4 In-House Document Shredding Myths

Published On November 28, 2018

Before deciding how to shred your documents, make sure you aren’t led astray by any of these four myths about in-house document shredding.

Haven’t yet achieved a paperless office? During digital transformation, chances are your organization will need to shred paper documents. You might think that in-house shredding is the easiest, cheapest option. But before deciding how to shred your documents, make sure you aren’t led astray by any of these four myths about in-house shredding.

MYTH: In-House Document Shredding Is Legally Required

Sure, federal and state data disposal laws can be a huge hassle. But sometimes they actually allow some flexibility. You can choose how to securely dispose of your data. No law requires you to shred your documents in-house; you can absolutely opt to outsource your document shredding.

MYTH: In-House Shredding Is Easy

Let’s be real. How big is your organization? Do you have one office, or do you have 300? If you attempt in-house shredding, would you really procure 300 shredders?

No matter how many shredders your organization needs, there are a few basics to consider, even before considering costs:

• How large should the shredders be?
• Where would they live?
• How loud would they be?
• What batch sizes could they handle and how quickly?
• What besides paper could they shred?
• Would they be top-of-the-line?

Then there are technical factors:

• Could you enter client matter numbers?
• How difficult would the shredder be to operate?
• Who would handle maintenance?
• How long would repairs take?

How are you going to weigh various criteria? Ultimately, in-house shredding may not be a headache-free option.

MYTH: In-House Shredding Is More Secure

Even capable, conscientious professionals don’t always handle their confidential documents with utmost care. After all, they may be more focused on saving lives, meeting deadlines or creating innovative products — as they should be!

But when discarding documents is an afterthought, can you be certain chain of custody will be followed with in-house shredding? Maybe not. Also, in order to prove compliance during audits you need to be able to provide a Certificate of Destruction (COD), which proves that documents were destroyed according to relevant regulations. A COD can only be provided by a certified shred vendor.

MYTH: In-House Shredding Is Cheaper

Economies of scale combined with expertise and dedication to the task mean that offsite shredding with a qualified vendor may be the less expensive choice.