Shredding your documents is more than just a convenient way to clear your desk—document shredding can go a long way towards protecting your information as well as any clients’ information you might have. If you’re a business, your customers and clients will appreciate knowing that their information is being fully protected by an extra layer of security. If you’re shredding on a personal level, you deserve the peace of mind that comes with professional services. Professional shredding can offer a much greater level of security than a basic office shredder can provide, and that can make all the difference in both personal and professional settings.

How does shredding improve security?

When you’re finished with a document, a professional shredder is the safest way to make sure your personal information stays personal. Many people don’t stop to consider exactly how much personal  information is on their paperwork at home or in a filing cabinet at work. People are constantly receiving documents that are loaded with personal data, and often don’t safely dispose of them. You probably know that it’s important to shred documents like bank statements and bills, but paperwork like travel itineraries, pay stubs, and even junk mail can also leak personal information if you don’t safely dispose of it first. When you shred, you make sure that information never falls into the wrong hands.

Leaving your personal information exposed is dangerous

The ultimate penalty for being too cavalier with your personal information is identity theft. Essentially, if a criminal gains enough relevant personal information about you, they will have the opportunity to open new accounts or create credit cards in your name. In some cases, it’s possible for identity thieves to make purchases directly from your bank account. Creative identity thieves can use sources you might not expect. Some junk mail, for example, offers recipients the opportunity to start a new credit card. If an identity thief gets access to this mail, it’s possible for them to take advantage of that card under your name. Remember to be careful about shredding everything that has your information on it—it’s better to be safe and shred things you don’t need to rather than to wish you’d shredded something that you didn’t.

Identity theft is on the rise. It’s been reported that over 14 million credit cards were exposed in 2017, and identity theft increased by 88% between 2016 and 2017. As personal information becomes easier to access, those numbers will likely continue to increase. Having your identity stolen can be extremely costly, stressful, and may take a long time to fully correct. While there’s many different factors to keep in mind to protect your online information, securing your paperwork is much simpler. Professional shredding is an almost foolproof way to keep potential thieves from accessing any information from printed materials.

What makes professional shredding better than an office shredder?

If your focus is security, there’s no comparison between professional shredding and an office shredder. The average office shredder will turn documents into neat strips of paper that a determined criminal can piece back together. In fact, these paper strips can serve as an indicator to criminals of exactly what documents you consider important.

A professional shredder, on the other hand, will completely destroy your documents, rather than only damaging them. When documents are totally destroyed, you’ll have no worries whatsoever about anyone accessing that data.

Office shredders have a limited capacity, and can only handle a certain amount of paperwork. Constantly feeding paper into the shredder and emptying the receptacle can be a waste of time, especially if you’re also being forced to worry about every staple and paperclip in a pile of documents. Any stray staple has the potential to jam or even break an office shredder, which can be costly and stressful.

This stress can be completely avoided by using a professional service. Professional shredders are equipped to handle large amounts of paperwork at once, and can easily manage staples, paperclips, and bindings. Professional shredders also offer customer service, which can make the shredding experience much more pleasant as anyone who’s struggled with a defunct office shredder in the past already knows.

While it’s always a good idea to shred your documents, even if it’s only with an office shredder, shredding professionally has distinct advantages. You’ll have a cleaner office space, but more importantly you’ll have greater peace of mind in the knowledge that your information is not just mostly secure, but completely secure.

 

No matter where you live or what your line of work is, papers and documents have a tendency to accumulate. Maybe you stay on top of your documents and regularly dispose of bank statements, junk mail and other paperwork that comes to you. Maybe you have a tendency to hold onto that paperwork until your filing cabinet is bursting and you have to start throwing things away.

Whichever style you tend towards (or if you’re somewhere in the middle), it’s important to dispose of these documents correctly. To protect your information and prevent identity theft, it’s important to shred any documents that could leave you vulnerable to criminals.

What documents need to be shredded?

