A Day in the Life of a Mobile Shredding Truck

It’s a Beautiful Day for Shredding

It’s a beautiful Tuesday morning and the sun has just risen above the horizon. I am one of several large secure commercial trucks parked in a secure area at a shredding company, but my driver likes to refer to me as an “office on wheels.” My cargo area is large enough to house an industrial paper shredder and still have plenty of empty space for the shredded material it produces.

The Technician

My driver, who will spend the day steering me from one location to another, is actually a trained, certified shredding technician who is background-screened, insured, and bonded. After all, I don’t let just anyone take control of my wheel. The technician arrives right on time and makes sure that I am in good condition to travel. The list of scheduled shredding locations we are assigned to today is double-checked and we’re on our way. We have shred collection containers on board as well.

Our First Location

We arrive at our first location right on schedule, as usual, and I am taken to a secure location on the business’ premises. We are at the office of a medical doctor’s facility where thousands of paper medical records are securely stored. Their discarded documents include papers and letters that are created and discarded daily, but also medical records that have reached the end of their retention periods and must be securely destroyed.

The technician makes contact with the office staff to let them know he is going to collect their discarded documents. My technician leaves me in the parking lot and enters the building to pick up each of the shred bins and empty the executive consoles throughout the office. Each container has a slot where documents at the end of their life can be deposited, and they are locked. Only my technician and a designated staff member at the business we’re servicing have keys. That way, when a staff member drops a document or file into the container, it is protected and can’t be retrieved or viewed. Containers are provided at no extra charge.

Office to Truck

My technician brings the shred bins directly back to me and places the first one in my bin lift. He simply unlocks the lid; he never has to open the actual bin. One of the office staff accompanies my technician to watch the shredding take place on the video screen mounted on my side. This offers visual proof that the sensitive documents are being properly destroyed.

As my mechanical arms lift the bin into the covered lift and dump it inside the truck, the shredder’s teeth tear the paper into small pieces, simultaneously ripping through staples, paperclips, binder clips, and file folders. To complete the chain of custody and provide the doctor’s office with proof of compliance with state and federal data privacy laws such as HIPAA, we will provide them with a Certificate of Destruction.

After the shred collection containers are replaced in the office and the truck locked down, my technician and I are on our way to the next location, making sure we arrive on time as promised. The office also tracks us via GPS to ensure that we’re on route and on time.

Other Locations

Our route will take us to small and large offices, schools, medical facilities and manufacturing plants. Almost every organization has documents containing sensitive information and would benefit from secure mobile shredding. Even businesses that have very little paper and don’t need routine shredding can periodically schedule a one-time purge shredding service, such as the businesses we visit that are doing file room cleanouts, spring cleaning, and tax season purges of old records at the end of their required retention periods.

End of the Day

After we have visited every location that was scheduled for routine or one-time purge shredding, we return to the shredding depot with the shredded material from all our stops today. It’s all mixed together and baled to be sent to the recycling plant to be made into new paper products. I love that all of the paper I shredded today will stay out of the landfill and become useful again instead!

We get to meet new clients every day and also return on a weekly, bi-weekly, or 4-week rotating schedule to visit those we served today. It all depends on the schedule they chose because we tailor our service to their needs. Knowing that everyone’s information is secure and our clients are happy makes me and my technician feel satisfied with the day’s work and eager for tomorrow.

Wiggins Shredding provides secure mobile shredding services to businesses and residents throughout Pennsylvania and the Tri-State area of Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey. Our screened and trained shredding technicians shred your document on site. Want more information? Call us at 610-692-TEAR(8327) or complete the form on this page. Our shredding experts are standing by to answer your questions.