Whether you are temporarily suspending operations, reducing/changing operations, staying open, or even in some cases opening formerly private services to help your communities we’re here to support you!
The current and next steps in our response include:
- Available now: we will enable our optional Reservation Buffer support for any organization that does not already have it at no charge. Please fill out the form below to request buffer day support be enabled.
- Available now: If you know of any groups that could benefit from myTurn to help with the COVID-19 response and recovery, we are offering a free single location site and highly discounted multiple sites for the duration of the response. Please have them contact info@myturn.com for details!
- Now available: Reservation Pickup Time Slots/Appointments shortly and bulk loan/rental extensions
The whole team here at myTurn hopes that you are staying healthy in these challenging times.
Note: we are aware that California and other areas in the United States have called their vaccination scheduling system “MyTurn“. We wish we could help; however, we do not provide vaccination scheduling services–they simply used our name without permission. The best place for vaccination information in the United States is currently Vaccine Finder: https://vaccinefinder.org
Changing / Improving Operations
If your organization already supports reservation buffer days, you can use Settings -> Inventory -> Item Default Values to set a a buffer between “Now” and when a reservation can start (e.g. “3 days from now”) and a buffer “Between” any two reservations. Instructions are on our support site at:
https://support.myturn.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001986971-Reservation-Buffers-Enterprise-
If you do not already have buffer day support on your subscription, we are offering this optional feature for free during the COVID-19 response. Please email support@myturn.com or fill out the form below.
We recommend reducing contact with your customers and even their payment methods. You can require that customers save a card on file when placing reservations then charge that card when they pick up, or you deliver/ship items. There is no need for them to even use a contactless reader (Apple Pay, Android Pay, etc.) or card in person–just charge their payment method on file.
More about settings up Stripe can be found on our support site at:
https://support.myturn.com/hc/en-us/sections/205161947-Online-Payments
Do you have time to get reservations ready for pick up before users come in? If so, you can use our “Build Order” process to get reservations ready for pickup, then check them out to the user when they pick them up in just 2 clicks.
Once you go through the Build Order process for a reservation, you can click “Check Out” right on the List Reservations page to check those items out to the user.
Build Order Process (including video):
https://support.myturn.com/hc/en-us/articles/205664728-Managing-Reservations-and-Building-Orders
Reserving Items:
https://support.myturn.com/hc/en-us/articles/212531058-Reserving-items
myTurn offers a number of ways to help with shipping and delivery of items. If you want to allow people to select if they want to pick up or have items delivered, there is an option in Settings -> Loans & Reservations.
Our “Build Order” process can also help you get shipments ready to go and even send a tracking number of confirmation when you’re ready to ship. The Notify Ready note can also allow you to provide special instructions (timeframe to pickup) for a specific reservation/order.
We are looking at adding ShippingDelivery Address support to allow for delivery to locations that are not the same as the users main address. For the moment, you can have your users use the Reservation Note to specify an alternate address for shipping.
Cleaning & Disinfecting
(2020-10-28) COVID-19 spreads less commonly through contact with contaminated surfaces as per the CDC https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/how-covid-spreads.html
(2020-03-17) New coronavirus stable for hours to days on surfaces according to the US NIH
The scientists found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel. The results provide key information about the stability of SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19 disease, and suggests that people may acquire the virus through the air and after touching contaminated objects.
Additional references: Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS-CoV-2 as Compared with SARS-CoV-1
With the hundreds of different types of items that are managed via the myTurn platform we can’t give instructions for every type. You can find recommendations from the US Center for Disease Control at:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/cleaning-disinfection.html
We also recommend putting a buffer between item usage using our Buffer Days functionality to help ensure the virus is deactivated on any surfaces accidentally missed with cleaning.
For any customers remaining open during the outbreak, we will happily enable this option for free on your myTurn site. Please email support@myturn.com or fill out the form on this page and we’ll turn this on for you.
More Resources & Ways to Help
We are learning from China and Italy that these crucial ventilators are being heavily utilized—many ventilators are running non-stop. There’s even precedent for hospitals short on ventilators using hose splitters to share a machine between patients, as in the 2017 Vegas shooting. Due to heavy use and accelerated wear and tear, these lifesaving machines are breaking down.
