# Where can I get shredding services? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 12, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-shredding-services/485476 "2009-02-12T03:02:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-shredding-services/485476/1 "2009-02-12T03:02:08Z")
I have a box full of credit card solicitations and other documents that need shredding. I would take me forever to do them on my little personal shredder. Is there anywhere I can take them for shredding without paying a ton? Kinko’s or some place like that? ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-shredding-services/485476/2 "2009-02-12T03:21:41Z")
Yes, such places exist; I imagine they are fairly local, however. A few weeks ago a woman was griping to me about her job at a shredding business (she didn’t give the name), and she explained exactly how they dealt with commercial contracts vs. residents with a single box to shred. She said that they welcomed residential shredding jobs. I think they charged something like $50 for a full box, but I just did a bit of Googling about and it appears that prices range from $30-100 for the first box, with additional boxes going cheaper. Make sure it’s a reputable business; you don’t want to find out that they never even bothered to shred the stuff, or worse, an employee was mining the boxes. Do a search for “residential shredding services \”. They often pick up the boxes at your home. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-shredding-services/485476/3 "2009-02-12T03:23:14Z")
kinkos ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-shredding-services/485476/4 "2009-02-12T03:35:42Z")
Does Kinkos offer shredding services? I couldn’t find any mention on their website. ---
**Author:** ![MetroGnome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e7dd6/32.png) [@MetroGnome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MetroGnome)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-shredding-services/485476/5 "2009-02-12T03:58:23Z")
Yes, certain Kinko’s (or “Fedex Office Centers” as they are now called) do offer shredding services. I believe it’s $8 for a full case and $6 for a half case. Keep in mind that most of the time the shredding will not be done on site. Rather, the material to be shredded will be stored in locked containers that a third party shredding company picks up. Here in Seattle, some of the downtown stores make those locked bins available in their self-serve area for free use. You have to feed your documents through a narrow slot, so it’s not like anyone can just rummage through the bins. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-shredding-services/485476/6 "2009-02-12T14:32:40Z")
Depending on where you are, your local government might have a deal with a commercial shredder for people to bring in their stuff for free shredding on certain days. Ours does. But I just bring mine to work and throw them in “Jaws.” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-shredding-services/485476/7 "2009-02-12T14:37:05Z")
Often local banks will have a “shredding day” to “help fight identity theft”, or so their ads say. Bottom line, they pay for a shred truck to come to their parking lot for a day and you just drop off your stuff & watch the guy feed the whole box into his truck. Meanwhile, cute tellers pass out free logo pens & such, hoping you’ll open an account. One time I dumped off 8 bankers’ boxes full; nobody batted an eye, and the truck took about 2 minutes to eat all 8 boxes. I have a serious shredder at home but now a bankers box sits next to it and I just put the stuff in the box & ignore the shredder. Next month when it’s warmer I bet several area banks will be competing for the right to give me a free crappy pen. (and get rid of my incriminating evidence at the same time.) ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-shredding-services/485476/8 "2009-02-12T15:36:05Z")
I have a tiny shredder, and I just shred stuff as it comes in. What if you just commit to spending, say, 5 minutes a day shredding until it’s done? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-shredding-services/485476/9 "2009-02-12T16:29:50Z")
One box won’t take you very long. Last week I shredded five 30-gallon garbage bags of paper with our home shredder. Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-shredding-services/485476/10 "2009-02-12T21:20:00Z")
Check with Goodwill in your area. In some areas they provide secure shredding services, and paying them to do it instead of a private corporation helps benefit the community. > [@](#): > > [http://www.goodwillsocal.org/shredding/index.php](http://www.goodwillsocal.org/shredding/index.php) > > Goodwill offers a chance to do a greater good for the community: All income from Goodwill Secure Shredding service help fund education, job training and placement services. > [@](#): > > [http://www.sdgoodwill.org/sdd.shtml](http://www.sdgoodwill.org/sdd.shtml) > > . . . the shredding of your documents provides training and jobs for people with severe disabilities. [Lubbock, TX](http://www.lubbockgoodwill.org/index.php/site/about#contract-services) [PA Keystone area](http://www.yourgoodwill.org/business/shredding.html) ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-shredding-services/485476/11 "2009-02-12T22:00:25Z")
Wouldn’t a lit match and a fireplace or BBQ be a lot simpler? ---
**Author:** ![Shayna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shayna/32/17976_2.png) [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-shredding-services/485476/12 "2009-02-12T22:19:08Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > Wouldn’t a lit match and a fireplace or BBQ be a lot simpler? Not if you give a hoot about the environment, considering all the toxins, including (but not limited to) carbon dioxide, and ash you’d put into the air. Most shredding material isn’t _only_ paper. Many of the envelopes contain glycine “windows”. There can be plastic fake credit cards, staples, glues, dyes, and so on and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-shredding-services/485476/13 "2009-02-12T22:59:39Z")
I’ve seen a van driving around here that offers “mobile shredding services” with a telephone number printed on it. Check if your area has that. When I saw it I thought “I’m surprised there’s enough of a demand for something like that. I figure most people/businesses who need to shred documents probably already have a shredder. They aren’t that expensive.” But hey, here’s an example. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-shredding-services/485476/14 "2009-02-13T03:09:08Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > … When I saw it I thought “I’m surprised there’s enough of a demand for something like that. I figure most people/businesses who need to shred documents probably already have a shredder. They aren’t that expensive.” But hey, here’s an example. Businesses which have records retention polices also have lots of records that “mature” at once. So at the end of the month (or quarter) they suddenly have 27 complete boxes of files to shred. Then nothing until next month or quarter, then another 27 boxes, etc. Much cheaper to hire a pro to come by once a month versus buying a machine big enough to do that job efficiently, or pay somebody to waste 4 whole workdays feeding sheets into a SOHO toy shredder. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-i-get-shredding-services/485476/16 "2015-09-28T12:01:55Z")
Reported.