Return of a single laptop from overseas.
Posted by LRS_David@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 58 comments
Small under 20 person company has all of the staff very local in North Carolina except for one person. The one person not local is leaving on amicable terms. We need to get the laptop back. Normally we'd just work it out. But this now ex employee is in Singapore and dealing with making sure it returns through customs, insurance, shipping rates that are not insane, etc... I can see it taking a lot of hours.
Are there any of the "we get your laptop back" firms that deal with literally one off situations. All of them I've noticed want to handle your multiple returns per year if not month or week. Which is NOT our scale.
Value of the laptop is $1K to $2K and would cost $3K to replace so we'd like it back without an insane amount of hassle.
TIA
Practical-Alarm1763@reddit
Brick and wipe it and write it off. You'll spend more money and time on getting that laptop returned then it's worth.
Adam_Kearn@reddit
I would do a windows reset to remove the data and offer the person to buy the laptop off you at a very discounted rate.
Or even just say keep it as it would prob cost a 1/4 of the cost of a new one to post it back.
KimJongEeeeeew@reddit
Just write it off. It’s not going to be worth the time, money or hassle.
LRS_David@reddit (OP)
Not my decision.
Soggy-Attempt@reddit
Make the suggestion
LRS_David@reddit (OP)
You assume that conversation has not been had.
Small companies with much less over head than larger ones look at some sums of money differently that large corps.
icehot54321@reddit
Bro, you are not going to find anyone willing to deal with this for you than less than what the laptop costs.
Even if it's not your decision you just tell the decision makers what the prices are and let them decide.
When you present the numbers, make sure to factor in your time to make sure it's clear how much extra effort it is going to be for you to navigate shipping and customs and doing all of the paperwork for the return .. because the employee should have to do nothing other than put the laptop in a box you send them.
LRS_David@reddit (OP)
Thanks. That is a direct answer to my question.
RevolutionaryElk7446@reddit
Technically the first one was also a direct answer.
LRS_David@reddit (OP)
It as a hand waving comment. No facts or anything else.
My wife and I have worked in tech for larger corps (100K people or more) all the way down to tiny companies (1 or 2 people). They have very different ideas of what is a hassle and what is worth pursuing.
All I asked was if there are companies that deal with one off situations. Not a lecture on HR policies.
fizzlefist@reddit
Do the math on how much that laptop is worth, and break it down by how much billable time it’s going to take to get it back. There ain’t no way it’s going to be worth all the hours the boss is paying to get it done.
Frankly the simplest answer on how to do it is to just fly someone round trip to retrieve it.
RevolutionaryElk7446@reddit
There aren't facts in the other one either, they both say the same information with some other info.
No one gave you a lecture, chill out my man.
jeremiahfelt@reddit
What is the make / model / value of the laptop, and what municipality in Singapore?
thewarring@reddit
The only way you’re getting that laptop back is if you pay for shipping it via FedEx and the former employee actually ships it, or if someone from your company travels to get it. This is a write-off situation. It should have been known going into the situation where an employee is out of country what the recovery options were. And if the company cannot take a $3,000 hit, then the company isn’t going to be around for very long.
Arudinne@reddit
Yeah, I know companies come in all sizes, but if $3000 is enough to kill a company, I'd be keeping my resume fresh.
wootybooty@reddit
Time vs. Money, recovering that laptop is going to end up eating a lot of time and money (calculate hours on salary of person taking on this task). Every once in a while I’m put in a shitty situation and have to write something off, because fighting it would cost the company more.
As you said, this is a small business and even small decisions can affect the company.
JimTheJerseyGuy@reddit
I used to work for a company that ran clinical trials in foreign countries. We had to provision each clinical site with a number of laptops preloaded with the necessary software in order for them to participate in the trial.
It was difficult and costly enough to get those devices through customs and in-country in the first place… They were all declared as write-offs at the end of the trial. What happened to them, is anybody’s guess.
peace991@reddit
Before the tariffs yes. Right now, he’ll no. We just lock that computer and erase it, Leave it in autopilot and that’s that. The shipping itself is expensive. Once you get the tax bill after a few weeks, accounting will start calling you.
kernelqzor@reddit
Yeah, this is where the “just ship it back” idea sounds a lot nicer than it actually is.
By the time you deal with international shipping, customs, maybe brokerage fees, and then surprise tax or duty showing up later, you’re easily flirting with “I could’ve just bought a new one” territory. Especially for a single machine.
If you’ve already got decent remote wipe / MDM in place and the data is secure, I’d honestly treat it as written off unless you happen to already have a logistics setup in that region. For one off situations like this, the soft costs in time and hassle are usually worse than the hard costs on the invoice.
Distracted-User@reddit
If you aren't taking it back, why not just wipe it and remove from MDM and let them keep the damn thing? Why create more ewaste.
Arudinne@reddit
So if your phone got stolen, you'd be okay with someone being able to wipe and use it?
Distracted-User@reddit
It's almost like you intentionally ignored the OP and made up your own scenario.
The device in question wasn't stollen.
Arudinne@reddit
It's almost like I did read it and posited a different scenario and the reason why thinks like activation lock and bricking devices via MDM exist in the first place.
It's not to generate e-waste. It's to incentivize the return of the device (can't be used by anyone else), disincentivize theft (can't sell it because it's locked), and CYA (prevent loss of company data).
Distracted-User@reddit
You're just arguing to argue. Go get some fresh air and maybe ease up on the coffee.
CountGeoffrey@reddit
https://helloretriever.com/ but they don't support SG. Look for similar service.
No_Yesterday_3260@reddit
Format it and sell it off, heck dealing with shipping, too many work hours and other costs. Not worth it.
