Once upon a time, there was a large dairy farm with an extensive client list.
Over the years, the farm brought in more cows and expanded its catalogue, and the client list grew even longer.
When the computer age came about and the dairy farm modernized, its paper client list was made digital, and all the old paper records were stored in the attic of one of its stables.
What does this have to do with mobile document destruction, you ask? Everything.
Sitting up there, unprotected in an attic, those records were susceptible to theft.
Sure, the door had a lock on it, but a determined identity thief can get past a simple padlock -- and dairy cows don't make very good guard dogs.
And once the records were stored on a hard drive, the dairy had no reason to keep those old paper records around -- doing so was a big risk.
They needed some form of document destruction, but who wants to haul a hundred boxes across a pasture? That's where mobile shredding comes in.
When you hire a good mobile shredding firm, you can perform years' worth of document destruction in an afternoon.
The key to onsite shredding is the shredding truck: A multi-axle box truck with an industrial paper shredder mounted in the trailer.
These can destroy whole volumes of paperwork at a time -- including staples, paper clips, binder clips, file folders and rubber bands, so there's no need for lengthy preparation before the truck arrives.
Mobile shredding is among the most powerful forms of document destruction available.
In the case of our dairy, the mobile shredding truck simply rumbled across the pasture and parked outside the barn (taking care not to spook the cows).
Then the employees of the shredding company climbed into the attic to bring down the boxes.
By the end of the day, the work was done, and the client records were safe from identity theft.
Even in the days of digital records, companies still generate plenty of paperwork, which is why mobile shredding firms are fairly plentiful.
If you decide to hire a mobile shredding truck to dispose of your sensitive materials, be sure to follow a few simple rules: Find a mobile shredding company that charges by weight, not by time.
Any job can be stretched out to take up a whole week.
Charging by weight ensures a more fair price for the job.
Find a mobile shredding company that knows the law.
Many laws, like HIPAA, FACTA and GLB, govern document destruction for different industries.
Make sure the company you hire is compliant.
Make sure your mobile shredding company is licensed, bonded and insured.
This is a good idea for any on-site contractor.
Make sure you can watch the process if you want to.
Better yet, see if they'll provide a video recording of the event.
Once you've found the right firm, your days of clutter (and your clients' days of potential identity theft) will be over.
So have a glass of milk and congratulate yourself.