This year the event will be held on Saturday April 25^th from 10:00am to 2:00pm at the following Crosstown Civic Credit Union branches:

1200 Henderson Highway

515 St. Anne’s Road

3161 Portage Avenue

1450 McPhillips

There is no charge to have your documents shredded at this event.  However donations will gladly be accepted.  All funds raised by the event will be matched by Crosstown Civic Credit Union and donated to CancerCare Manitoba!

So pull out your old taxes, have a mortgage shredding party or just get rid of those old pictures from university you don’t want anyone to know about.  Our shred trucks will destroy your documents quickly and easily and all donations will go to a great cause!

The post ALLMOVE Partners with Crosstown Civic Credit Union for 8th Annual Free Personal Shred Day appeared first on ALLMOVE Blog.

NAID AAA Certification is a third party audited program pertaining to the ultimate destruction and disposition of information media.  Media includes: Paper; non-paper (CD’s; jump drives; floppy disks etc.); Hard Drive Destruction; Hard Drive Sanitization; and Micro Fiche.  Certification is further broken down into the method of destruction; namely mobile (on-site) or plant-based.

Service providers need to get AAA Certified for each type of service they provide.  So, seeing on a website that a service provider is NAID AAA Certified does not tell you the whole story.  Whether the company is certified for just one type of media destruction or every possible endorsement, the NAID AAA Certified logo can be used.

What does this mean to you the client?  Simply put, you want to make sure you are getting what you paid for.  Why do you insist on using a NAID AA Certified vendor for your information destruction needs?  Protecting your client, staff or company information?  Following federal privacy requirements?  Peace of mind?

Whatever your reasons, it defeats the purpose of hiring a certified company if they are not certified for the service you need.  Hiring a company that is only NAID AAA Certified for Mobile Paper Shredding does you little good if you need to destroy your old floppy disks.  The receipt you get may say that the shred was NAID AAA Certified, but that doesn’t mean it is true.

Further, there are issues of due diligence that can come back to haunt your company if you don’t do your research.  If you hire a company because they are NAID AAA Certified but they are not endorsed for the type of media you need shredded, the certificate of destruction carries far less weight.

What can you do to ensure you have all the facts?  There are two simple steps.  First, ask your service provider what services they are endorsed by NAID for.  Additionally, ask for a copy of their certificate; it lists everything the company is endorsed for and each company is sent a new certificate every year.

Second, NAID is an independent organization that not only lobbies on behalf of shredding vendors; it also strives for transparency among its members.  Anyone can visit the NAID website  and look up their service provider to verify what they are actually endorsed for.  This is a terrific tool to avoid getting duped.

I’m not saying most service providers are trying to fool you.  NAID comes down pretty hard on shredding companies that mislead their clients, particularly if they are misusing NAID’s brand.  However, a little knowledge goes a long way.  Further, if you ask the right questions such as “What are you endorsed by NAID to shred”, you service provider will view you in a different light as you are speaking her language.

Most importantly, you will know that you are getting exactly what you are paying for.

The post NAID AAA Certification: Read Between the Lines appeared first on ALLMOVE Blog.

So what exactly does all of this mean?  Last week’s blog post explained PRISM Privacy+ and how this certification helps your company. Today we will discuss PCI DSS.

What the Heck is…PCI Compliance?

PCI Compliance is attained by an organization by meeting all of the standards set forth in the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).  The purpose of the standard is to increase security controls surrounding cardholder data and limit the potential for credit card fraud.  This standard applies to all organizations that handle cardholder information for credit, pre-paid, debit, ATM, POS and e-purse cards.

Obtaining PCI Compliance is a very involved process.  There are up to 12 major components the applicant must meet, with each component having several sub-components.  The exact number of sections tested depends on the nature of the business the applicant is involved in.  Records Centres only need to be tested on sections 9 & 12 as all the other section are not applicable.

The PCI requirements cover such areas as physical security, proper documentation, confidentiality agreements and IT/system security.  Meeting and maintaining all of these requirements are certainly no small task.

