Decluttering for the new year? Or gearing up for tax season? Getting rid of excess documents can free up space (and help you avoid theft of your personal information). But if you have a LOT of excess paper to shred, feeding a few sheets at a time through your at-home shredder might be quite time consuming. Luckily, there are places you can shred in bulk.
Why You Need To Shred Your Personal Files and Documents
Safeguarding your personal information is crucial to preventing identity theft. We all worry about having a bank account number or credit card stolen (which of course is a headache you want to avoid). But truth be told: Those types of thefts are easier to solve than the theft of personal data. While it’s a hassle to close banking accounts, it sure isn’t easy or even practical to change your social security, name, address or birthday.
Paper shredding is an essential part of your new year springtime cleaning because it’s critical to keeping your personal information private. Once your personal information is stolen you’ll have to constantly watch your accounts or hire an identity/credit monitoring service.
Paper Shredding Options
Depending on your specific needs and personal situation, you have the choice of either buying a paper shredder to keep in your home office or using a paper shredding service. Here’s a breakdown of some considerations for both options:
Buy a Paper Shredder
- If space is no issue and you don’t accumulate a tremendous amount of paperwork, then it makes sense to invest in a home paper shredder. Small personal paper shredders won’t cost a lot, but there will be limits to how many papers it can handle at once, so larger jobs could be time consuming.
- Many types and sizes of paper shredders are available. The more secure style shredders and larger capacity shredders will cost more.
- Paper shredders require maintenance like cleaning the blades.
- You’ll be responsible for recycling the shredded paper.
Using a Paper Shredding Service
- The major benefit of using a paper shredding service is you won’t have to store and maintain the shredder.
- You can drop off your papers, schedule a pickup or have a mobile shredding service come to your home.
- No matter what the size of the job, shredding services are easy and fast, and will include recycling of the papers.
- You can sometimes find free paper shredding as well as plenty of paid paper shredding services.
Best Paper Shredding Services (and Their Costs)
1. FedEx Paper Shredding
How It Works: Call your local FedEx store to confirm the availability of shredding services. Most locations offer a drop-off service that will weigh your documents, then place them in a securely locked container until they are picked up by Iron Mountain for shredding and recycling.
Cost: $1.49 per pound
2. Office Depot Paper Shredding
How It Works: Office Depot partners with Iron Mountain to offer a few different paper shredding options. You can opt for a one-time pickup or recurring shredding services where they will come to your home or office. For smaller jobs, you can also call your local Office Depot to find out about their in-store shredding.
Costs: 99 cents per pound for in-store shredding; one-time pickup of one to three boxes will cost $89.99.
Limited Time Deal: From now through Jan. 24, get 5 lbs free for in-store shredding.
3. The UPS Store Paper Shredding
How It Works: You’ll need to go to theupsstore.com and find your local UPS store to check the price and availability of their paper shredding service. Typically, UPS offers document shredding by weight. You’ll be charged per pound and your shredding can include office paper, receipts, notes as well as printouts.
You don’t have to remove staples, paper clips or folders. When I called my local store for a price quote, the sales associate mentioned that sometimes the container gets full so call ahead to make sure there is room for your documents, especially if you are planning on dropping a large amount off.
Cost: $1.50 per pound; documents are placed inside the Iron Mountain locked shredding container.
4. Staples Paper Shredding
How It Works: Staples offers in-store drop-off of documents. Documents will be weighed and placed in a secure, locked bin until they are picked up by Iron Mountain. For questions and availability, you will need to call and ask to speak with the Staples Print & Marketing department.
Cost: 99 cents per pound; ask your local store for a quote.
5. Shred-it Paper Shredding
How It Works: This online shredding company is a great choice for larger jobs or the repeated shredding needs of a small business. You can opt for a one-time shredding job that comes with a guaranteed two or five-day service delivery. Shred-it will provide a Certificate of Destruction and guarantees the work is performed by security professionals. Regularly scheduled shredding service can also be set up.
Cost: Go to shredit.com or call 1-877-542-3992 and get a quote based on the specifics of your project.
6. SoCal Shred Paper Shredding
How It Works: This regional shredding service operates in the Los Angeles and Orange County area. They offer mobile shredding service, one-time purge shredding service as well as off-site shredding locations.
Cost: Use the online quote calculator. To give you an idea, my request for three boxes of shredding with an in-home pickup is $175.
7. Shred Nations Paper Shredding
How It Works: This website offers to connect you with regional shredding services. While I looked into my own area of Southern California, Shred Nations connects you to various locations around the country. You’ll fill out an online request for a quote or call the local phone number.
Within minutes you’re connected to service providers to choose from. The providers will supply locked shredding bins and once they are filled, they’ll come back and shred the contents while you watch. You’ll also receive a certificate of destruction.
Cost: Varies according to the region and job size; call or go online for a quote.
8. ProShred Paper Shredding
How It Works: This company services 41 metropolitan areas in 26 states. Go online to find out if they service your area. They offer a variety of services for larger businesses, as well as options for residential services and small businesses. You can stop by a ProShred location or arrange to have ProShed come to you with their mobile shredding truck.
Cost: Get your quote online at proshred.com or call 1-877-767-4733.
Are Paper Shredding Services Secure?
Knowing security is a major concern, all paper shredding services offer security procedures. Most commonly, your documents will be locked inside a container to ensure your documents stay private until they are shredded. Every company that provides this service will offer secure shredding and they will outline their specific security procedure.
Where Can I Find Free Paper Shredding Services Near Me?
Keep in mind that to celebrate Earth Day on April 22, some companies, local businesses or cities/towns may offer free paper shredding and recycling.
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