Who is Shred-it?

Shred-it has been setting shredding industry standards for 15-plus years, serving more than 120,000 clients worldwide, with 130 branch offices on five continents. (Many analysts credit Shred-it with starting the on-site shredding industry.) Shred-it San Diego is the first confidential, mobile on-site document destruction franchise in the United States. Locally, we serve an ever-increasing client base of 4,000-plus business firms in San Diego and Orange counties. We operate a fleet of 16 high-speed shredding trucks, with 20 Customer Service Representatives (drivers), we are one of the largest paper recyclers in San Diego County. At present we employ 34 sales and support personnel.

Why is on-site shredding better than off-site?

It is not a matter of better or worse, but really a matter of confidentiality and security of information. Most business entities generate information that is of value to their competitors. This sacrosanct information and other nonpublic information–NPI-- has names, addresses, Social Security Numbers, credit records and other data that would be harmful to the business (employee or customer) if it fell into the wrong hands. With an off-site shredding or recycling service, once your documents leave your location, you can never be sure of how this material is handled, or who may have access to it (Some off-site recycling firms never shred material, but instead separate it by color, bale and recycle it.)

The FTC Safeguards Rule of the GLB Act requires firms that use off-site recyclers to personally monitor this process; documents of destruction issued without this safeguard have no legal value.

With our professionals, your documents are shredded on-site in a caged, secure environment; our CSR’s never see the documents as they are turned into confetti-sized pieces of paper, therefore the odds that these documents may be compromised is virtually non-existent. 

What is a Shredding Policy?

A shredding policy is a written procedure that highlights how the company will dispose of sensitive and confidential material. The FTC Safeguards Rule of the GLB Act states that the company must:

1. Design and implement a written statement regarding their information security program appropriate to the company’s size and complexity, the nature and scope of its activities and the degree of sensitivity of the customer information it handles.
2. Each financial institution must also:

• Assign one or more employees to oversee the security aspects of their program;
• Conduct a risk assessment of their data;
• Establish safeguards to control the risks identified in the assessment and regularly test and monitor these safeguards;
• Require service providers, by written contract, to protect customers’ personal information; and
• Periodically update the security aspects of this program.

Does Shred-it San Diego conduct background checks on its employees?

Yes. All our employees, including our Customer Service Representatives undergo stringent background checks including Criminal, Drug and Driving Records. All employees are subject to on-going random drug and alcohol testing. Each CSR is bonded and insured.

What type of shredders do you use?

We utilize truck mounted industrial-size crisscross shredders to reduce documents to confetti. The average size of these pieces is 5/8”, which provides far greater security than conventional strip-cut shredders. In addition, in the normal process of shredding other jobs, your shredded material becomes mixed in with other shredded material so it is impossible to reconstruct your documents once we have shredded them.

What constitutes confidential or sensitive information?

Confidential and sensitive material is any document that contains nonpublic information (NPI), which could be linked to a particular company, organization or individual. This includes, but is not limited to such information as, Social Security Numbers, account numbers, names, addresses, banking or financial records, meeting notes, product prototypes. Included in this category is any material, which may be of interest to competition. Some examples of this material include:

• Customer lists
• Sales statistics
• Financial records
• Pay roll records
• Personnel files
• Legal documents
• Cancelled Checks
• Account records
• Computer printouts
• Medical Records
• Advertising misprints
• Inventory lists
• Memos & correspondence
• Tax records
• Invoices
• Price lists
• Inventory lists
• Outdated business records
• New product drawings
• New product proposals
• R & D information
• Credit card receipts
• Competitive information

How is the material we wish to shred stored?

Shred-it San Diego will provide as many locked furniture-quality consoles free of charge as you may need. These consoles are located strategically throughout your business. The material you wish to shred goes into the console through a slot, where it falls into a specially designed bag within the console. On a pre-determined schedule, our CSR unlocks the console, removes the bag, re-locks it and takes the material to the truck where it is shredded.  (Our trucks can shred up to 2,000 pounds of material in an hour.) A designated person in your organization has a key to open your consoles should the need arise.

How do I prepare my documents for shredding?

No preparation is necessary. There is no need to waste your valuable time removing paperclips, staples, binder clips or separating paper by color or size. Our shredders eat hanging folders and file tags like candy!

We store our records so why do we need a shredding service?