Additionally, PCI DSS requires validation of these requirements being met on an annual basis.  This is a more stringent auditing requirement than most other standards in the industry.  Validation can be in one of two forms, and this is where clients have to be careful.

The first and most difficult method to pass is performed by and external Qualified Security Assessor (QSA).  Passing an audit of this nature creates a Report on Compliance (RoC).  The RoC is obtained through a lengthy combined effort on the part of the applicant organization and the auditor, as the auditor works with the organization to ensure they fully understand what each requirement means and that they do indeed meet the standard.

The second method of validation is far less difficult to obtain.  This is called a Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) in which the organization audits themselves, fills out the documentation and signs a document indicating their findings to be truthful and accurate.  Aside from filing the paperwork from the self assessed organization, there is no third party verifying their claims of compliance. 

These two methods of validation are obviously quite different and carry significantly different implications.  In the case of the RoC audit you can rest assured that the organization in question is legitimately PCI Compliant.  Additionally, should there be a breach as a result of a PCI Compliance failure; both the offending organization and the auditor would be partially liable.  This means more money to go around to injured parties before potential bankruptcy filings which would negate any further damages being paid.

In the case of a Self Assessment Questionnaire, as the filing organization is the one claiming compliance, there is no official guarantee to you that the potential vendor is indeed compliant.  They are essentially asking their clients to take their word for it. 

Now don’t get me wrong, most organizations going the SAQ route will hire an independent auditing firm to assist them with meeting all of the requirements.  They simply don’t go that last step of having a full blown third party audit.  This is likely for one of two reasons: 

The first is cost.  A SAQ audit can cost tens of thousands of dollars per facility just for the audit.  This does not even factor in the hours and resources put towards meeting compliance by the organization.

The second possible reason is the auditing firm hired is not themselves certified to conduct RoC audits.  Getting certified for this type of audit requires much training as well as paying an annual fee to the Payment Card Industry.  Some firms just don’t see the benefit.

Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter why the vendor has only gone the Self Assessment route.  In the end it would be difficult to prove how much, if any, involvement an auditing firm had in the preparatory stages. As well, since the vendor is making the claim of compliance with no third party validation they are the only ones that are liable in the event of a breach. 

Rest assured ALLMOVE and IRSG received a passing grade on a full RoC audit.  We vetted several third party auditing firms and selected Kirkpatrick Price specifically due to their ability to offer a full RoC audit.

So while most of our clients do not actually require their vendors be PCI compliant, the fact ALLMOVE & IRSG have completed this certification process gives all of our clients added peace of mind.  As a matter of course, we must treat all clients to the same level of privacy and security regardless of what they are storing in our records centres.

After all, peace of mind is really what we are selling.  Peace of mind that your information is safe, secure and accessible when needed.  All that has changed is now we have third party proof of that claim!

The post Clarifying Certifications Series: What the Heck is…PCI Compliance? appeared first on ALLMOVE Blog.

So what exactly does all of this mean? Over the next two blogs I will explain what PRISM Privacy+ and PCI DSS Certification are, and how these benefit your company.

What the Heck is…PRISM Privacy+?

According to the PRISM International Privacy+ Certification Handbook “Privacy+ is a certification program open to all companies worldwide providing outsourced storage and protection of hardcopy records and offline removable computer media. Participation in Privacy+ is voluntary and allows companies to publicly demonstrate their commitment to the privacy of information entrusted to them by their clients.”

“Privacy+ certification is applicable only to participating companies’ physical storage and handling of hardcopy records and offline removable computer media. Without limitation, Privacy+ is not applicable to related services such as document imaging, shredding services, or any form of cloud storage.”

