Free Geek Vancouver

I love this place. It was recommended by an instructor as a reliable source for affordable computer hardware from their thrift shop. There are many reasons to support them such as their dedication to eliminating electronic waste and the benefits of volunteering. For the record, I am now a volunteer. Volunteering for Free Geek Vancouver is an excellent way to learn the anatomy of computers by dismantling the donations, separating the reusable from the recyclable parts, and then building new electronics to sell in the thrift shop or donate. All their recycling is done ethically and after you have completed 24 volunteer hours, you are eligible for a free computer (the adoption box) or gift certificate to the store.

Free Geek is the first place I go to when donating electronics that don’t work rather than trashing it. These guys are amazing at fixing and using the parts for the less fortunate who do deserve to have some access to electronics like computers as it is the core of our functioning existence these days sadly. I didn’t know that this place existed until a flyer was handed to me as I was walking down the street.

CLOSED MONDAYS! Check their website before heading down.
Great place if you want to donate your old computers and accessories.
They have a great program run mostly by volunteers. Check their website about what they will take.
Don’t forget to check out their store at the front. My friend picked up an Apple keyboard for $ 5 for his desktop — it was like NEW.

Did you know this place exists? I volunteered here recently and realized this place is amazing! They run mostly on volunteers (only 7 staff members) and give everyone the opportunity to learn about the components in electronics, how to disassemble (and reassemble) computers, and how to ethically dispose of e-​waste.
They rely heavily on volunteers and one of the big benefits of volunteering is that you clock your hours towards getting a few desktop computer. This was a really cool thing to know since there are so many people out there who could benefit from having a machine to connect them to the internet but can’t afford it — this is basically their ticket!
I love what they’re doing here. The place is a bit messy (space is limited), but they have great intentions. Once they have an automated system for signing up, this would be a great regular volunteering opportunity.
Take the 14, 16, 135 or 7 to get you here.

Just a disclaimer — as the pricing for computer parts is always wildly fluctuating, be sure to do your homework before you walk in the door. Freegeek may set a price that may be fair a year ago, but is way too high today. A great example this time was when I tried to purchase a network card for my laptop — Freegeek wanted $ 25, but a quick search on my smartphone showed the same card for $ 9 on Amazon. I showed them, and they immediately dropped the price to $ 8. Props to them for adjusting on the spot, but it would’ve been nice if the prices were fair to begin with.
With that said, there are laptops (also for sale) on display inside the store that you can use to research the parts.

Whenever I break something, whenever my friends need a part, I usually check with free geek first. They have amazing deals and incredible solutions on refurbishing your electronics and providing discounted goods for your most basic computing needs. If you’re the kind of person who just wanted a computer to browse the internet, you should check them out. And if you’re the kind of person who’s «too broke» to own a computer, you should ask about volunteering there.
Not only do they provide a great resource through the refurbished computers, they provide a place to safely recycle your electronics in the community.
And linux users take note, they have a drop in meeting every week to talk about the newest developments in your distribution (primarily Ubuntu, but also Mint and others) and how to make the most of Unix. Very dorky, very useful, very fun, although I might be biased because this is being typed from a Unix based Operating System. Ha!

Hopefully by using Free Geek your reducing or delaying a computer from becoming part of a landfill in the developing world. They take computers, cables, flat screen, monitors, Although I sure the legal issues would be overwhelming sadly they do not exchange or reuse software. This is a new location it has parking in the front but I suggest entering thought the alley. I never bought a computer from them but they have a small store in the off the front entrance.

This is a drive across town for me, but I do it. So I waste a bit of gas, but at least what I want to get rid of doesn’t end up in a landfill.
Donations are taken in the back.
Everyone should come here to drop off their old computers.

I strongly support their mission, to keep old computer parts out of the landfill and to recycle responsible — i volunteered there last year and they treat their volunteers really well — you get a free computer after a certain number of hours and you are valued for your contribution — if you need spare parts go here first its probably recycled and works fine and you are not lining the pockets of big box store execs

I can’t think of a more hassle free way to get rid of the old PCs I was hoarding up thinking I’d have some use for someday.
PCs need to be brought to the back alley entrance where there is parking.

i’m moving so every day i discover some piece of equipment/​paraphenalia/​memorabilia/​clothing that i chose to not deal with by shoving in a corner of my apt. needless to say i wasn’t surprised when i realized i still had not disposed of my old Dell laptop from several years ago. it died a quick death after a solid and fulfilling 6 years of life (jeezus remember the day when they made things to last longer than 1 year!?). hard drive died and fixing it made no sense with the new low cost of laptop.
anyhoodles. looked up how to recycle/​donate laptops in Van and Free Geek popped up first. i checked it out and seemed good.
i assumed when i arrived i’d have to fill something out or talk to someone.
nope
walk in. drop it off. out the door. total time lapse = 20seconds!!!
SO EASY!!! HOORAH!!! love.

