I'm not sure how this lines up with this topic, but from a compliance and
verification standpoint, shredding vendors are still somewhat immature.  My
experiences have been that there are four individual companies which I
consider major players for nation-wide shred programs (not everyone needs
nationwide coverage).  Those four in no particular order are Cintas, Iron
Mountain, Recall and Shred-It.  If someone contracts for national service, I
believe those four can usually get close to 90% coverage and usually cover
the remaining by sub-contracting where they don't have service.

Of those four, I believe three (Cintas, IM and Recall) have more of a
route-based model so that off-schedule pickups or interim shredding is more
of a challenge and requires more lead time.  Their efficiencies are built
into their routes.  One of them, Shred-It has a fleet of 100% shred-onsite
trucks and they are more able to meet shred needs as they arise so you could
call them today and they are more likely to make it out today or tomorrow.
My experience has been that Shred-It's model for service is helpful for
sure, but makes it more difficult for them to offer the lowest rates.  I
have always had good experience with Shred-It drivers.  Drivers from the
more route-based companies have been fine, but just not always as good as
Shred-It's.  Just my take on it.  Also Shred-It invoices by location rather
than a centralized invoicing which is more common to the others.

For compliance, I think the challenge has been for these companies to verify
the stops they schedule.  I think all four now put barcodes on their bins,
but when you're negotiating, find out how they use the barcodes.  They may
only use them internally as asset management tags to track the bins.  If
they're wise, they use them to verify the driver's stops.  So that when the
route and schedule say the driver will stop at this address, then that work
order only gets billed if when the driver's handheld scanner is downloaded
that it shows the driver hit that bin's barcode with their scanner.  If not
then that location should be rescheduled.  I can tell you that providing
this level of verification has been a challenge.  When you have hundreds of
locations being serviced, it does happen that some services are missed, but
get billed only because they are on the schedule.  This is where the need
for maturity in compliance is lacking.  

When contracting a shred vendor spend a lot of time reviewing the contract
terms, get your legal folks involved, look carefully at liability clauses
and be sure you're comfortable with the what ifs.  If you allow them to
shred offsite (usually cheaper) know how long their routes are.  Some routes
are considered overnight in remote areas so that once your shred material
leaves your site, it might be four days or more until it's actually shred.
Build a solid Statement of Work and never pay for services which aren't in
line with how you built your statement of work unless you feel it's
justified.  Audit them, visit their facilities, meet their drivers, ask to
see their Standard Operating Procedures even if you have to view it on a
computer at their site and aren't allowed to print it or take it with you.

The penalties for Personally Identifiable Information not being destroyed
properly are great.  In Georgia it's $5,000 per item.  That's $5,000 for one
name (or a Phone # or Address which could produce the name) and one number
like Social Security, Credit Card, Drivers License, etc. which isn't
properly destroyed by a business.  State officials can and do audit
dumpsters without notice.  State Attorney Generals and News Media are
motivated to find situations of non-compliance.

Good luck out there!

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