Editor's Column

Here, There and Everywhere

The document destruction industry hardly seems old enough to be experiencing long-term trends, but perhaps because the phrase "long-term" is a relative one anyway, it hasn’t stopped industry managers and advisors from trying to spot such trends.

One source of debate among trend-spotters is whether document destruction activity is increasingly heading to a plant-based shredding model, or whether mobile shredding trucks can retain their presence in the industry.

This debate, the subject of a feature in the previous issue of this magazine ("Balancing Opportunities" by Dan Sandoval, Summer 2004 SDB, p. 36), is certainly of interest to equipment suppliers as well as the secure destruction company executives making marketing and equipment purchasing decisions.

The National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) has surveyed its members to try to gauge their outlooks on the matter. In a summary of information collected from the 2003 survey, NAID Executive Director Robert Johnson noted in a presentation this spring that 13 of the 19 fastest growing survey respondents shred both in plants and with a mobile fleet. Just four of these companies offer only plant-based shredding, while only two shred strictly with a mobile fleet.

Offering both services seems to be the safest route to cover all opportunities. But how does one decide where to put one’s marketing emphasis?

In-plant shredding is generally more cost-effective. But in a service business, there is always the need to examine whether what is good for a company’s bottom line is also what matches customer demands and expectations.

One business owner I recently spoke to is less certain that a trend toward plant-based business is guaranteed. He notes that as identity theft claims more victims, customers may be more cautious about secure destruction.

Steve Kalapos of Secure EcoShred in Michigan notes that just as once-burned victims of identity theft likely will become the most vigilant operators of home shredders for their personal documents, they may also carry this vigilance over into the workplace.

Corporate contacts who arrange document or data destruction because they have been told to do so may be immediately comfortable with a plant-based arrangement. But if those contacts have learned the sting of identity theft first-hand, they may adopt a "show-me" attitude that demands on-site shredding.

It is difficult to say how many future "show-me" attitudes are being created, but clearly Kalapos is keeping the expectations of his customers in mind when he envisions a continued future for mobile shredding.