The purposes of the Privacy+ program are to:

• Provide participants a vehicle to publicly demonstrate their commitment to ensuring the privacy of information in their custody
• Share resources and best practices in order to help participants reduce risks in their businesses
• Reduce the number of privacy breach incidents caused by members of our industry, thereby
o Preserving the reputation and trusted status of our industry
o Reducing the likelihood and/or severity of government-imposed legislation on our industry

In order for a company to become Privacy+ Certified they must first pass a stringent third party audit. IRSG was audited by the firm Kirkpatrick Price based in Tampa, Florida. We selected this firm specifically because they were first vetted by PRISM International and currently stand as PRISM’s suggested auditing firm.

The audit consisted of the auditors testing a number of controls at each of our facilities. Not only did we have to demonstrate compliance with these Control Objectives, IRSG also had to show consistency in terms of how each location meets the testing criteria. In other words, each location had to run the same policies; procedures; and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s). Here is the list of controls observed and tested by the auditors:

Physical Security:
•Verify that access is controlled with badge readers or other devices including authorized badges and lock and key.
•Verify that video cameras and/or access control mechanisms are in place to monitor the entry/exit points to sensitive areas.
•Verify that video cameras and/or access control mechanisms are monitored and that data from cameras or other mechanisms is stored for at least three months.
•Review media inventory logs to verify that logs are maintained and media inventories are performed at least annually.
•Observe locations of publicly accessible network jacks to verify that physical and/or logical controls are in place to restrict access to publicly-accessible network jacks.
•Observe processes for identifying and distinguishing between onsite personnel and visitors to verify that:
• Visitors are clearly identified, and
• It is easy to distinguish between onsite personnel and visitors.
•Verify that access to the identification process (such as a badge system) is limited to authorized personnel.
•Verify that visitors must be authorized before they are granted access to, and escorted at all times.
•Observe the use of visitor badges or other identification to verify that a physical token badge does not permit unescorted access to physical areas where cardholder data is processed or maintained.
•Verify that visitor badges or other identification expire.
•Verify that a visitor log is in use to record physical access to the facility as well as computer rooms and data centers.
•Verify that the log contains:
o The visitor’s name,
o The firm represented, and
o The onsite personnel authorizing physical access.
•Verify that the log is retained for at least three months.
•Verify that all media sent outside the facility is logged and sent via secured courier or other delivery method that can be tracked.
•Review media inventory logs to verify that logs are maintained and media inventories are performed at least annually.
•Verify the use of secure containers for the shredding of obsolete paper materials.
Environmental Controls:
•Verify the facility is equipped with a fire suppression system.
•Verify the facility is equipped with a fire detection system and monitored 24/7.
•Verify critical operation servers, including those containing client-owned information, are equipped with battery backup systems.
•Verify critical operation servers are properly cooled if contained within an enclosed computer room.

So what does all of this mean to you the client? You can rest assured that any IRSG facility across Canada can be trusted with keeping your documents and electronic media secure from unauthorized access. This isn’t just a claim. This is independently verified.

The post Clarifying Certifications Series: PRISM Privacy+? appeared first on ALLMOVE Blog.

Innovative Records Systems Group, a provider of record & data tape storage; scanning; & shredding services across Canada, has achieved Payment Card Industry – Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) Certification.

IRSG in a Canadian Owned and Operated corporation consisting of local information management companies servicing clients across Canada.  The members include:  Docu Guard; Docu Depot; FileBank; ALLMOVE; Crown Storeall; Calgary Archives; and BC Records.

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) was developed to encourage and enhance cardholder data security and facilitate the broad adoption of consistent data security measures globally. PCI DSS provides a baseline of technical and operational requirements designed to protect cardholder data. PCI DSS applies to all entities involved in payment card processing—including merchants, processors, acquirers, issuers, and service providers, as well as all other entities that store, process or transmit cardholder data (CHD) and/or sensitive authentication data (SAD).

“We are extremely proud to have third part audit firms recognize IRSG’s dedication in providing the highest levels of security and care for all of our client’s information.”  Commented IRSG President Gerry Doedens.

