Is Using an Office Shredder Really Saving You Money?

hand holding a bunch of shredded paper

Just about every business nowadays handles sensitive information. Which means you have to adhere to certain document destruction policies in order to protect the identity of your clients, employees, and business. When comparing mobile shredding services to in-house shredding simply purchasing an office shredder and leaving the destruction of confidential documents to an employee may seem like a simple and affordable solution. In reality it probably is costing you more money and time than you think.

In-house shredding costs goes beyond purchasing an office shredder.

While an office shredder may not be an expensive purchase there are maintenance, replacement, and cleaning costs to consider. The maximum life expectancy of your standard office shredder is around 36 months. If you are shredding on a frequent basis, this life expectancy is drastically reduced. Combine this fact with maintenance and cleaning costs and you are spending a lot more than you think on monthly shredding.  Plus, shredding large amounts of paper in-house produces a fine dust that can affect the health of employees.

Skilled employees make expensive office shredders.

The costs don’t just stop at equipment costs and maintenance fees. When you leave shredding up to your employees there are time and productivity costs that need to be considered. It takes valuable time for an employee to sort through documents, determine which needs shredding, remove clips and staples, walk from the work area to the shredder, feed the paper into the shredder, clean up paper residue, and dispose of the shredded paper. Since the average hourly wage of employees, plus the cost of benefits is $16.19, an office’s average total monthly labor cost to operate an office shredder is $87.71. This is a total of $1052.42 per year spent just on labor to shred your documents. Now this is just based on the average amount a standard business shreds, and an average hourly wage. If you pay above average wages to retain valuable employees, this figure is even higher.

Is your office shredding costing you in productivity?

During busy times such as end of the quarter, end of the fiscal year, or tax season means a significant increase in shredding duties at a time when an employee’s work load is already maxed out.  If you are paying your designated shredding person hourly pay, you may wind up paying overtime costs in order for them to get the job done. Add in the loss of productivity due to the employee taking the time to shred documents, and it becomes clear that in-house shredding may cost more than it is really worth. In fact, most mobile shredding services can quickly, efficiently, and securely shred all your confidential documents cheaper than shredding in-house.

Monthly shredding services from a professional costs far less than you think. Learn how you can decrease your shredding costs & increase business productivity with Confidata’s mobile shredding service. Request a free quote here.