I have had limited success in getting other staff to understand distinctions like wire grades, etc. so I often end up dealing with it, myself. That means piling up boxes until I have free time to do a mass sort. But I usually just pull the high-value stuff or trash off the top, as I go, letting the smaller items like batteries and phones sink to the bottom, which I then dump into another box for later sorting, again because I do it myself. Then, things go into rough categories like "vintage" or "needs batteries removed," further adding to the granularity of sorting (and the difficulty of training staff). It makes the whole "touch it once" philosophy hard to maintain. I've been wondering about having a way to get access to each and every sort bin/box as I handle every "comingled" customer package that I begin to sort out but I feel like that would be like an enormous cubby system. And even then, how do you apportion floor/shelf space? Ten laptops take up much more space than ten drill batteries. Fully modular shelving is expensive but I think the current system of salvaged plastic totes shoved into salvaged (and mismatched) racking is beginning to show the limits of capacity. What do you all do for the hand sorting process?
I can't speak for everyone, but these rolling AV carts from school auctions have been the best thing I've ever found. Matching bins collected over the years helps, too.
I have 11 of them in my scrapping area, along with 32' of wooden shelving, three levels.
The AV carts were bought at auction from local school districts. I generally can get them for 5-10 apiece if I'm patient.
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