Many of the documents you should be shredding are obvious. Most people know the importance of shredding their bank statements, checks, and credit card bills, for example. However, there are other documents that are often overlooked that should be shredded to maximize your personal security. Whenever possible, shred the following:

  • Any documents related to your bank or finances (bank statements, pay stubs, checks, bills, ATM receipts, investment reports, credit reports).
  • Government documents (tax forms, expired driver’s licenses, any document with a social security number, legal forms, copies of birth certificates or marriage licenses). 
  • Travel information (expired passports and visas, luggage tags, travel itineraries, used transportation tickets).

Essentially, you should be shredding any documents that contain your personal information—the more information it contains, the more important shredding becomes. Even shredding your junk mail can have benefits; if you simply throw away offers for new credit cards, for example, it’s possible for someone to pick that envelope up and apply for a new card in your name.

How do I know what’s worth keeping?

Committing to shredding your paperwork can seem very permanent, particularly if you’re not sure whether you’ll need a certain document again. Fortunately, there are general rules of thumb as to how long certain documents should be kept that can give you peace of mind when you decide to shred.

Never dispose of:

  • Birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates, or baptismal certificates.
  • Medical records, military records, retirement and pension records, or academic records.
  • Current passports, driver’s license, or social security cards.

Wait before disposing:

  • Bank statements can be shredded after approximately one month.
  • Bills should be shredded as soon as they’ve been paid.
  • Leases should only be shredded after you’ve moved out and received your deposit.
  • Tax documents and investment records should be kept for roughly seven years.
  • Vehicle records should be kept until said vehicle is sold or is no longer in your possession.

By keeping a few simple guidelines in mind and shredding the correct documents, you can improve your personal security and clear some office space at the same time.

If you’re interested in shredding your documents, it means you’ve taken an interest in increasing your personal and professional safety, or simply clearing out some office space. Either way, congratulations! The next step is picking a shredding type that works for you, as there are different kinds of shredding that work best for different situations. Take stock of the following few factors to help give yourself a full understanding of how best to meet your shredding needs:

  • What is your budget?
  • How much paper do you need shredded?
  • How securely do you need your documents shredded?
  • Are you interested in shredding a single batch of paper, or would you like to shred documents on a scheduled basis?

Once you’ve determined what you need from your shredding process, you’re ready to select a service! Regardless of which style of service you use, it’s important to note that you’ll always receive the greatest possible level of security and convenience when you work with us. Your paperwork will never be handled after it’s been placed in one of our secure totes, but will be placed directly into our professional-grade shredders and destroyed. We encourage our clients to watch the shredding process, for maximum peace of mind.

We want our services to be accessible. Regardless of what type of shredding you need, you can use our services just once or on a regular schedule. You can also use our services whether you have a lot of paperwork or just a little! We’re an Indiana-based, family-led company, and we care about our customers and our community. We believe you’ll see these values reflected in our customer service as soon as you begin working with us.

Residential shredding

If you have a backlog of papers in your home office, we can help. It’s much more important to safely destroy your personal documents than many people realize. Outdated forms like expired licenses, old bank statements, bills, and more don’t need to clutter up your workspace, but should not simply be thrown away where potential criminals have easy access to them. You can efficiently protect your identity by thoroughly shredding these, and other, personal documents.

When you use our services, you’ll be given a tote to keep in your residence to be filled with paperwork you’d like shredded. Don’t worry if you don’t generate paper particularly quickly; we’re happy to shred documents every week or every three months! Security matters to us, not quantity. We’re also able to visit you once or on a regular schedule, depending on your needs.

Business shredding

It’s always a good idea to shred business-related paperwork. If your business currently does not shred their documents, or uses an office shredder, working with us can save your organization time and money while improving your business’ overall security. Your clients and customers will appreciate it when you can guarantee them an extra layer of security by utilizing professional shredding services.

We have experience shredding for businesses of all kinds, including factories, banks, law offices, and small government bodies. We can provide security to any size or style of business, and we can handle all kinds of documents. Even if you have a large amount of paperwork with elements like binding, paperclips, or staples, we can securely shred them without difficulty.

Drop-off document shredding

If it’s more convenient for you or your organization, you always have the option of dropping off your documents to be shredded. If this option interests you, contact us today and we can make it a reality.