IRSG is a National Information Security Company with locations in Vancouver; Calgary; Edmonton; Regina; Saskatoon; Winnipeg; Toronto; Ottawa; Montreal; Quebec; and the Maritimes.  Offering a combination of the best service and security in the industry, IRSG can help your company with all of its information security needs.

The post ALLMOVE/Innovative Records Systems Group (IRSG) Achieves PCI DSS Certification & PRISM Privacy+ Re-Certification for 2015 appeared first on ALLMOVE Blog.

The question floats around your management team for a few days and they come up with a few ideas. The most common one is “let’s go electronic!”; “let’s go green!”; “We should go paperless!” The cut and dry solution appears to be scanning.

If only it were this simple.

Most people think of scanning as nothing more than photocopying to USB stick or DVD.  This could not be further from the truth.  Before a scanning vendor can even begin to give you a price she must first ask several important questions.  What type of paper is it? How do you want it scanned? How often do you access this information? How do you want it indexed?

Of course this just raises more questions in you mind:

Paper Type?  I don’t know its just paper. 

How do I want it scanned?  What kind of question is this?  I just want to be able to look at it on my computer monitor if I ever need to.

Indexed?  What on earth does this mean?  So you mean indexing is sorting the files to keep a record of what is where in the filing cabinet? “

You are now madly writing down all of this information as the basis for your next scanning conversation – at least you will be ahead of the learning curve for that phone call.

Hearing the confusion in your voice the person on the other end of phone begins to explain the work which goes into scanning images.

It all starts with “prepping” the files for scanning – this involves removing the papers from the file folders, and recording the “index” information on a separator.  The Scanning Technician will then go through each piece of paper in the folder.  This consists of removing all the staple;, paperclip; moving all the sticky-notes if they are covering any text on the page; repair any rips, tears, jagged edges on the paper; and making sure they are straightened out.

 “Wow” you think to yourself “that is a lot of work to repair all those pieces of paper – what about the loose pictures and the expense claims files which are stored in the plastic sleeves to keep all the receipts together – what will happen with all those little receipts and pictures?” you ask.

Those will be mounted to a piece of paper so they can be fed through the scanner. The receipts will be mounted to a separate piece of paper – they can be mounted together or separately.   Sounds timely when you think of the 16 drawers you have.

“Wow – who knew paper could be so involved?”

Once the prepping of the paper is completed the Scanning Technician will begin to scan the papers in order to turn them into images. This step will take less time.  As the papers are feeding through the scanner the technician will make sure the paper is properly aligned, watch for mis-feeds and paper getting stuck together. 

This step appears to be pretty basic, but attention to surroundings is crucial. The last thing the Scanning Technician wants is to have your paper to become damaged during scanning process, or risk damaging the scanner itself.

Once the paper has been turned into images, the Scanning Technician will complete a review of the images – commonly referred to Quality Assurance. The level of Quality Assurance will be determined at the time you commit to your scanning project. There are many variances of quality assurance, with the most common three being:

 Level 1 – Scan to get what you get.  There are no corrections done to the images (if they are upside down, they remain upside down).  A quick review is completed, but not an in-depth inspection.

Level 2 – A page by page review of 25% of the box is completed. This consists of doing a side by side comparison of the paper scanned to the image produced. The Scanning Technician will look to make sure the image is a fair representation of the paper scanned. Once the quality assurance of 25% is completed, a quick review of the remaining images is completed with attention paid to converting any pictures to color – if this is what you requested.

Level 3 – This is a 100% verification of your images.  A side by side, page by page comparison of each piece of paper is done to ensure each image was captured correctly.  

When choosing your level of quality assurance it is important to consider what you are going to do with the paper based information you have scanned once the images are produced.  Are the files going to be destroyed once the project is completed?  Stored for future reference to the image if required?  These are key considerations for when choosing your quality assurance levels.

At this point you are likely thinking it almost seems easier to buy another filing cabinet! Don’t despair – the end is in sight. So far you have learned about the Prepping, Scanning and Quality Assurance which are the three most time consuming aspects of scanning.

