Overlooked Opportunities: Shredding It in New York

At the Delaware-Chenango-Madison-Otsego Board of Cooperative Educational Services (DCMO BOCES) in Norwich, New York, Supervisor Frank Oliver’s in-plant offers a number of services beyond traditional print, such as hardcover yearbooks and apparel printing. But one service that really stands out is document shredding.

In addition to being the in-plant for the cooperative trade school, the shop provides print and communications services to a variety of New York State school districts and municipalities, as well as to the State University of New York (SUNY). It has 12 full-time staff including Oliver, plus a number of part-time workers and even two full-time couriers.

Offering shredding came about when Oliver realized there was a need.

“We are continually looking to innovate and create new services under the department to meet our customers’ needs,” he says. “Knowing all of these entities have confidential records that need to be destroyed at the end of their cycle, I discussed the potential for the shredding service with our records clerk and management services assistant superintendent at the time.”

Because many of the documents in question have confidential information on them, multiple staff members were trained in HIPAA as well as more general confidentiality procedures. It started off small, with the couriers collecting these documents on their routes, but the in-plant has had to add more stops as the popularity of having a central shredding service has grown.

“We have bins set up throughout our organization so staff is aware of the process,” Oliver adds. “The record department and school districts were made aware via word of mouth. Again, the need was so large that it did not take much for the customers to start calling. Since then, we print [information about] the service in our marketing materials that we send out digitally and in print a couple times of year, but most business is still brought in via word of mouth.”

To do the actual shredding, the in-plant purchased the MBM Destroyit 5009 Cross Cut industrial shredder, and Oliver says it is “holding up well” even after years of use. But offering shredding goes beyond just picking up and destroying documents.

“It helps our customers stay current with records retention, but we also provide great customer service [and] records of destroyed materials if needed, maintain confidentiality, and save money in the process,” he says. “It also keeps storage space open and manageable. Far too often I have seen where customers may have difficulties with lining up proper disposal of confidential materials, and it immediately backs up and accumulates. This causes many issues: poor organization, inability to find records when you need them, and unhealthy storage environments, to name a few.”

For other in-plants considering adding shredding services, Oliver gives this advice: “It is a great service to offer if you are willing and able to find the proper setup and staff to manage the transportation, destruction, and recycling of confidential materials. The customers will line up if you provide consistent service [and are] not afraid to go above and beyond to remove the records in a timely and dependable fashion.

“Don’t shy away from volume, embrace it,” he continues. “Especially if a new customer is behind and really needs someone dependable to help them catch up. If you need to arrange a special stop to empty out a room or two just for them, they will love you forever, and they will remember what you helped them accomplish. Maintaining it should come much easier moving forward after that for both you and them.”