A laptop that came back is not the same as a laptop you can account for.
Most return processes end with a device on a desk and nothing to show for it. This is what we record at each handoff, and what you can produce afterwards.
Why the paperwork is the point
When a device goes missing after an exit, the question is rarely whether it mattered. It is what you can show. Which address it went to. Who was told what, and when. Whether anyone opened the box. Whether the person who took delivery signed for it.
A spreadsheet cannot answer any of that. It records intent, not events. The gap between "we asked for it back" and "here is the record" is where the risk lives, and it only becomes visible during an audit, an incident, or a lawyer's request, which is the worst possible moment to discover it.
Our process is built so the evidence is a byproduct of running the return rather than something you assemble afterwards.
Six links, and what each one proves
- Request
The request is logged before anything ships
You enter the employee, the device and the destination in the portal. That record is the start of the chain: a timestamped request tied to a named person and a named recipient address, created before any packaging exists.
- Kit out
A complete kit goes to the employee, not a bare label
We ship a return kit to the employee: a pre-labeled, padded box and clear instructions. A prepaid label emailed to someone puts the packaging problem on them and gives you nothing to point at afterwards. A kit that arrives ready to fill produces a dated delivery record on our side before the device has moved at all.
- Handoff
The employee packs it and hands it to a carrier
Depending on where the employee is, the parcel moves on USPS, UPS or FedEx. From the moment it is scanned it sits inside a commercial carrier chain with its own tracking record, which is a stronger evidence trail than a device sitting in a spare room.
- Follow-up
We do the chasing, and every message is on the record
Employees hear from us at five points: when the kit ships, when it is delivered, on reminders to send the device, when it is in transit, and when it has arrived. Two things follow. Your team is not emailing a former colleague asking for property back. And the follow-up becomes a log you can produce later, rather than a memory of who chased whom.
- Proof
You can show your work
The portal holds the tracking links and a transparent log of all communications, and exports reports for leadership. That is the artifact an auditor asks for. Not a belief that the laptop came back, a record of it.
- Disposition
The chain ends where you say it ends
When the device arrives we send it to you, or securely wipe, store, resell or recycle it. You choose per device. The chain is not complete when the parcel is delivered. It is complete when the device reaches the state you decided on.
We do not wipe devices we send back to you
Returned devices arrive data-intact, exactly as the employee packed them. Decommissioning stays with your team, which is where most security policies want it.
The secure wipe and the Certificate of Data Destruction belong to the recycling path. If you choose recycling instead of having a device returned, the process includes a complete device wipe and an official certificate for your compliance records.
We are spelling this out because the two get conflated constantly, and a company that believes every returned laptop arrives already wiped will build a policy on a fact that is not true.
Two upgrades when probable is not good enough
Neither is on by default. Add them per return, on the returns that warrant it.
Signature on delivery
$5 per return
Turns "delivered" into a named person accepting the device. Where custody has to be provable rather than probable, this is the line that does it.
Insurance
$2.50 per $500 of coverage
Covers the asset value in transit. It is not a custody control, it is the financial backstop for the one parcel in the tail that goes wrong.
We do not profit from add-ons. We pass our direct carrier costs on to you.
Questions security teams ask
- Do you wipe the device before sending it back to us?
- No. Devices returned to you arrive data-intact, exactly as the employee packed them, so your own team controls decommissioning. The secure wipe and the Certificate of Data Destruction apply when you choose the recycling path instead of having the device returned.
- What record do we get of the return once it leaves the employee?
- From the first carrier scan the parcel sits inside a commercial carrier chain with its own tracking record, and the portal holds the timestamped request, every notification sent to the employee, and the delivery confirmation against the named destination address. That is a dated record tied to a named person, which is what an auditor asks to see.
- Which carrier handles the return?
- A combination of USPS, UPS and FedEx, chosen per return based on carrier timelines and the employee location.
- Can we get the communication history for a specific return?
- Yes. The portal keeps a transparent log of all communications alongside the tracking links for each return, and reports can be exported for leadership.
- Does a Certificate of Data Destruction come with every return?
- Only on the recycling path. When you send a device for secure recycling, the process includes a complete device wipe and an official Certificate of Data Destruction for your compliance records.
Building this into your own systems? TheAPI documentation covers submitting and tracking returns programmatically.
Run one and keep the record.
Across our most recent 10,000 returns, 92.5% of the devices came back, and every one of them left this record behind. Your first return is free. Put a real device through it and look at what the portal hands you at the end.