Paper shredding in a home or office environment is a great way to reduce waste that gets sent to landfills, increase security, and more.
But when you choose to start shredding in your office, you'll have some big decisions to make. The most important is whether you'll hire a shredding service, buy, or rent a commercial shredder.
Keep reading to learn a few pros and cons of each option, to help you make the best decision for your office.
Renting a Commercial Shredder
Renting a commercial shredder is an option that many businesses consider. But while it may seem like a simple option, it isn't without its share of downsides.
Before you rent a shredder for your office, check out the pros and cons of renting versus buying.
Pros
There are a few pros that come with renting instead of buying.
If your office only needs a small amount of shredding on a weekly or monthly basis, you may not need to invest in buying a high-quality commercial paper shredder.
On the other hand, if your business needs a lot of shredding each week or month, your shredder will experience a lot of wear and tear. This could lead to the need for repairs or maintenance.
Renting a shredder or hiring a professional shredding service means that you won't have to deal with these repairs on your own.
If your business deals with sensitive documents that are regulated by laws requiring confidential shredding, shredding in an office can be a challenge. You'll need employees with security clearance to shred your documents.
With a professional shredding service, you won't have to deal with this requirement. If you choose to rent a commercial paper shredder, you'll still need employees with security clearance.
Cons
While there are some pros to renting a commercial paper shredder or hiring a professional shredding service, there are also plenty of cons.
To start, renting a commercial paper shredding or hiring a professional service is an empty investment.
You'll have to continue to pay for your rental or service until you no longer need it. If you stop paying, you won't have any way to shred any paper that comes through your office.
Additionally, when you rent, you won't get to choose the shredder that you get.
It's likely that you'll end up with a well-used shredder. Depending on where you rent from and how much you spend, you may end up with a shredder that doesn't work well or ones that break down often.
While you won't have to pay to fix or replace these, you may be forced to wait until a replacement is delivered. In the meantime, your shredding pile will grow.
You may have limited choices when it comes to choosing the type of shredder that you'll rent as well. You may need to make space in your office for a larger model than you really need, or work overtime to shred tons of documents in too-small of a shredder.
If you choose to hire a professional shredding service, you'll need to make arrangements to store any documents that need to be shredded until the service arrives.
Depending on how often you hire that shredding service, you could be storing documents for some time. This can increase the chance that your employees will throw away documents that should be shredded, and can lead to a mess in your office.
Buying a Commercial Shredder
If you're worried about the cons of renting a commercial paper shredder or hiring a professional shredding service, you're in luck.
Buying a commercial shredder comes with plenty of pros, though like renting or hiring a service, there are some cons as well.
Cons
Choosing to buy a commercial shredder means taking on the responsibility of caring for the machine. Without proper care and upkeep, even high-quality shredders can break down over time.
When you choose to shred documents in-house, you may need to take precautions to make sure that you're meeting any confidentiality laws surrounding sensitive information.
If your business doesn't deal with these types of documents, you won't need to worry about this. But if it does, you'll need to look into getting your employees certified to shred confidential documents.
Pros
Despite a few cons, there are tons of pros to buying a commercial paper shredder instead of renting or hiring a professional service.
Buying a commercial shredder allows you to choose the shredder that best fits your businesses needs.
For instance, if your business doesn't deal with highly sensitive documents, strip cut shredders work fast and effectively to tackle large amounts of shredding. If you need a little more security, cross cut shreds your documents into tiny pieces, though it takes longer than strip shredding.
You'll also get to choose between high-capacity shredders, smaller models designed for tiny offices, and more. This makes it easier to customize your choice to fit your office's unique shredding needs.
Buying a commercial shredder is also a great investment. Rather than continuing to pay to rent a shredder or hire a service, you'll make a single investment.
You'll be able to use that investment for years, as long as you continue to care for the shredder.
Hiring a shredding service may save your employees time. But you can also cut costs by spreading out shredding duties among your employees.
In a small office, a single shredder can serve the needs of many different employees who split shredding duties.
If you have a larger office, splitting shredding duties between several employees can save you money compared to hiring a service. It will also help cut down on how long each individual employee spends shredding.
Choosing Between Hiring a Service, Renting or Buying a Commercial Shredder
Now that you know the pros and cons of hiring a shredding service, renting a shredder, or buying one or more, it's time to make the right choice for your office.
If you want to enjoy the greatest return on investment, save your business money, and tackle your shredding jobs right away, it's time to start shopping for the perfect commercial shredder for your office.
Check out our extensive inventory of commercial cross cut and strip cut shredders today!