Document management represents an increasingly complex challenge to today’s business. Document storage fees are rising, as is the cost to retrieve needed documents. An effective document management program takes into consideration the length of time records are useful to the business, as well as the legal requirements of how long documents are to be retained. (See our Document Retention Schedule.)  Once this period has passed, the only acceptable way of discarding documents is to use a method that ensures their complete destruction. That is exactly the method we use. With the increasing demands for privacy assurance required by the latest laws and regulations (FTC FACT Act, HIPAA, Etc.), every firm should adopt a Shredding Policy. Finally, with our service we provide you with a “Document of Destruction” showing the exact date and method of destruction. Shredding is a wise and prudent course of action that meets all legal requirements.

What size shredding jobs do you accept?

With our professionals, no job is too large or too small. We service accounts from Main Street America to major international firms, to the local industrial park.

We have offices in several locations, can you service all of them?

Yes. Our National Accounts Program offers centralized management of your document destruction needs no matter where your other offices are located.

Do you educate employees on legislative policies and procedures?

Yes. We maintain an in-house training department devoted to keeping our people current on all aspects of our business. In addition, from time-to-time we produce White Papers that treat certain topics in-depth, “How to Avoid Identity Theft: Protecting Your Good Name,” is one example; our Identity Theft Slide Chart has proven quite popular with law enforcement personnel and the legal profession.

Our health care clients are provided a password protected URL which covers HIPAA and other laws. For non-health care accounts, we provide equally specific information (which you are now reading.)

In addition, we have a variety of videos, training aids and ‘In Service’ material designed to keep you informed on the latest legislative policies and procedures.

How often do your employees undergo training?

In one sense, the training of our people never stops at Shred-it San Diego. Our CSR’s attend a monthly breakfast that features instruction in safety, security and workplace procedures. Representatives of our International Office conduct comprehensive field training with our Management staff; both our General Manager and sales personnel undergo refresher training at corporate locations yearly. Our salespeople attend a product knowledge workshop monthly. All this means that we are training our staff on every aspect of our business on a continual basis.            

How do you assure that your shredding process is secure?

We observe “Chain of Custody” document security procedures at all time. All shredding is done on-site in a secure, enclosed environment within our truck. Vehicle doors are locked when the truck is not in service. Console contents are emptied ‘sight unseen’ directly into the shredder. You may observe this process if you so desire.

What guarantee do I have that my documents are completely destroyed?

At the completion of each shred, our CSR issues you a Certificate of Destruction. This is a legal document issued to every client that provides irrefutable evidence that each document was completely destroyed.

What happens to the paper after it has been shredded?

The destroyed documents, now the size of confetti, is transferred to our recycling facility where it is baled and sold to paper mills. It returns to the market place as household paper products.

How often do you come to shred?

Your individual business needs dictate our shredding schedule.  Some firms produce enough sensitive and confidential documents that we perform shredding services three times a week; other customers may require only monthly service. Sometimes, a firm may only need a ‘purge’ of materials every six months or once a year. Your contact person and our Account Manager will work out the ideal schedule for you. Since there are no long-term contracts to sign, no up front money needed to begin service, and we only charge actual shredding time, the frequency of your service can be modified as service needs dictate.

What happens if our container is full before the regularly scheduled service time?

We are only a phone call (or e-mail) away. Our sole purpose is to serve you. We’ll glad schedule an extra pick-up, or provide you with additional consoles, or increase your service frequency. The idea is to maintain the security of your material, while making your life easier.

When do I receive my invoice?

Your invoice is presented to you ‘live’ immediately after each shred.

We use a recycler for our documents, so why do I need your services?

In today’s ever-changing world, recycling of documents is plain dangerous. The FTC Safeguards Rule of the GLB Act requires that recycled materials be monitored for destruction. Recycling services are not designed to provide security. With a recycler, your material is transported in its entirety, so if an accident were to occur, your confidential information is open to everyone.             

Depending on the amount of material generated, and the degree of sensitivity involved, any Document of Destruction issued by a recycling firm has no legal standing unless your designated person monitors the destruction of your material.  Why risk a violation with fines ranging from $2,500 to $11,000 a day? (If environmental concerns are important to you, at year’s end with Shred-it San Diego, you receive an Environmental Certificate showing how many trees your organization has saved.)

We have an in-house shredding machine, so why would I want to change to your service?

There are three reasons to change from in-house shredding: 1) reduced cost; 2) more productive workers; and 3) improved morale.

Research shows that when an employee is asked to abandon productive work for a non-productive chore such as shredding, morale suffers: egos are bruised, fingernails and clothing are frequently damaged; shredding machine breakdowns are common; productivity is compromised.