How Much Does Paper Shredding Service Cost?
Every business has those certain documents that should only be viewed in house. There are a few common ways of handling such documents, and in case you haven't heard, signing up for paper shredding services is the way to go. It's cost efficient and time-saving for your company.
Weighing your options
Another reason you should turn to paper shredding services is the expensive paper shredding machines that only last so long. You've got to have more than one paper shredder in the office, which can break the bank faster than you think. The machines can overheat, break down, and you find yourself making another trip to Staples to drop another $400. You can save yourself money in the long run by not owning a single paper shredder and letting the services handle the shredding for you.
Total Cost
There are a few different ways you can go when signing up for shredding services. If your company is located close to a shredding service, you can actually drop the paper off yourself after work. This is a great way to save a little money if the amount of paper you're shredding is minimal. On the other hand, if your company has a lot of employees and there's just too much paper to deal with, the services will come to you. Depending on your needs, you can sign up for bi-weekly or monthly on-site shredding. On average, bi-weekly will cost you about $100 while monthly will cost closer to $50.
Justifying the bi-weekly/monthly bill
There are plenty of reasons to believe that having a paper shredding company is appropriate. To assure a job well done, most paper shredding services will issue a certificate of destruction after having shredded your paper. You won't have to wonder if any sensitive information is still viewable. Another convincing reason is all the time and hassle you and all other employees will save by simply not having to deal with any paper shredding machines. We all know that every piece of office equipment won't always work perfectly. Paper shredders are one of these.
Here's a price break-down for operating your own paper shredder:
- Paper Shredder: $400-$5,000
- Monthly Labor Cost/per machine: $98
- Monthly Maintenance Cost/per machine: $20
- Total Monthly Cost of Each Shredder: $118
Ever wonder if you're shredding your documents in a secure manner?
Every company that shreds documents knows the purpose behind it, which is to destroy sensitive information in order to prevent identity theft and other suspicious things from happening. What people might not know is how easy it is for someone to steal your identity. Have you ever thrown a utility bill in the trash and wondered if you should have shredded it? This is an example of a document that you definitely want to shred. It might not have your credit card information on it, but your name and address mostly likely are. These are the only two things somebody would need to potentially steal your identity.
Documents you shouldn't be shredding
Not all your documents with sensitive information should be shredded and destroyed. Here's a list of the ones you should keep:
- Social Security Cards
- Birth Certificates
- Death Certificate
- Marriage License
- Divorce Papers
Interesting facts about paper shredding
According to secureshred.com, 63.4% of the paper consumed in the United States in 2009 was recovered for recycling. Also, wmdshred.com reports that from the document shredding that took place in west Michigan in 2007, they saved 11,050 trees, 4.5 million gallons of water, 292,500 gallons of oil and 2.6 million kilowatt of energy. These type of statistics are very encouraging and should be society's motivation to have our paper shredded and recycled.
Some great facts about paper shredding in the United States can be found at sdadocs.org. They claim that the United States consumes more than 80 million tons of paper annually. They figure that for every ton of paper that is recycled, 17 trees and 7,000 gallons of water are saved.
Something that a lot people don't know is that once you take your trash out to the curb, anybody can legally go through it. If this isn't convincing enough for you to shred your documents with sensitive information, I don't think anything will motivate you to do so. You'd be surprised at how many people actually spend the time and go through business's trash.