Pricing

Your pricing will vary based on the service you select, as well as how much paper you have to shred and how often you’d like your shredding service to occur. However, a general outline of our standardized per-container pricing is as follows:

  • Our standard service is $50. This service includes on-site shredding of one 95 gallon tote.
  • An additional 95 gallon tote or its equivalent is $50, which is prorated for containers that are ¼, ½, or ¾ full
  • Container placements cost $15, and container rental fees are $10/month

We’re confident that our professional shredding services will save you time and money, both immediately and in the long run. You won’t have to spend the time shredding documents yourself, and you can rest easy in the assurance of identity protection our services provide that office shredders just can’t match.

For more details on our pricing plans, visit our website for details and the ability to request a free quote!

Every business, large or small, generates sensitive documents. While you might not be harboring classified government documents, you will inevitably have records of employees’ social security numbers, bank accounts, and other important personal information. As a business owner, you have a responsibility to protect information that may compromise your business and the people who keep it running.

One of the simplest and most effective ways to protect confidential information is to hire a shredding company. A shredding company can securely dispose of all sensitive materials, offering you peace of mind and protection at the same time.

Why hire a shredding company?

It might seem unnecessary to hire a team of professionals to tear up paper for you. However, much more goes into the process than many people realize. Disposing of documents on your own is inherently risky; when you don’t have the time to commit to the shredding process from start to finish, there’s a lot of potential risk for information to get out. On an individual level, people often shred documents erratically, and it’s very difficult to be sure that everything that needs to be shredded is being shredded.

A document that isn’t properly disposed of can lead to massive problems down the line. Identity theft is a growing problem, with an estimated $16.8 billion stolen via identity theft and thirty percent of Americans experiencing some form of a data breach in 2017 alone. In many cases, all it takes is one stray document in the wrong hands to kickoff the long and painful process of reclaiming an identity.

Many offices need to have large amounts of documentation shredded simultaneously, and your typical office can’t handle large loads like this. As professional shredders, we can take on even very large amounts of documentation. We also don’t require you to remove staples, binding, paperclips, or any other appendages before your documents are destroyed—our machines can handle your shredding needs without any preparation on your part. We ensure that your shredding process will be as secure and convenient as possible.

When you hire a professional company like Shredding Unlimited, you can rest easy knowing that your sensitive data will be completely and thoroughly destroyed when you need it to be. What’s more, our technology makes it possible to shred your documents more inexpensively than would generally be possible on your own. When you work with us, you’ll never have to deal with the worry in the back of your mind that a piece of information might be loose where it isn’t meant to be. The security and convenience of our shredding program will keep your company safe and running smoothly.

What is the shredding process?

Our employees will never look at or extensively handle your sensitive information. Once we’ve collected your materials from one of our free containers, it is immediately sent through our shredding truck. Our shredding truck operates on a no-touch mechanism. The lid to the documents container will not open until it has been tipped into the shredder, in order to give you the greatest possible peace of mind. Our shredding truck will destroy documents much more thoroughly than an individual could do on their own, or with a small office shredder. Your data will be completely safe from unfriendly eyes. We can also offer you the ability to see your documents being safely destroyed through an external viewing monitor.

Because our shredder is run directly through our truck, it is extremely powerful. It can easily shred thick stacks of paper, whether or not those stacks include any staples, binding, paperclips, etc. There’s no need to sort through your materials to be shredded when you’re using a shredder as powerful as ours. Thanks to the storage space of our shredding truck, we can also handle very large orders in a single trip, all done with greater speed and efficiency than the majority of other shredding services on the market.

We are also proud to offer our recycling services for your destroyed paper materials. Once the documents have been destroyed, you can count on us to do our part for the environment and general sustainability by recycling your products. We place great importance on recycling because of all the resources it helps to protect for the future.

What shredding services are available?

We are ready and willing to accommodate your organization’s individual shredding needs. Whether you need a one-time shredding job or would like to schedule us to shred documents on a regular basis, we can offer our services. Let us know what you need, and we will be there.

Contact us today to learn more about our shredding services and what our company can do for you! When you work with us, your information will be more secure than ever before.

