Although stay-at-home orders and self-quarantining might stop you from leaving your house, the need to shred isn’t going to stop, and no matter if it’s sensitive information you’re just receiving in the mail or instead it’s a file you’ve had to retain for years, it’s important you’re still able to dispose it safely, which is exactly where home shredding alternatives like Ship ‘N’ Shred and off site shredding can come in handy.
Learn more in this video or the transcription below about how Ship ‘N’ Shred and off site shredding are able to provide an ideal solution to the problem of needing to securely destroy and dispose sensitive information when you’re stuck at home.
Video Transcription
Handling Shredding While Still Staying at Home
If you’re working from home or being quarantined for public health concerns, medical and financial documents that need to be shredded aren’t going to stop coming.
Despite the critical need to safely dispose of information, stay-at-home orders have left a lot of businesses unavailable. This is where home shredding alternatives like Ship ‘N’ Shred and off site shredding come into the picture.
What Are My Home Shredding Options
Even when there are things like stay-at-home orders, chances are you’ll still need to keep shredding personal documents. However, it might be in a new place now.
Among the different ways to shred, Ship ‘N’ Shred and off site shredding are some of the most common alternatives, as they limit the chances for contact between consumers and providers most.
What Is Ship ‘N’ Shred
Ship ‘N’ Shred works similar to a “you package it, we pick it up” type of service.
Your boxed materials for shredding are picked up at your home and transported to a secure shredding facility, and in exchange you’re given a formal certificate of destruction once the shredding is complete.
Ideal for smaller projects of less than 100 lbs, Ship ‘N’ Shred is priced by the pound and runs around $32 for a 30 lb box.
How Ship ‘N’ Shred Works
First You Box It
Collect and package your shredding in preparation for pickup. Small file boxes weigh 30 lbs, large boxes weigh 60 lbs, and Xerox paper boxes hold 30 lbs.
Next You Ship It
On the scheduled date your boxes are picked up at your home by a FedEx pickup service and taken to an off-site shredding facility.
Last You Track It
You’re given a tracking number to locate your materials, and their chain of custody during transport. Once the materials are finally shredded, you’re emailed a certificate of destruction.
What Is Off Site Shredding
With off-site shredding, a truck is sent to your location to pick up your materials. Afterwards, they transport them to a nearby shredding facility for destruction.
While both come to you, the main difference between off site shredding and Ship ‘N’ Shred is how the services are priced.
With Ship ‘N’ Shred, the cost is based off of the number of boxes you have, whereas with off site shredding there’s a flat price of typically around $110-$130 for projects 1-10 boxes (things like prep-work and your location will factor into the final cost).
As a result, this leaves off-site shredding the ideal option for any size project. For example, 6-box project would cost nearly $200 to use Ship ‘N’ Shred. This is because off-site shredding would still be that same flat cost.
How Off Site Shredding Works
First You Schedule It
You’re given locking shredding containers to collect your documents for shredding. Once the containers are full, you schedule a date for pickup.
Next They Collect It
On the scheduled date a truck comes to your location to pick up your shredding containers. The provided bins are similar to wheeled garbage cans. This makes it quick to collect your materials. Since the bins are already full and locked upon pickup, providers don’t need to come into contact with you or your shredding materials to load them.
Finally They Shred It
Your materials are taken to an off site shredding facility where they’re finally shredded and recycled by your shredding provider. In return you’re given a formal certificate of destruction that includes information like where and when the shredding was done.
Benefits of Ship ‘N’ Shred and Off Site Shredding
Besides the convenience of shredding from home, Ship ‘N’ Shred and off-site shredding come with a range of other benefits. This includes safety and cost-efficiency.
The Benefits of Ship ‘N’ Shred
Minimize Contact With Providers
In the midst of stay-at-home orders, one of Ship ‘N’ Shred’s benefits is how boxes are picked up at your home directly.
The process is simple: all it takes is open the door, hand off your boxes, and head back to the sink to wash your hands again.
Schedule and Track Online
The entire Ship ‘N’ Shred process can be done via the internet. Services can be scheduled online, boxes can be tracked from pickup to pieces, and certificates of destruction can be emailed.
Only Pay for What You Shred
Ship ‘N’ Shred is priced by the amount of boxes of paper you have to shred ($32 per box) rather than a flat fee like off-site shredding. When you only have a box or two, you can save money by only paying for what you need to shred.
The Benefits of Off Site Shredding
Minimize Contact With Providers
Similar to Ship ‘N’ Shred, off-site shredding reduces contact with providers because your pre-loaded shredding bins are collected. This means you will no longer need to handle them. As a result, this gives no reason for you and your provider to come into contact while your materials are collected.
Save Time for More Important Things
Off-site shredding is typically ideal for larger shredding projects of 100+ lbs. If this is done by a small personal shredder, this could take hours if not days to complete. With off-site, all of your containers loaded in the provider’s truck and taken away.
Costs Don’t Scale With Project Size
While Ship ‘N’ Shred is priced by the number of boxes, off-site shredding’s flat fee means their cost will stay the same.
The Certificate of Destruction—A Shared Benefit
Although there are unique benefits for Ship ‘N’ Shred and off site shredding, once advantage they both share is providing a certificate of destruction after shredding.
A certificate of destruction is a formal document containing details about the destruction of your documents. This includes specifics like the date, location, names of shredding witnesses, and the chain of custody for the materials.
In addition, certificates of destruction come in handy in the event of legal disputes. They can be used to provide proof of compliance with laws like HIPAA for example.
Get Help Finding a Shredding Solution for the Problem of Being Stuck at Home
At Shred Nations we partner with a nationwide network of Ship ‘N’ Shred and off site shredding providers to ensure that no matter where you may be, you’ll always have a safe option for shredding documents from home.
Get free quotes on home shredding services by simply filling out the form to your right, giving us a call at (800) 747-3365, or contacting us directly using our live chat.
