The Business of Bins

For companies offering secure document destruction, the job is all about meeting demand, remaining flexible and choosing the right containers.

Sean Frederick, vice president of Code Shred, Island Park, N.Y. says determining the volume a customer will generate is key in deciding how many containers or bins to place with the client. This is based on a number of factors, including how many people a company employs.

A company’s service schedule can also affect how many containers are needed. "Sometimes we have to supply them with more bins because we are not there as often," says Frederick.

Eric Flegenheimer, president of South Burlington, Vt.-based SecurShred, says his company also looks at the number of employees and the size of the office when determining how many bins or consoles to supply a client.

As for placement, he says he usually asks where most of the paper is generated and places the container in that area.

The driving factor influencing the number of bins needed to effectively service an account, according to Safeguard Shredding owner Brad Schofield, is always the number of employees. "User population is the most critical," he says. Falls Church, Va.-based Safeguard is targeting companies with more than 50 employees. For a company with 50-60 employees, Safeguard would recommend consoles as opposed to larger bins.

The company has a formula for how many containers to offer and how often to service an account: For every 20 employees, a company usually needs one console serviced once per month, which breaks down to about five pounds per employee per month, Schofield says.

Another factor is the number of floors a company occupies, he adds. If there are 60 people in a company on one floor, three consoles may be required. But, if those 60 people are spread between four floors, a console per floor may be needed.

The final factor companies like Safeguard examine is the client’s environment. Is it an office or a warehouse? If it is a production facility, then consoles might not do, and they should opt for bins, Schofield says.

Chris Mariani, with Farmers Branch, Texas-based Shred Document Destruction (a division of Balcones Resources), says his company also takes into consideration demand and space constraints when determining the number of containers required to service an account.

Mariani says determining placement is a customer driven decision. "Some office environments demand the aesthetics of consoles, no matter how much volume, while others are less concerned. It is not uncommon for consoles to be deployed in tandem with roll carts serving as backup in utility or file rooms." He adds, "Another consideration is the facility itself. Issues include: ground floor vs. high-rise, existence or access to freight elevators, multi-tenant vs. single tenant, dock situation, etc."

Frederick says that while many times clients do not have a problem with consoles, which are often more pleasing to the eye, bins are sometimes not as readily accepted in corporate environments. Large bins, says Frederick, are often located in a closet or near a copy machine to reduce their visibility. But despite concerns about the location of large bins, CodeShred sometimes tries to offer its clients a bigger container in case of overflow.

Flegenheimer says SecurShred most often recommends its customers take consoles because they resemble a piece of office equipment and are less off-putting than the large, "industrial looking" container, or "tote," as SecurShred calls them.

Schofield says determining the optimal size and placement for a container is the magic question. He says document destruction companies may only be able to determine this by working with a client for 30, 60 or even 90 days.

Flegenheimer agrees. "With us, part of our sales philosophy is that we are very flexible. They could start with one or two containers and if they need three or four, that is not a problem. If they take four or five and determine they only need three, we will come pick them up," he says.

Do companies require more or fewer containers based on whether they subscribe to on-site or off-site shredding services? Frederick says no. He says he sees companies take about the same amount of bins whether they choose on- or off-site shredding.

Safeguard also has not noticed a difference in the amount of containers needed based on off-or on-site shredding. Schofield says the biggest factor that affects the number of bins required is when a company has a customer that insists on pulling bins itself, requiring a supplier to swap half-empty bins for full ones.

With 90 percent of SecureShred clients choosing on-site shredding, Flegenheimer says he only notices a small decrease in the amount of bins and containers chosen when opting for on-site shredding.

Regardless of the number of bins a client has, secure shredding companies need to keep track of them, and they do so in a number of ways.

CodeShred does not use a bar code system, but does number its bins. Flegenheimer says this is because it would not be practical at this point to bar code the company’s inventory. He says if the company was just starting up, it might be something to consider.

SecurShred’s Schofield also says he sees little benefit to bar coding. "Quite frankly, I don’t see where it is necessary," he says. Unless a company has gone fully digital, bar coding is not needed, according to Schofield.

For an industry that deals in paper, printable databases are many times used for tracking inventory. "It’s easier to look at one sheet and see what is on the first, second and third floor," Schofield says.

Shred Document Destruction currently does not bar code its containers, but the company soon will be. "With the ability to track containers, we hope to expedite our billing, administration [and] inventory and track our container assets," Mariani says.

CodeShred, SecurShred, Safeguard and Shred Document Destruction all say they talk with a company before deciding whether to offer containers for purges. Flegenheimer says it is important for the company to offer containers while it is on-site for a purge if a company has documents that are not in boxes. He also says SecurShred brings extra rolling carts in case the load is larger than expected, to avoid a return trip.

Schofield says 80 percent of the time his company is dealing with a client that has the documents in boxes or file cabinets. In those cases, providing containers ahead of time is usually not necessary, he says. But, the other 20 percent of the time, he is dealing with companies who are moving, and the employees still need to sort through paperwork. In those cases, Safeguard usually needs to bring in containers. He says this helps to get the ball rolling and motivates employees to begin sorting through paperwork.

Mariani says for most purges, Shred Document Destruction picks up boxes of documents to shred. In the cases where a customer has to clean out old filing cabinets or storage rooms, the company will provide bins in advance. He determines how many will be needed by doing a site survey.

When selecting the containers that secure shredding firms will offer to their customers, durability is a primary consideration.

When looking for a container, Frederick says he searches for ones that can be lifted by the tippers on the company’s trucks. He also says he is looking for sturdy containers, as one style of container the company used in the past was constructed of thin plastic and broke constantly.

Flegenheimer echoes this, saying he looks for strong containers with good hinges and locks. He also likes to have containers with flip lids for easy loading of paper and to work with companies that have a good turn-around time.

Schofield says his company looks for containers that have sturdy wheels and that require minimal tilting when being moved.

Shred Document Destruction looks for three important features in its containers, Mariani says: They must be secure, durable and serviced easily. He says Shred orders its containers a few times per year and tries to balance having enough containers on hand while at the same time not having too many, preventing them from becoming dirty or damaged while sitting in a warehouse.

Schofield, who says his company services thousands of containers, buys in bulk and places orders every 10 to 12 weeks, or about five orders per year. He says this saves Safeguard money by giving it a price break.

SecurShred prefers to keep about a month’s worth of inventory on hand. Flegenheimer says he began to bulk up in case of a large, unexpected job. "We try to stay ahead of that," he says. "You don’t want to be in the situation where a customer calls and you don’t have anything." n