Hiring A Shredding Service Vs. Buying A Personal Shredder

Almost everyone knows the importance of shredding sensitive materials and documents. Criminals have grown more efficient at stealing valuable information from documents that aren’t properly destroyed. Shredding is one of the best ways to avoid identity theft and ensure your personal information is safe.

Businesses are required by law to destroy documents and media files containing personal and private information. But, is it better use a personal shredder or hire a shredding service?

If you have material that needs shredding, there are several options you can choose from to complete the task. Personal shredders can be purchased in many different retail stores or you can cut your documents with scissors. Shredding companies can be hired to shred the documents for you as well. Here are the pros and cons of each method.

Buying a personal shredder

When you have a personal shredder in your office, it offers the convenience of doing the shredding on your own time. You don’t have to wait for a service to pick up the material and you pay a one-time fee for the unit. Personal shredders are ideal if you only have a small amount of material to destroy.

However, if you did not buy a high quality machine, you could face some technical issues. Even then, quality units will need maintenance. These machines cannot handle large volumes of paper at one time and many shredders cannot shred staples. You will have to manually remove staples and divide the papers into manageable stacks, which wastes work time.

Using a pair of scissors

This method is the slowest, most time-consuming way of shredding. It also is not guaranteed to safely destroy your documents. Potential identity thieves could easily piece sensitive documents back together. This method is not likely to be enough proof of destruction should FACTA or HIPPA ask you for verification of destroyed materials. It is also extremely time consuming, so if you do not have much to shred, a personal shredder could be a better option for you.

Hiring a shredding company

When you hire shredding services from a company, a truck comes right to your facility to shred documents. The job is performed in front of you and then the truck takes the shredded papers to recycle. The papers do not need to be divided into smaller stacks and staples don’t have to be removed. Some trucks are able to shred up to one hundred pounds of paper in a minute. The process is speedy and secure and there is no cleanup involved on your part. These services typically charge by volume, but you may be able to get a discount for having more volume.

Hiring a shredding service requires that you set up a schedule for the company to come by your business. This type of service is ideal for businesses with a large amount of materials to destroy.

Document and hard drive destruction in Amarillo, Texas

UCI Document Destruction understands the importance of protecting the privacy of your employees and your customers. We are AAA certified through the National Association for Information Destruction and provide a convenient and safe shredding service that is cost-effective and environmentally conscious. We offer solutions and Services for small, medium, and large businesses throughout the Texas Panhandle. Contact us today at (806) 372-7722 or send us an Email to see how we can help you and your business.