 

Shredding and Storage Unlimited is excited to be partnering with Farmer and Mechanics Federal for our first shred day of 2015 to support American Cancer Society Relay for Life. Bring your personal documents to 225 E Main Street, Bloomfield, Indiana on Thursday, May 7th  between 4:00 – 6:00 PM and you can watch it be shredded for a small donation. Monetary donations will also be accepted and ALL proceeds will go to Relay for Life.

This is the third year that Shredding and Storage Unlimited has participated in this event. We have collected over $1000 in donations for this great cause.RELAY FOR LIFE SHRED DAYRELAY FOR LIFE SHRED DAY FLIER

Paper Shredder Reviews

Paper Shredder Reviews

I saw the above meme online this weekend which inspired me to write some paper shredder reviews. I have spent several hours researching and googling the best paper shredders and I have included those reviews here. I don’t think there is any reason to test something that has already been tested to death. What I am going to bring to the table is a financial review that I cannot seem to find out there. I will also provide a comparison to using a professional service, which seems to also be completely lacking. I will do this in three parts starting with a low end, good value shredder that has great online reviews (4.3 out of 5 for over 1500 reviewers). Next I will review a more efficient and practical shredder that also has great reviews (4.1 out of 5 for almost 4000 reviewers). Finally I will review a commercial grade shredder from a company that claims to be more cost efficient than using a shredding service.

Walmart 6-Sheet Crosscut Shr  edder with Easy Lift Handle ($24.88):

http://www.walmart.com/ip/6-Sheet-Crosscut-Shredder-with-Easy-Lift-Handle/16609295

I’m going to start with the shredder with the least upfront cost while still being fairly dependable based on reviews.  Here is a graph of the breakeven point for the quantity of paper shredded when compared to Shredding and Storage Unlimited’s $5 per paper box standard fee.

Paper Shredder comparison1

Now this only begins to tell the story. How about an estimate of 10 pages per day (about 30-40 seconds using this shredder based on reviews) for somebody who shreds very little. This is about as much as this shredder seems to be able to handle and is priced and advertised accordingly. That is 3,650 pages per year and would take a little less than 6 years and 10 months to reach the breakeven price point. I won’t factor in time spent since 30-40 seconds is a fairly marginal amount of time. From reading the over 1500 reviews on Walmart.com and the 10 reviews on amazon.com the longest time period somebody had owned the shredder was 4 years of uses every couple weeks, meaning that in the long run they probably would have saved $10-$15 over that period using a shredding company vs buying and using this paper shredder. This does not even include routine maintenance that must be performed to get the shredder to even last 4 years or that many reviewers claim that this shredder stops working within the first three months while most of the 5 star reviews are within the first 2 months.

It is more economical to use a shredding service vs buying this shredder for people who do a light amount of shredding. When you want to do medium shredding (100-500 pieces per day) you may hit that breakeven point in 6 months (if your shredder does not break), but you are also spending 40 hours a year on just the time it takes to shred the paper. At this quantity Shredding and Storage Unlimited would come to you in our mobile shred truck one or two times per year and could do one year’s worth of shredding for $50 to $60. By saving $60 over the course of 40 hours of shredding you are valuing your time at less than $1.50 per hour.

By valuing your time at a well below minimum wage $5 per hour, here is a graph of your hopefully indestructible shredder vs giving Shredding and Storage Unlimited a call based on a given amount of paper. *Does not include 30 minute shredder cool down time after 5 minutes of use or time spent on maintenance.

Capture

 

Every day people call in or stop by the office at Shredding and Storage Unlimited and ask us “How do I shred my confidential documents?” I want to answer this question in as much detain as I can. This post will be a mix of frequently asked questions about the service of Shredding and Storage Unlimited and how our interactions typically go. These questions come from both residential customers using our drop off service and commercial customers using our on-site shredding services.

Preparing your documents to be shredded: Do I need to take out staples and paperclips? What kind of box should I put my documents in?

We try to keep the preparation as minimal as possible. There is never any need to take out staples or paperclips and we do not care what kind of box, bag, or tote that you bring your documents in. You should bring your documents in whatever container is easiest for you! Our pricing is based on estimates of our container size. If you have any questions about how much it will cost you can give us a call with how much paper you have and we will try to give you an estimate over the phone. The only thing we ask is that you separate the CD’s, DVD’s or other types of media that contain a large amount of plastic from the paper. We recycle 100% of the paper that we shred and it does not take much plastic to contaminate a 2,000 pound bale of paper.

