Why is our IT department forced to scavenge old hardware?
IT staff face severe equipment shortages and wear and tear because leadership delays or denies replacement requests. This leaves workers scavenging parts from departing employees and handing out busted gear with cracked lids, forcing them to take the blame from frustrated users while leadership avoids accountability.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Scavenging parts from old equipment
- 2Handing out damaged or used devices
- 3Keeping a shared spreadsheet tracking requests and user impact to create a paper trail
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“we often have little to no kit and rely on scavenging and employees leaving so we can reuse equipment.”source ↗
“The scavenging thing is such a crappy spot to be in. You end up looking like the bad guy handing out busted equipment while the decision makers never have to see the user's face when you pass them a machine with a cracked lid.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 3How to manage a project when the boss is the bottleneck
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- 3Why are enterprise servers and hardware so expensive now?
- 13Why are equipment service bills so expensive for minor fixes?
- 2Why is it so hard to get budget approval for preventive maintenance?