Earl:

Although I can understand some of your comments with regard to letting you know, what would you prefer, letting your files sit in a pile from a broken box, or they immediately be placed in an appropriate box? Trust me, it does not do our psyche well when one is pulling boxes for clients, and then in the middle of trying to fulfill pull orders, a box bursts. It takes time away from what we need to do, and we only charge the regular amount for our box.

I am not going to compromise our operations, our clients file unity, or be the reason for a potential lost file by leaving the pile in the rack, phoning a client, waiting on the phone or for a call back. 

As my clients clearly know what our policies are, we have actually never had to deal with the issues as you outline them on invoiced replacement boxes. 

Storage vendors touch your box as little as possible... it costs money to move it, and once it is in place, it will never leave that place unless it is moved due to it, or its neighbors, having to be pulled.

As far as a revenue generator for the vendor... we charge 2.19 for our boxes, whether you buy it directly from us, or we need to rebox. Compare that to Staples cheap box, never mind their good ones, which still are not as good as ours. It is a service, not a profit center of any consequence.

Andy von Busse 

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-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Johnson Jr., Earl
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2008 5:42 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [RM] Off-Site Storage Provider Reboxing Files

Andy,

Actually I'm glad you've responded to suggest a point of view from a storage vendor.  One of the main concerns we have with this practice is that we don't know until after the fact that an item has been reboxed (I find out when I'm reviewing the invoice), and often, we can get an exact reason as to why a box was reboxed.  I certainly understand (and agree with) your concern about using cheapie boxes, but in our case, we use our vendor's box exclusively.  I also understand about constant handling, and would love to look at retrieval rates for the applicable boxes if I can get a list of items that have been reboxed (that's a problem we're still working on).

If an item has been reboxed after sitting in dead storage for awhile with little/no retrieval history, then I'm upset--particularly if I'm charged for it!  If my vendor is moving boxes around in their warehouse to create space or for general housekeeping purposes, but breaks one of my boxes in the process, then I hope I'm not footing the bill for that (I don't know that these things are happening but I'm just using them as a fer-instance)?

I have two main concerns here: 1) If the box is eligible for destruction soon then I'd rather keep it in the broken box and destroy it rather than pay for reboxing it only to turn around and then destroy it a little later on.  2) Whether my records are confidential or not, I have some heartburn with the vendor reboxing records without my prior knowledge (or permission).  I was talking with someone just this afternoon about this very issue, and she suggested that this is just another revenue generator (like those "extra" fees that airlines and car rental companies now add on, that weren't there a few months ago).

If an item needs to be reboxed, why not inform me about it beforehand?  And your point about reboxing without charging is a good one, but personally, I'd like to know if my records have been reboxed whether I'm charged for it, or not.

Am I the only one who is concerned about this practice?

Respectfully.
Earl

Pipeline Records and Information Management Excellence!
Get PRIMEd!

Earl Johnson, Jr., CRM
Corporate Records Manager
Colonial Pipeline Company
1185 Sanctuary Parkway, Ste. 100
Alpharetta, GA 30009
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