The shredding time frame: When will my documents be shredded?

This question depends on a couple different factors. We try to keep our service as custom to the individual as we can (more on this in a later post) and we do not like to pigeonhole our customers into a set of services with different set prices and different expectations. Our service is completely tailored to meet the needs of the customer. Our specialty is on-site document destruction where we will send a truck to you and your documents will be shredded in a couple minutes before we leave your parking lot or driveway. Many of the residential paper shredding customers are pressed for time and able to drop off their documents at Shredding and Storage Unlimited when they are running other errands. If this is you we will shred your documents at the end of that day when the first truck returns from its route. If you want to bring in your documents and watch them get shredded you can call to schedule an appointment and we will give you a time to come in when we have trucks available. If you can fit your confidential documents into your truck, van, or car the whole process will take less than 10 minutes.

Making the schedule: When can I schedule your service?

If you want to simply drop off your shredding you can just show up and drop it off. If you would like to watch your documents shredded you should call to schedule a time, usually first thing in the morning, when we have a shred truck available. For on-site shredding we are usually able to schedule next day service in Bloomington, Indianapolis, and most of Southern Indiana. On some occasions we will schedule on-site shredding along a route that is scheduled for up to a couple weeks out.

If you have any other questions to submit you can give us a call or send me an email at Josh@shreddingunlimited.com. I will continue to update this post with the most up to date questions and information.

This blog is being written to give you a peak behind the thick, secure, and highly reinforced curtain of confidential document shredding, document management, and recycling. I will be answering the questions that come up every day in the shredding industry, along with answering the questions most people do not know to ask.

Now before you start believing everything I say (somebody working so closely with your personal information SHOULD have to earn your trust) I would like to introduce the company that I am a part of, Shredding and Storage Unlimited, LLC and myself.

Shredding and Storage Unlimited, LLC is a company almost 30 years in the making. Storage Unlimited, LLC was started by my grandparents (Diane and Gary) with one of the first self-storage units in the state of Indiana. They dabbled in other things, such as digital storage and renting computer processing power about 20 years before everybody started Googling. To make a long story short, they came up with some good ideas along the way. One of those good ideas was confidential document storage (or they may have just had a thing for storage, see the trend) and Storage Unlimited Document Storage, LLC was started in 1997 by my parents, Dan and Chrisy. Storage Unlimited has gone through some changes in the last 17 years, box number 1 was shredded several years ago, more facilities opened, the main office is in a more accessible location, document shredding has become a more prominent service, and the company has gone through several name changes. Dan and Chrisy though are still at the helm treating every customer as if they are the very first, the climate controlled self-storage warehouses are still managed day in and day out by Diane, and prices on almost all of the products and services offered by Shredding and Storage Unlimited, LLC have remained the same (maybe that’s why we have haven’t found any outside stock holders, hmmm…).

I’m Josh and you could call me one of the constant’s to Shredding and Storage Unlimited, LLC. I spent time in the office everyday as a 9 year old when the first document storage facility was being filled. I don’t remember that far back, but I probably helped shelve the first set of boxes that came in for storage and I know I helped with shredding when those boxes reached the end of their retention period several years later. To emphasize, all I remember is handling documents confidentially. You could also call me one of the changes to the company through the years. I left Bloomington, Indiana to get a business degree in operations and supply chain management, which was quickly followed by an MBA from University of Indianapolis. I went on to work for a couple small businesses, left those to climb the corporate ladder at a much larger business, and then I came back to Bloomington to become a part of what Shredding and Storage Unlimited, LLC had become.

That is my intro to the Shredding and Storage Unlimited, LLC official blog. Find out how to reach us on our contact page. I would love it if you gave me a call with any questions about this blog or our services at (812)332-3299 or email me at josh@shreddingunlimited.com. Better yet, come visit us and you can pet “Fluffy the Shred Kitty” at our Bloomington Office or give me a call and we will happily come to you (but you won’t get to pet Fluffy).