Off-Site vs. On-Site
A musing written by Steve Richards on the ARMA list serve Wed, 3 Dec 2003
If the Brink's truck driver is not allowed to count the money out in the parking lot, then why would you feel comfortable shredding your confidential documents out there?
I own a commercial records management company and we also do a lot of shredding. A lot. I'm very comfortable handling confidential information in an extremely secure environment. I've been doing that for more than 18 years.
We treat your confidential records to be destroyed like a bag of money. We pick up your records and lock them in a bin, transport the locked bin in a locked truck whose driver has gone through an extensive background check. We deliver them to a locked records center/destruction facility and shred them there. All actions in the records center are monitored by a camera and are on tape, or you can have a copy on CD. All movement of the vehicle is tracked by live GPS. We too provide a certificate of destruction. And they too match.
If you want to monitor the destruction, come on by for lunch. After lunch, we'll go out, unlock the cart, unlock the bag, dump it in the pit and watch the confidential shredding of 16,000 lbs (640 1 cube boxes) in one only (1) hour. A shredding truck would take 17.7 + hours to shred that much. I say it with a " + " because a shred truck would have to go to the recycler or dump several times to empty the shredded contents. Most of the shred trucks do not bale the shredded material.
Do you want to stand out there and watch it - cold or hot - in the rain, snow? Do you have that much time in your schedule to witness the destruction?
With a fixed shredder, there is no truck taking up space in your parking lot or on the street making a lot of noise. If you're on the second floor or above, you probably don't notice the noise. I wonder what those whose offices or front doors are close to the shred truck while it is operating, think of you and that company because of the blocking of parking spaces, the activity - and the noise. And - you're shredding in an unsecured environment - a parking lot or on the street. The truck, even though manned is unlocked and open. How many times have you walked by one and seen what they're doing and what they're shredding. That doesn't mean that you know WHOSE records are being shred. But, you can see it. Anyone can see it. And has the wind every blown through the truck and a piece of paper flew out of the truck on the street - in the parking lot?
And by the way, what happens to the shredded material from that shredding truck? Where does it go? Our bales are closely monitored, delivered to a mill that I choose and disposed of and destroyed further under my supervision.
Just another thought about shredding alternatives.