Once all the images reach this point we are entering the indexing stage – this is where you need to determine how you want each file labeled. You will have determined your requirements for indexing when your project guidelines were established. Your Scanning Technician will label each file according to what has been listed on the document separator when the documents were prepped.

When the indexing is completed, your project is ready to be exported, and transferred to your choice of storage device.  Generally images are transferred to a CD/DVD, USB or Hard Drive.  You will need to consider the redundancy of your images. You have invested your time, energy and financial resources into establishing how the paper will be converted to an electronic version. Making sure you have chosen the right storage format will ensure the images are available for a long time. 

In some instances your vendor will also be able to store the images on their server as an additional back-up for your project.  You will want to ensure where your images are stored on the vendors’ server is not accessible by the internet, and all data is encrypted during back up.

The final stage to complete your scanning project is “Re-Prep”. This step is not as complicated as the “Prep” – the Scanning Technician will put the paper back into the folder from which it came. A few more decisions will need to be made – do the staples and paperclips need to be put back in place? How about the sticky notes? Do they need to be put back in their original location on the paper?

These considerations lead back to what are you going to do with the paper once it’s scanned.  If the paper is going to be destroyed, do the images need to be fully re-prepped?  If you are keeping the paper for a period of time, what are the chances of needing to go back to the paper based copy to compare to the image?  And if you are keeping the paper for a period of time, where are you storing it?  Chances are pretty good you will not have room for the paper back in your office – remember the full filing cabinets, and two new employees starting?

Now that you are armed with appropriate information about scanning from a potential vendor you feel like you have almost come full circle with your original issue at hand.  What should you do with all of this paper?  

In some situations scanning all your images may not be right for you and your company. Moving the paper offsite to a secure storage facility or even looking to purge and shred some of the paper to free up the valuable space in your office may be the answer. Either way, aren’t you glad you picked up the phone to find out what scanning is all about?

Special thanks to guest blogger Kirsten Switzer

The post The Scanning Process – How Does it Work? appeared first on ALLMOVE Blog.

This draws us to two separate but equally important questions: 

1. What determines the cost (why does a smaller shred size cost more)?
2. What level of security (shred size) do my documents actually require?

The answer to the first question is simple really:  Time is money.  You shredding vendor has to collect your documents, operate the shredding equipment and dispose of the shredded paper.  The longer this takes, the more it costs and hence the more your vendor has to charge.  A simple enough explanation, but what causes the shredding process to take more time, and therefore increase the costs?  To answer that question we need to take a closer look at the overall shredding process. 

There are a number of different shredding equipment options available on the market.  Cross cut; screens; hammer mills.  There are pros and cons to each type of shredder which are beyond the scope of this blog. 

What the reader needs to know is that each of these machines is designed to break your paper down to pre-determined particle sizes.  Shredding documents to a smaller size takes more time for the machine and the operator.

Don’t believe me?  Take a piece of paper and cut it in half.  Doesn’t take very long to do.  Now, take another piece of paper and cut it into four pieces without folding it.  Still not too bad, but it did take more time.  Now take another piece of paper and cut it into 50 pieces, size doesn’t matter.  Think your boss will start to notice how much time you’re wasting cutting up paper?

Well the same rules apply to the operation of shredding equipment.  The smaller you want to particles, the longer it takes the machine.  If you want your paper reduced to dust particles your shredding vendor can likely do it, but it’s going to cost you.

So this leads us to the second main question:  What level of security do your documents actually require?  How small do your document particles really need to be?

The National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) requires that its NAID AAA Certified companies shred documents to a minimum of 5/8”.  The belief is with the standard shredding and disposal process, this particle size make reconstruction of documents as close to impossible as one can reasonably expect. 

In other words, the shredding industry watchdog believes clients only need to spend enough to accomplish a 5/8” particle size to ensure security.  Spending any more than that to get a smaller particle size would be overkill.