Temporarily Suspending / Resuming Operations
You can edit users and “update expiration date only” which will not charge any fees.
If you want to do a bulk extension for all active users, please email the following information to support@myturn.com:
- How long you would like the memberships extended (e.g. 30 days)
- The date you suspended operations (so we can just update all users that expire on or after that date)
Please ensure you email us from an email address associated with a super admin account for your site. We will confirm the address and that you can receive email to it before making the changes.
Change Template and Deny (recommended):
- Change your “Reservation Denied” template at Settings -> Customers -> Email Templates to let people know you are temporarily suspending operations
- Go to Inventory -> List Reservations and either just click “Deny” on all upcoming reservations, or you can use “More Options -> Send Message” to send a personal message with the standard “Deny” message.
- This will then clear those reservations from the system and also notify your users.
Export upcoming reservations with Email addresses:
- Go to Inventory -> Reservation Report
- Select today’s date in the “Starts On or After” box
- Clear the date from “Starts On or Before”
- Click “Update”
- Export the report in CSV and import into your favorite email marketing syste (e.g. MailChimp)
Right now you need to do this user by user, but we are working on a new feature to allow you to extend all loans. This option will:
- Allow you to set the new due date
- Any rental fees will be discounted
- We will be adding a new “renew” message that you will be able to set with the renewals
If you charge rental/loan fees and want to include those on the renewals, you will need to renew/extend those loans for each user (so no need to wait for this new feature).
Due, Overdue, and Reservation Reminders can be modified at:
Settings -> Customers/Members -> Configure Loan Reminders
You can also modify the messages by editing:
Settings -> Customers -> Email Templates
While myTurn currently only supports transactional emails, you can export all or a subset of your user data with email addresses:
- Go to Customers -> Search / Export
- Optionally use the Advanced Search to limit which users you want to contact (e.g. members of a certain type, etc.)
- Click CSV next to “Export Results”
- Import into your favorite email marketing platform like Mailchimp to email everyone.
If you have already notified users who have upcoming reservations
Single Location sites:
- Go to Settings -> Loans & Reservations
- Uncheck “Enable Reservations”
- Save at the bottom of the page
- No users will be able to set up reservations (including admins)
Multiple Locations: if your organization has multiple location support, you can instead
- Go to Settings -> Organization -> Locations
- Edit each location and change the “Reservation Access Level” to either “Admins” or “No one”
- Save
- Repeat for each location
- This also gives you the flexibility to allow Admins to reserve items while not allowing regular users to do so
While most people are supporting (Especially community based) services, we have been asked how to refund a membership fee charged via Stripe.
Right now, you must use the Stripe.com Dashboard to refund fees charged via credit card through myTurn.
Other Ways to Notify Users about Changes
You can modify your myTurn Public Site home page content at:
Settings -> Public Site -> Home Page Content
This allows you to set one main/top column and optionally three other columns of information below. You can also modify your logo and favicon (browser/bookmark icon) here.
The Hours Notes appear below your logo/site name on every Item page, so this is a good choice for adding information about any changes to availability.
If you want a short message to show up on items in search results, you can use:
Settings -> Inventory -> Statuses
You can even set a custom color for each status.
Note that you will need to add the status to all items where you want it to appear. For bulk changes, using Inventory -> Export then Inventory -> Import can speed things up greatly.
Request Reservation Buffer Support for your myTurn Site
myTurn Buffer Day support allows you to add a buffer between reservations and in-person loans. This can help ensure you have time between reservations for cleaning and disinfecting. Please note that admins can override the buffer when placing reservations or checking items out.
Learn More about Reservation Buffer Support on our support site at:
https://support.myturn.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001986971-Reservation-Buffers-Enterprise-
We also recommend that if you are new to reservations (or even if you are not!) that you use the Build Order support. This includes a new “Notify Ready” support where you can add a custom note when letting people know their reservation is ready for pickup:
https://support.myturn.com/hc/en-us/articles/205664728-Managing-Reservations-and-Building-Orders