One thing to add to my Free Geek Vancouver review, they are very serious about properly sorting and ethically recycling the assorted parts of hardware that they don’t/can’t refurbish. Add on to that, that they are a very caring contributor to the broader community and you can’t go wrong with supporting these folk.

just found out about this and gave them some speakers earlier today, awesome place!1 awesome staff, tell your friends and save the envoronment!

Thanks to Unilocal and an article in 24Hours last year that made me aware of Free Geek!
Good place to donate your electronic items so they can be re-​used instead of being tossed in the landfill. It’s nice that they offer education to those who are interested. They take a wide variety of items, but unforunately have stopped taking in the old CRT monitors as of a month ago.
A few others had CRTs in their vehicles when we dropped off some items and were redirected to the Return-​It depot a couple of blocks away.

Nothing new to ad to the reviews. Just some second hand geek praise for this awesome East Van business.
I wish more people knew about Free Geek.
Don’t throw out your old computer stuff. I know we all have something LCD, RAM, or plug-​in-​able collecting dust in our storage rooms. Recycle it, and help someone in YOUR community have better access to all things Geeky!
I have brought a number of laptops and monitors here over the years. Even a web-​cam and USB dock. I knew someone out there could use them, I just had no idea how or who. These Geeks have the hookup!

I’m glad I came across Free Geek on Unilocal!I donated some computer parts piling up around the house. There was no hassle — no filling out or signing any forms. Just pulling up to the back door on the alley and bringing it to the counter inside.
I had to get rid of some old computer parts, but they were too good to treat as garbage. For example, an LCD monitor that turns on and displays correctly for a second, then turns off. These guys must know how to fix that and put it to good use!
Their site explains what they do volunteer-​wise, but I really appreciated the details about what they accept and how they would prefer to have it. I also brought in a cel phone charger.
Hardware isn’t my avenue of geekery, so I wasn’t excited by the «store» in the front. But if you lost a power supply to anything, this might be a good place to check. They had tons.

This place is the geeks version of a dollar store. It can really get geeks to salivate as they probably wish they could actually roll around in a pile of keyboards and LCD monitors.
Now you don’t have to pay to get rid of your old IT stuff and don’t be like those red necks who likes to leave it at someones curbside/​alley.
You can get free education to get a better job, or learn about other operating systems other than Windows. Your PC can zoom at twice the speed without being handicapped by a Windows operating system.
A friend of mine picked up a dinosaur blue print printer for $ 100 so he didn’t have to pay $ 40 each time he had to get it done. That Brontosaurus must have weighted 300 lbs. Better in his house than mine or a landfill I say.
This place has a few floors and filled with geeks this must be heaven for some hell for others.

Ok, I confess. I’m a closet geek. Well, maybe not so closeted. I love techie things (except Microsoft). I also love good causes (probably why I don’t like Microsoft). Free Geek is both.
This Vancouver chapter of the international Free Geek community is a nonprofit community organization that reuses and recycles donated technology to help reduce the impact of the dangers of waste electronics.
They provide computer education to anyone that wants it for free, help train people with technology job skills for free, provide free Internet access to anyone that stops in, and offer a program to give you a free computer if you volunteer 24 hours of your time to help their efforts. Yes, a free computer for 24 hours of helping a good cause.
Their primary focus is on reuse of computer equipment. They take donations of old computers, then break them apart, test all of the components, and rebuild working fully tested machines. They also take any extra working components and put them up for sale in a thrift shop type atmosphere. This is a great spot to find that hard to find additional memory for an old PC, an extra network router, or even entire PCs at ridiculously low prices (something like $ 25 for a low end computer up to about $ 150 for a newer faster machine). All of the items they sell have been thoroughly tested.
They also take a certain percentage of the computers they rebuild and provide them through free hardware grants to community organizations (mostly non-​profit and social change organizations).
Free Geek focuses on using open source software, and the majority of the PCs you can find them selling or granting for free use Ubuntu Linux, and come fully loaded and ready to go with Open Office suite, various music and graphics programs, Firefox, a torrent client, and several dozen games. They also offer a free class on how to use your new computer. Even though these are older machines, since they are running on Linux they run at similar speeds to newer machines running Windows.
They operate the organization following the same open source community principles. It is democratically run in a very non-​hierarchical way, with all major decisions being made in open forums. The volunteers help decide the priorities and policies of Free Geek through consensus.
Also, for those interested in learning about Linux, they offer a free drop-​in session on the first Wednesday of each month called «Windowless Wednesday» where they welcome all people to come for free to get and receive help about Linux, wireless access, installing Ubuntu, hardware issues, etc. It is a free for all where you write a problem on the white board and someone comes and tries to help you.
What’s not to love? Free computers. Free training. Saving the environment. Killing Microsoft. A Vancouver geek’s dream!