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With the implementation of HIPAA laws and identity theft being on the rise, the shredding industry is an industry which has tremendous growth potential and is a great opportunity for somebody looking to enter the secure document destruction business. Yet, just like any other type of small business, there are a lot of pros and cons to consider, equipment, process, and everything else...
The industry really does rely on equipment; But it also relies heavily on the sales and marketing effort by the startup venture or established venture.
There are two key success factors for shredding companies:
One: You're able to sell your services and get the business established.
Two: Then the equipment really becomes a critical element to success of the business.
Talking about prospecting and marketing for success, people think sometimes that all they have to be is technically savvy in order to be successful in business.
However, if you're not good at getting in front of clients and closing business, you're going to die on the vine. But let's assume that you're good at that. How are you going to be able to deliver on the promises that you make as a shredding company?
So how do Mobile Shredding Trucks fit into the picture?
Well, the shredding industry is a big equipment industry. Your shredding equipment is a tool that - and especially for a small business owner - it is a tool your business is relying on. These are your tools you're going to use every day and if those tools aren't functioning at their top performance day in and day out, your business is going to slowly die.
If you think about it, there are two ways to run a shredding operation. You can get a U-Haul truck and go to an establishment and load up boxes or bins and then bring them back to your facility; or you can literally have your mobile operation center where you show up. You shred everything and you're moving on to your next client. In terms of making it happen right then, right away: Being more efficient in your business operations, you're able to utilize that as a force multiplier.
And that's ultimately why the industry is turning more and more to mobile shredding.
There are viable arguments on both sides of that debate when referring to the difference between offsite shredding and onsite shredding.
The reality is that if you would ask a lay person:
Is it better for me to haul my documents away in the back of a U-haul truck, whole and intact with information on it, and risk a highway disaster where documents are floating all over the place. Or is it better to securely destroy the documents in a fashion that allows them to still be recycled and know that information is now in the chain of custody of a bonded and insured company.
Many customers are now opting for the latter and mobile shredding allows you to do that.
It seems everybody is just itching for a lawsuit and when it comes to safeguarding the security of your client files, you have to think of the risk and liability there. If your client, as a shredding company, is a car dealership for example: Even now with the economy, there are car dealerships selling 200, 300, 400 cars a month which means that upwards of a thousand to two thousand people a month are filling out credit applications and they have to shred and dispose of that client information.
Can you imagine?
You have to and if that U-haul truck gets in a car accident and all of a sudden they're all over the freeway. Who has the liability for that? Is it the shredding company? Is the dealership? Are you going to cost your shredding business the loss of an account and a lawsuit?
Well, everybody loses in that situation. This is why mobile shredding truck manufacturers remain part of this very professional and still growing industry. Ultimately, the reason the industry continues to grow is that when a security breach on information occurs, everybody loses.
The industry recently ran some surveys and it's very clear that the high risk companies (Car Dealerships, Banks and Financial Institutions, Medical Offices & Facilities) are compliant or at least, better be compliant. But where the industry is going to continue to grow is in the small office, home office market, and in retail.
Car dealerships are very cognizant of the requirement to meet the privacy standards but a lot of small businesses still think their best secure document protocol is double bagging the garbage before they put it in the dumpster and they're going to get caught.
This is why shredding companies need good, reliable, easy to operate equipment that doesn't require a set of wrenches everyday to keep it running.
What do you look for when you want to purchase a shredding truck?
The nature of a mobile shredding truck involves long periods of time sitting still while running at high idle.
Shredding hundreds of pounds of paper per hour puts an immense amount of pressure on the internal components of a mobile shredding truck.
As a six year veteran of the US Navy working maintenance on helicopters, too much maintenance can be just as bad as too little maintenance. One thing that is certain, not performing any maintenance is always a bad thing. Durability and Simplicity is the key to making sure you get the most from your equipment.
Quality of parts:
The strength and durability of each and every part of the truck, from the shredding blades, to the hydraulic hoses, to the strength of the box body walls matters. These trucks do take a beating and having high quality, high durability parts that far exceed day-to-day operating thresholds will mean you will have a truck that will serve you reliably for many years.
Simplicity of engineering:
You will get the most bang for your buck with a purely hydraulic system. If you're going to have hydraulics on your shredding truck, you might as well have it robust enough to run all the moving parts " from loading, to shredding, to unload. Besides hydraulics, keep away from excessive computer components. There's a lot going on in a shredding truck. Keep the electrical to solid state components as much as possible. That means wires, fuses, switches, and relays. The more you can procure parts locally without having to call the manufacturer the more likely you'll be back on the road shredding in no time when something breaks down.
Amount of routine maintenance required:
Every truck out there is going to require some degree of routine maintenance. As a small business owner, where it's just you, or whether you are running a business with multiple trucks, the least amount of routine maintenance the better. The more complex and more time consuming the routine maintenance the more likely it won't get done. That means costly maintenance down time at some point in the future. And if you are a one man show, simple routine maintenance translates into you being able to do some of this work yourself - saving on some serious dollars out of your pocket.
Ease and cost of repairs:
There is not a piece of machinery on the planet that will not break down from time to time. So when your shredding truck breaks down, the question is how much is it going to cost and how long is it going to take to fix? Having a shredding truck that can be worked on by a good local shop or that can be repaired by a mobile repairman to get you get back on the road will be the difference between having just a bad morning and having a bad week.
Why buy a new shredding truck over a used truck?
It's extremely hard to argue that brand new equipment is an absolute necessity when first starting out. As a brand new venture, when cash is extremely hard to come by, purchasing a quality, well kept, used shredding truck can make that first year much easier. If going the used route, make sure you look at the same qualities you would look at when purchasing a new truck. Also, make sure when buying a used shredding truck that you can verify the maintenance history of the truck ensuring it has been well maintained.
At some point in time it's going to make sense to purchase a new shredding truck. The reliability of a new truck where you know from the start the maintenance history will be vital in ensuring you will be able to consistently provide quality service to your customers.
One thing to keep in mind is that used shredding trucks do hold their value quite well. That being said, the sooner you start making those large payments on a new truck, the sooner you'll be able to sell that truck for a profit in order to purchase more equipment. Or, rather, if you maintain your truck properly, once that new truck has been paid off, you will experience a very nice increase in your cash flow.
How to acquire a shredding truck?
Let's say I'm in California and I want to start a shredding business: It's not like there's a dealer base for shredding trucks.
No, shredding trucks are not sold through dealers. None of the equipment suppliers in the industry sell through dealers. It is a direct to customer industry and with the blessing of the internet, people are able to Google this information, find manufacturers, start making some assessments on what type of equipment suits them, and make their choice.
Keep in mind that because you can't walk up onto a dealer's lot and purchase a shredding truck, there is typically at least a few weeks lead time before a new shredding truck shows up ready for service.
