Retention Policy and Additional Materials for Pick-Up

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Tis a New Year, which means it’s time to clean out offices, purge old documents, and/or update your files. SecurShred is here to help you with your end of year file purging. We offer NAID Certified On-site and Off-Site document destruction service, as well as, hard drive destruction, electronics recycling, record and data storage, and document scanning/file conversion.

For those who are already current customers, we ask that you call our Customer Service Department if you have additional material that needs to be picked up beyond your regular service. This way we can give the drivers notice that they need to look for additional material. If there are more than just a few boxes we may have to schedule an additional pick up to accommodate your extra material. Our trucks are able to hold up to 10,000 lbs. of paper before they are unable to continue shredding. By calling our office in advance, we are able to accommodate all our customers’ service needs in a timely manner. We thank you in advance for your understanding should we need to adjust your pick up date.

When it comes time to clean out your old files, how do you know what to keep and what to get rid of? What is the true lifespan of documents? Below is a basic guide to help you plan what to keep and what you can get rid of.

How long should I keep my files?

General Items Years
Capital Stock Ledgers Permanent
Minute Books Permanent
Canceled Bonds & Interest Coupons 7 years
Proxies of Holders of Voting Securities 2 years
List of Holders of Voting Securities 7 years
Deeds, Titles, Abstracts, etc. Permanent
List of Holders of Voting Securities 7 years (After expiration)
Financial Documents
General Ledgers, Cost Ledgers, Plant Ledgers Permanent
Statements (Balance Sheets, etc.) Permanent
Accounts Receivable Ledgers 7 Years
Books of Original Entry (including General Journal Entries) Permanent
Insurance Policies 3 Years (After Expiration)
Tax Returns & Records and Audit Reports Permanent
Royalty Computations 7 years (After Expiration)
Excise Tax Computations 5 years
Receipts & Expenditures
Duplicate Deposit Tickets 1 Year
Bank Statements & Canceled Checks 7 Years
Duplicate Checks 4 years
Accounting Payable Files
All supporting Data (i.e., invoices, receiving taxes, purchase orders, etc.) 7 Years
Canceled Payroll Checks 7 Years
Payroll Journals 7 Years
Time Cards 4 Years

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Our powerful shredding blades are able to shred this material, however, it is not the same substance and will contaminate the paper for recycling. We are allowed a certain amount of “contamination” per bail of shredded paper. Any metals that are in the paper are taken out through a series of steps at the paper mill.

Please do not hesitate to contact Mark or JoEllen in Customer Service or Natalie in Sales for inquiries regarding additional services that we offer. We can be reached by phone at 1.877.863.3003 extension 1 for scheduling, extension 2 for Sales or by email at [email protected]. We are also on the web at www.secushred.com and www.shipndestroy.com.

What happens to the paper once it is shredded?

The destroyed paper is sent to a local paper mill and recycled back into tissue products. Once converted into tissue products the items are then redistributed back into our local communities through a distribution company.

What can go into our SecurShred bin(s) for shredding:

1)     Paper, manila folders, hanging files, accordion files.

2)     Paper clips, bull clip, staples, rubber bands.

3)     In very small amounts CD’s or back-up tapes.

What cannot be shredded:

1)     Binders, cardboard, plastic bags.