D.R. Docusafe Offers Local Option For Affordable And Secure Document Shredding Services
The document destruction game is dominated by a few massive, multi-national companies who have over the years taken over almost all of the market.
Even in New Brunswick, if you or your business has needed sensitive documents shredded and destroyed, you’ve almost certainly gone through one of these big players.
A Moncton-based recycling firm wants to change that.
D.R. Recycling has been operating in New Brunswick for 25 years. Now, it’s on a course to disrupt the document destruction industry in New Brunswick with a radically local, personal, and much more affordable service.
Stephen Shaffer, the general manager of D.R. Recycling, says the company started its shredding business, D.R. Docusafe, because they discovered “a need that wasn’t being filled” in the local market.
Shaffer explains that the company has built up a significant customer base over the decades running its recycling operations. Those customers have for years been asking if D.R. provided document shredding services.
The Covid-19 pandemic shook things up for D.R. Recycling and, when the company lost a big client, Shaffer said they realized they needed to diversify. Taking the extra step into the document destruction world was the natural step.
D.R. was already sending trucks all over Southern New Brunswick through its recycling operations so collecting more sensitive documents for shredding wouldn’t be a huge logistical challenge.
When he started researching the paper shredding market, Shaffer realized there was plenty of room for a local competitor.
He learned that many New Brunswick businesses were looking for a less expensive alternative to the big shredding companies. And while offering a much lower price point is always appreciated, Shaffer says businesses really appreciate the face-to-face, personal touch D.R. Docusafe presents.
Shaffer says the company can provide a more personal, local service because they’ve been in the communities they serve for decades.
“We’re about giving people a different feel. We try to be very personal with our clientele,” he says.
“A lot of people that are using some of these other firms, outside of seeing a driver that comes in to get the material they’ve never heard or dealt anybody else from the company. We try to go in and make it more personal.”
The document destruction business is no joke, and D.R. Docusafe wanted the same NAID AAA Certifications as the big guys. Shaffer says that due to the COVID pandemic it was a year-long process that involved auditing, inspections, staff interviews, security reviews, and more.
“The auditors have to send all this information to their board in Phoenix, AZ and they have to review everything and, you know, we’re on pins and needles waiting for this whole thing because we’ve got basically years of our lives that put into this,” he says.
They got the approval last year and started the business in earnest in January. So far, Shaffer says the company’s personal, local approach has been working.
“A lot of times, companies like that feeling of knowing they’re dealing with a local business and if they have an issue, we’re here to solve it for them quickly. We’re part of their community,” Shaffer says.
This story is sponsored by D.R. Docusafe.