Calculate Your Actual Shredding Costs

Calculate the Cost of Using Your In House Office Paper Shredder

A person writing on a spreadsheet. They also have a calculator.Many business professionals believe that “feeding the office shredder” is a cost-effective way to protect your clients, customers or patients from identity theft and the disclosure of private information. This is a misconception. An office shredder costs the average office about $110 per month once you account for employee labor and maintenance of the shredder. But using a NAID AAA Certified shredding company will save you time and money and protect your business and customers from data breaches.

Office Paper Shredders Cost You More

Allowing an employee to discern what should be manually shredded and what should be disposed of in the trash is a very risky practice. Firstly, it’s the only time a company allows an employee 100% discretion. Secondly, it is quite possibly the riskiest place to allow it.

The greatest cost of using an office shredder may be the cost to your reputation. And the fines associated with a breach. Shredded paper from an office shredder often can easily be put back together. Throwing your shredded paper out with the trash shows the bad guys what to take. Often times, busy employees allow paper to stack up next to the office shredder with good intentions to shred it later. But they often end up in the wrong hands or in the trash or recycling bin.

The Average Business Spends $97 Per Month on In House Shredding

A typical office with 5 employees that purchases an office shredder and allows their employees to perform the office shredding typically spends about $100 per month after accounting for all costs plus the cost of buying the office shredder. And, that $100 per month does not allow you to have a Certificate of Destruction on file or account for the time spent cleaning up the shredding mess. It also doesn’t account for valuable time lost that could have been spent on an employees core responsibilities.

Hiring a NAID AAA Certified on-site shredding company, like All Points Mobile Shredding, will cost you less than half the amount of having your own shredder, and it will keep you secure and compliant with laws.

Here is how the breakdown works:

  • $3 monthly maintenance
  • $4 monthly for garbage bags
  • $3 monthly expense to account for depreciation and replacement of shredder after 36 months
  • $87 monthly labor cost
    • based on an hourly wage of $16.19 (includes benefits)
    • 5 employees each shredding 3 minutes per day or 15 minutes per week (includes time to and from shredder & binder clip, Post It notes, etc. removal, disposal of shredded paper

    TOTAL $97 Per Month

Additional Risks of Shredding Yourself:

  • Self-shredded material tossed into the trash only tells the thief what to take
  • Employees don’t like to use shredders. They often opt to toss documents in the trash or allow them to pile up next to the shredder
  • Office shredders break down and can be dangerous
  • Shredding yourself provides no record of compliance
  • Employees should not handle certain sensitive information
  • Office shredders can’t handle large records purges
  • Employees must spend time removing binder clips, paper clips, sticky notes, rubber bands, etc.
  • Office shredders are slow, inefficient, and can’t handle some materials

For more information or for a quote, please contact us by phone or complete the form on this page.

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All Points serves Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River, Palm Beach and Broward Counties

All Points Mobile Shredding is NAID AAA Certified.