Confidential documents shouldn't take rides with strangers

Shredding at the source vs. "the truck"

If you're using a shredding service, you're putting your company's security in the hands of strangers

When it comes to protecting your company, customers, and employees, shredding sensitive data prior to disposal is imperative.  But shredding your data before it leaves the building is the only way to be absolutely sure it was destroyed prior to someone else seeing it.

When you hand over documents to a shredding service, you are relinquishing control of your security program.  A complete stranger is now in possession of your sensitive materials.  You don't know their background or work history.  Would you feel comfortable handing the same person a box containing your personal bank and credit card statements and then watching him walk out the door with them?  If the answer is no, you should consider eliminating the  middle man and shredding "at the source".


"On-site" is still off-site

Today, many services offer on-site shredding.  This is a reassuring term, but consider that even if they shred the material in your parking lot:

 - it still leaves the building in the hands of strangers
 - documents may be piled up in the parking lot awaiting their turn to be shredded
   (where they may be stolen or left behind)
 - someone has to take time off work to watch the process if you want to be absolutely certain your
   documents are shredded


The main motivator of a shredding service is not your security - it's their profit

Shredding services deal in bulk.  Just like a pizza delivery driver, the faster they work, the more clients they can service.  In addition, using low-cost labour means a higher profit margin.  This combination of speed and cut-rate labour means a high probability of mistakes, which you can't afford them to make.  All it takes is a box of documents or a container bag left in the parking lot to put your company in a world of trouble.


Consider the cost

Outsourcing shredding is a constant expense which will never decrease.  Inevitable economic factors will take their toll on the shredding service, and these costs will get passed on to you.  They include:

 - skyrocketing gas prices (fuel surcharges)
 - truck and equipment maintenance
 - higher labour costs
 - increases in liability insurance premiums
 - inflation

In  many cases, a company can purchase a Destroyit business shredder capable of handling their document disposal needs for less than the cost of using a service for a single year. 


You can't delegate document security

A common misconception about shredding services is that once they take possession of your data, the responsibility for safeguarding it passes to them.  The truth is, all businesses required to maintain confidentiality of records cannot transfer the responsibility of properly disposing them to an outside contractor.  The legal responsibility for the security of the information remains with the business.  A certificate of destruction is not a legal document that will absolve the business from responsibility / liability in a court of law.

Don't let "the truck" take your company for a ride.