On Site Paper Shredding FAQs
Why should my company shred documents?
Since we have a shredder, why do we need to outsource to an on site shredding service?
With fewer than ten employees, does it make sense for us to outsource document shredding?
Does it cost a lot to use an on site paper shredding company?
What else can you destroy besides paper?
How long must I keep documents before they can be destroyed?
Is a paper shredding schedule necessary?
What do I have to do to prepare documents for destruction?
What happens to the documents after they are destroyed?
How secure are your paper shredding containers?
Do you require your employees to be bonded?
Do you require your employees to undergo drug testing?
How much can you shred in an hour?
Can I witness destruction of my information?
Why don’t you offer off-site document destruction?
What customer support do you offer?
Do you provide online paper shredding services?
Do you offer a certificate of document destruction?
What regulations to you adhere to?
Do you submit to audits?
Do you offer a paper shredding service guarantee?
How do you implement privacy and security compliance?
What are payment and billing options?
Why should my company shred documents?
You have a legal responsibility to keep sensitive customer and employee information from falling into the wrong hands. Businesses can no longer throw confidential documents away. Eliminating certain data in a timely fashion limits your liability in litigation and protects proprietary information from competitors. Our paper shredding service will securely eliminate confidential information.
Since we have a paper shredder, why do we need to outsource paper shredding?
Most office-size paper shredders take time to feed and cannot accommodate sizable quantities of documents. Larger capacity document shredders involve capital investment, maintenance, and service calls. Last, large and compact paper shredders alike share the same basic problem – eventually they all break.
With fewer than ten employees, does it make sense for us to outsource document shredding?
Absolutely. Small organizations have limited personnel resources, and they may need to outsource paper shredding more than larger companies. A Shred Ahead provides convenient bins onsite and conducts paper shredding according to your schedule. Download information our Small Business Paper Shredding Package.
Does it cost a lot to use a document destruction company?
Paper shredding is a non-revenue producing function that eats up valuable employee hours. When you consider how much it costs for one of your employees to do the job, you’ll find outsourcing this tedious task to A Shred Ahead will save you time and money.
How does A Shred Ahead mobile shredding work?
We provide on-site document shredding services using our state-of-the-art mobile paper shredding trucks. On days designated by the schedule you develop with us, our bonded drivers will arrive and shred on-site all materials collected from you’re a Shred Ahead consoles and bins. Our “hands free” shredding process means our employees do not directly handle your documents. The paper is deposited directly from the collection bins into the shredding compartment via the bin hoist on the side of the truck. All A Shred Ahead trucks are equipped with GPS tracking services. We know where our trucks are at any given time, and we have a record of the routes.
What else can you destroy besides paper?
A Shred Ahead’s powerful Shred-Tech MDS 35GT trucks will shred just about anything. We can and often do destroy paper clips, staples, binders, books, small amounts of discs, and CD ROMs in the regular paper shredding pick-ups. When needed, we can destroy items such as hard drives, reel tapes, cassette tapes, and large amounts of plastics, discs, or CD ROMs when a special “product” run is requested.
How long must I keep documents before they can be destroyed?
The period of time that business records are stored should be determined by a retention schedule that takes into account the useful value of documents to the business and governing legal requirements. By not adhering to ongoing destruction of documents that have outlived their usefulness, businesses exhibit disposal practices that could be negatively construed in the event of litigation or audit.
Is a paper shredding schedule necessary?
By destroying records according to a set schedule, a company appropriately limits risk. Based on your company’s needs, A Shred Ahead will schedule a regular time—daily, weekly, monthly—to destroy and then recycle your sensitive material.
What do I have to do to prepare documents for destruction?
Nothing more than deposit them in the bins and consoles placed around your office. There is no need to remove paper clips, staples, or any other type of binding.
What happens to the documents after they are destroyed?
All shredding paper is securely recycled through our partnerships with recyclers. Every day, A Shred Ahead trucks are emptied at various paper dealers throughout the region. Many of our larger customers require that we report the actual poundage recycled per location. On average, we recycle over 350,000 pounds of shredded paper a month.
How secure are your containers?
We offer and maintain a number of different options in regards to lockable security containers. Choice of bin size and type is solely at your discretion and can be altered at any time during the engagement.
Do you require your employees to be bonded?
Yes. We seek and employ individuals with only the highest level of integrity and competency among our operations, driver, and customer service employees. When hiring, we prefer retired military, police, and fire/emergency personnel, who have proven time and again that they make the right decisions regardless of the situation. All employees are bonded, uniformed, and wear A Shred Ahead issued badges.
Do you require your employees to undergo drug testing?
Yes. We require our employees to participate in drug testing upon hire and to submit to random drug testing during the term of their employment.
How much can you shred in an hour?
All of our trucks shred over 6,000 pounds of paper per hour.
Can I witness destruction of my information?
Yes. On-site monitoring is available through cameras installed in the paper shredding and collection compartments in the trucks. Video recording of the shredding process is available.
Why don’t you offer off-site document destruction?
Given the risk associated with the transportation of highly confidential paper, A Shred Ahead does not offer off-site document shredding. Regardless of the amount of insurance the paper shredding company has, no amount of money will redeem the loss associated with the bad publicity of leaked information. Your information will not leave your parking lot until it is shredded.
What customer support do you offer?
We recognize that customer satisfaction is earned every week with every service. And we have earned the reputation of offering the best, most reliable service in the industry—at a reasonable price. Customer support involves a senior account representative responsible for managing your account, and customers service reps located in our call center to provide daily phone call support form 8 am – 5 pm EST.
Do you provide online paper shredding services?
Not at this time, however, this service is under construction. Once completed, this area on our site will allow all customers to login and request a customer call, schedule a purge, and check the schedule for the next route pick-up. Instant account access will also be available online, so you can check payments, look at past bills, and request invoices.
Do you offer a certificate of document destruction?
We can issue a Certificate of Destruction form when records have been destroyed. The form will include data and method of destruction, description of the disposed records, dates covered, statement that records were destroyed as part of the normal course of business, and signatures and names of individuals supervising and witnessing the destruction. We can also provide detailed monthly recycle poundage and quality reports.
What regulations to you adhere to?
A Shred Ahead is an AAA National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) Certified provider that is on the GSA Schedule with the Federal Government. We adhere to all applicable laws, regulations, and guidelines.
Do you submit to audits?
Because we are on the GSA Schedule, audits, unscheduled or scheduled, are a normal course of action and welcomed by us. One of our operational strengths is our back-office efficiency and front-office execution.
Do you offer a paper shredding service guarantee?
Yes. If, for any reason, A Shred Ahead cannot provide a level of service that exceeds a customer’s expectations and our standards, we will provide service free of charge until an alternative paper shredding solution is implemented.
How do you implement privacy and security compliance?
A Shred Ahead complies with HIPPA requirements and adheres to all other requirements and regulations for the destruction of confidentiality of proprietary materials. Our operations manual outlines the process and procedures we require our drivers to follow regarding the servicing of bins, the transporting of confidential material to the truck, and the shredding of the material.
What are payment and billing options?
We provide customized monthly billing. Our invoicing programs are incredibly flexible with regards to the type of information displayed on the invoices.
