I added this item to the membership meeting agenda. I’d like to start thinking about this, however no decisions will be made about it at the meeting and our existing Project Storage rules still apply.
I’d like to explore the possibility of no longer off siting expired items, and instead moving them to the trash. I’d like to hear some feedback on this idea and start thinking about a less volunteer-intensive solution for Project Storage.
DMS used to throw out things after storage privileges had expired. It created a huge amount of animosity. The storage rules and procedures Allen created a couple of years ago solved the animosity issue and many others. The downside is it requires more labor and incurs costs for things like storage space and moving supplies. I’m not saying the existing system has to continue (obviously it can’t if there aren’t any volunteers willing to do it) but it exists for many good reasons. Think long and hard before making a drastic change. I also suggest talking with Allen about it if he’s willing.
Offsiting provides a needed buffer between an honest mistake and the disposal of somebody’s project.
There has been some discussion about an honorarium-type payment for someone handling the minutes for board meetings. Perhaps something similar for those doing the offsiting?
Having seen a very small amount of the work done this past weekend to offsite the storage, I would agree that something must change.
I like the idea from @Bill for an honorarium, but I also like the opposite. If you have something off-sited you lose storage privileges until you help with off-siting in the future. I can’t make the member meeting but thought I’d at least throw that idea out.
Instead of throwing away, do off-siting but person loses storage privileges for say 3 months 1st offense, 6 months 2nd offense, permanant on 3rd, make it real pain* for imposing work on others, not 30 days or so. There is a lot of labor required for off-siting. There are a lot of members waiting for storage spaces. Much of it is never picked up and and when I was helping with offsiting a lot of it just looked like crap they didn’t bother to throw out when they were done: Meh, they’ll throw out, why bother.
DMS incurs real costs in off-siting: cost of storage units, time and effort by volunteers that could be better used elsewhere. Volunteer time is very valuable. People can make arrangements to have things picked up (I’ve done that for people) OR have someone show up at the Storage Meeting (seen this done when @ESmith was the Logistics Meister asking for an extension, almost always granted, never saw it denied for first extension, at 3 or more need a good reason) I’ve proxied for people. Is that really excessive, oppressive, or too much effort to to expect from adults to enjoy Free Storage privileges?
* I know, I’m cruel and heartless for having less than low expectations for adults to be responsible.
Disclaimer: I’ve not immersed myself with the goings-on in Logistics since my departure from all things associated with DMS management so perhaps things have changed since.
Speaking from experience, offsiting sucks. When you’re having to shlep someone else’s project materials - which tend to be heavy, fragile, bulky, and difficult to package all at the same time - you start to resent the member responsible. More helpfully, when you eventually see it’s the same members’ materials going offsite and into the dumpster month after month, you start to wonder if maybe they should be discouraged from keeping so many materials at DMS for so long.
I’ve always felt that DMS needs to instill a sense of urgency in project storage users. The only way I could envision doing this was if it cost them something. Since money-for-storage has its own administrative and legal headaches, my idea was some sort of internal system of credits and debits that didn’t get any further than the conceptual stage. At the heart of the idea was to make offsiting sufficiently painful for those who failed to extend or renew such that the work involved diminished sharply.
With urgency driven by some sort of cost comes higher turnover and less of the blatant hoarding I used to see. Storage availability increases and actual utilization almost certainly improves because it’s now consistently available as opposed to spiking immediately after removal notices are sent then again after offsiting.
If I recall - the issues with mistakes happening is simply that the 30 days allotment are not on a rotating schedule - to be clear, that means that if I get a storage ticket the 4th week of the month, there wasn’t a clear end date that got me to the end of week 3 in the next month if off-siting happens before that. If that is still the case some software effort should be put into that so that enforcement in whatever form is better justified and documented.
IF that is already in place plus the 7 day red tag gonna be off-sited message and it still there, then I say toss the crap. If they get butt hurt over it, let them know that TechShop will be opening again and wish them luck.
I’m not sure that honorarium rates will incentivize offsiting ‘volunteers’ sufficiently to make it something that happens consistently. Historically it’s >4 hours of labor per month and you effectively need a truck. Quality control will still depend on the Logistics Chair or their designate, who might be stamping their own ticket if they’re claiming honorarium.
So, I just used the storage for the very first time, today. My piece is expected to be removed by January 7th. I think it seems very reasonable that if I leave my material there past the cutoff point, then I would expect it to be tossed unless I was granted an exception. The rules are clearly posted.
Heck, I could even game the system by asking a friend to tag my piece on the expiration date…so it’s not like there are not ways to get the job done.
Except that we take pictures of the tags in place and will notice a new tag on an old space. 
Some of that received a slide in the past, but it was heavily enforced this month.
Here is a suggestion, now that we have the system with the kiosk, You get 4 wks
Then you get an email giving you 2 more weeks to remove it, that is when it is red carded
At the end of the addition 2 wks, it is goes in the trash
That is a little time that one has now, but the storage can be purged of old item weekly
instead of once a month, That would make more spaces available
What about having a set of smaller spaces available, maybe make them available to folks
teaching classes withing the month , It would be nice if I didnt have to haul the copper wire and sheet back and forth for classes, We have some teacher storage for some things
The kiosk system does not currently do any notification and Logistics will have to decide the rules for automated renewal. But technically, we can do it.
I had hoped that you would have gone easy this month since the renewal meeting was not well publicized, but I was not there to help so do not have a vote.
Communication is always the best option. Sliding around the rules is not.
I think that is why an automated system would be nice, and 2 wks additional
helps if someone is sick or cant get to the site, That gives them time to find someon to grab theri [roject
For members who talked to me and got permission to print new tags, they were given a pass. Everyone else who simply printed new tags to skirt the 7 day tag and tossed the tag, they were off-sited.
It was two pickup loads and two Jeep loads.
And 2 members are banned by Luke from project storage for the heaping amounts of trash that they had on the shelves.
That sounds fair enough.
Thanks for what you do.
Why not send out two weeks before due rather than two weeks after? Same notificatuion time span and keeps 30 day period intact.
Somewhat unrelated question, but I’m curious. If I have something in storage, then I complete that project and take it home, but a week later start a new project and print a new tag, is that kosher? I just want to know as I may have something there 2-3 weeks, the take it home to finish, and start a new project a week or two later. Especially if I’m working with large slabs it would be so awesome to leave a slab there for the couple weeks it takes to finish and know I’m still good to store the next one a couple weeks if needed. If that’s un-cool I understand, just want to clarify.
Since I’ve officially stepped out of the role of being over project and personal storage, I’ll leave this for @LukeStrickland, the chair for Logistics.