StumblingEngineer@reddit
For $2999 I will fly there, pick it up, and fly back and deliver it.
TundraGon@reddit
Teambuilding in Singapore :)
PawnF4@reddit
I would never put anything back on my network that came from China if I were you.
angrydeuce@reddit
Youre going to spend more to get the laptop back than its worth in both money and effort. Personally I would just take the L and order a replacement, which will be that much newer anyway.
Youre going to be waiting forever for the thing to make its way back to you anyway, so gotta consider the downtime there as well. If its the difference between someone working on an old piece of shit while you wait for the less old piece of shit to spend a month in transit and customs then you gotta consider that lost productivity as well.
ProfessionalEven296@reddit
This. Take the loss, and let the user keep the laptop (data cleansed, of course). You’ll get a lot of goodwill for doing that.
angrydeuce@reddit
You phrase that much better than me lol...im surly enough that the goodwill isn't part of the equation, Id just be trying to save myself a whole lotta bullshit for little gain. If that makes the user happy, great, but my primary consideration is not dealing with more bullshit then I already have to lol
We have everything pretty well geolocked and any requests to take equipment out of the country would need to be cleared ahead of time (cause they ain't gonna work if they don't lol) and those few times we've had to loop in an external consultant from overseas, we've always been pretty insistent on BYOD specifically to avoid this being a thing down the road. If we ever grew to the size where we had people we were supporting on another continent I have a feeling we would already have a team responsible for recovering this shit from them because that would definitely be a full time job in itself lol
kona420@reddit
Pay them to remove the drive and send it back. They keep the rest of the laptop. Alternatively, evidence of the physical destruction of the drive.
ProfessionalEven296@reddit
Assuming the drive isn’t soldered to the board, of course.
0xdeadbeef6@reddit
If they're hell bent on not writing it off, its a great excuse for a trip to Singapore...
thewarring@reddit
FedEx says they can ship it for $354 and have it in Charlotte, North Carolina by Thursday at 5 pm. There’s even a FedEx ship center in Singapore. You might just want to look into that.
tirini@reddit
Between your time, shipping frees and tariffs, you're looking around $1k to retrieve one laptop from overseas if the ex-employee sends it back in a timely manner.
We were doing it until the tariffs kicked in, now Accounting doesn't think it's worth it. So we just brick them through MDM
cad908@reddit
Hey... pay my T&E to Singapore, and I'll pick it up for you!
seriously though, just write it off. If you have the ability you can remote wipe it. Then, since the former employee is leaving on good terms, just give it to them.
Distracted-User@reddit
I feel like this is the best plan. Just wipe it and remove from MDM and let the employee keep it. No point in locking it and creating more e-waste, and the cost and hassle of getting it back seems like a huge waste of time for everyone.
WRB2@reddit
Pop a keycap off and have it returned to the US for repair.
Send the keycap three weeks later in a letter.
Pick the W
HerfDog58@reddit
At a previous employer, we had one specific FedEx account number used solely for equipment returns. When an employee was offboarded, HR would send them a link or QR code to scan. They could take all the stuff the company asked them to return to a FedEx store. The store employees would scan the link/QR code, then box everything up.
If you can establish something like that, it's probably the easiest way to handle it.
Otherwise, I agree with the others - the value of the laptop + all the time to arrange for return + dealing with all the customs issues + the cost of shipping will likely be less than the cost of replacing it.
aguynamedbrand@reddit
The amount of time, effort, and money spent on this will exceed the cost of the computer. If the company can’t afford to write off a single laptop then you should be looking for a new employer.
Anthropic_Principles@reddit
well you could do worse than post something in r/singapore and ask if someone who travelling to the US would be willing to bring it over for you...
covex_d@reddit
helloretriever.com does one offs but the cost is going to be through the roof.
alraffa218@reddit
Yes. Op check helloretriver.com . Unsure if they can do from singapore.
mdervin@reddit
I mean, the big shipping firms will do all of this for you. Call FedEx/UPS/DHL tell them what you need, you fill out a form, they send you a bill, your ex-employee takes a walk to the fedex store and ships it out. 20 minutes of your time.
Standard_Text480@reddit
Like shipping any other package…?
highdiver_2000@reddit
Shipping rates is the killer. Customs and Insurance is nothing if you don't care. Just declare a nominal value like $1 since it is not for sale.
I live in SG.
SVD_NL@reddit
Just ship it using a regular postal service with insurance. Take the risk on customs, and if it gets flagged pay the required duties (or let them destroy it).
Not worth the hassle, just take the risk of it going wrong and losing the laptop.
db_newer@reddit
Yes have them remove the battery if external and post it.
LRS_David@reddit (OP)
Thanks
CuteSharksForAll@reddit
Just sell it to them at the depreciated price. If the laptop is over 3 years old, it’s not worth the costs associated with properly returning it. Most organizations should be depreciating laptops in a 3-5 year timeframe.
Of course you could just take the risk and send it through the mail, informal shipments under $2,000 might make it through without issue.
en-rob-deraj@reddit
Sir, the value of the laptop is very depreciated 40% for every year they've had it. Trust me on this. Have them ship it back and claim the minimal value on duties.
Ztoffels@reddit
When this happened to me, I was offered to buy it, or ship back to the company with Fedex/DHL at the companies expense.
Of course, I bought the laptop at a quarter of its original price.
Traditional-Ad-5421@reddit
But the cheapest ticket to Singapore..fly there. Nothing else is cheaper.
d-weezy2284@reddit
Does it make financial sense to go through all that?
It's best to just remote wipe it and write it off.
YellowLT@reddit
Remote Wipe and forget about it
NighthawkFoo@reddit
Write it off. The amount of time you're going to spend getting it back is going to burn up any potential hardware savings.