So what about the shredding and disposal process makes 5/8” adequate for preventing reconstruction?  I will use ALLMOVE’s equipment to exemplify as I can’t speak for other company’s equipment. 

and then feeds the remains into the box by use of an auger.  An auger will automatically mix the new particles with the particles already present as it feeds into the box.

 When completely full our trucks will contain roughly 7,000-10,000lbs of shredded paper (our new trucks hold more paper).  At the end of their day, each truck returns to our baling facility and dumps all of their shredded paper onto the tipping floor.  On any given day we will be tipping 2-4 trucks worth of paper to be mixed together prior to being baled into 1200lb cubes of paper.

ALLMOVE also has a plant-based shredder that feeds shredded paper into the same pit.  So any given day the shredded documents get mixed with tens of thousands of pounds of other shredded documents prior to being securely baled into 1200lb bricks of compressed paper.

Once we have baled enough paper we then ship the bales to a paper mill so it can be pulped and recycled into new paper products.  Each load has between 36-38 bales of paper and weighs approximately 45,000lbs.  It takes us about 2-3 business days to accumulate a load of baled paper.

Even if you’re shredding service provider dumps your paper at someone else’s facility for baling and final shipment to a paper mill, your documents are still getting intermixed with other shredded documents.  Having a service provider with their own baling facility simply adds an extra layer of security due to chain of custody.

It is important to understand that there is no such thing as a completely secure shred size.  Given enough time and/or resources, and document can be reconstructed.  They key to maintaining the highest decree of security is not in the shred size, but rather in the process.

Consider why someone would want to reconstruct your documents.  If they have a pre-determined need for your information, then they know what they are looking for, more or less.  So, even if the criminal knows he is looking for financial documents from company X, and he knows these documents were shredded by vendor Y, how does he locate any information of value? 

Which bale is your document pieces located in?  Are the document particles separated over multiple bales?  How many other clients’ documents were you particles inter-mixed with?  Did the bale with your information get loaded onto this truck or that truck? 

In other words, the shredding process, not the particle size, removes the criminal’s point of reference.  Without knowing where to begin, how can he locate the document he is looking for, no matter the shred size.

So when tackling the age old question “Does size really matter?”, the answer depends on the process used.   And yes, we are still talking about confidential shredding.

The post The Shredding Process: What Really Happens to my Shredded Documents? appeared first on ALLMOVE Blog.

As usual the tournament was a lot of fun with all profits going towards the CITT Manitoba Area Council Bursary Fund.  This year the event raised $1939, a tremendous success!  The fund is used towards an annual bursary which is given to a deserving student from Windsor Park Collegiate.

So how did ALLMOVE do in the tournament?  Well, most importantly it must be mentioned that as this tournament supports such a great cause, we enjoy participating just for the knowledge of the good we are doing.  The final score is irrelevant and it is probably beneath the reader for me to even mention it.

That said, I am pleased to announce that the ALLMOVE team was named the “Most Honest Team” at the end of the tournament.  This distinction goes to the team that displays the greatest moral fiber in recording their score, more proof that clients can always put their trust in ALLMOVE.  J

Sadly, I feel compelled to admit that our team actually cheated, significantly, during this tournament.  In spite of the fact we gave ourselves 4x as many bogies as we were actually allowed, we still placed last. 

Now, this may initially worry you.  If we were cheating, does that not indicate we are not as honest as initially stated?  Well, when it comes to golf, I suppose that may be true.  However, a more important fact is uncovered with this admission.

WE SUCK AT GOLF!

Now, how does this fact benefit you as a customer?  Simple:  We are so busy working and ensuring all of our clients needs are met, we have no time to golf during business hour (unlike everyone else in the tournament).

Now, doesn’t that make you sleep better at night?

The post ALLMOVE Attends 10th Annual CITT Bursary Golf Tournament appeared first on ALLMOVE Blog.

In the world of document destruction there are numerous ways to arrange billing.  Some vendors choose to charge by weight; others charge rent on their assets (consoles, bins etc.) plus a fee every time they service the client; and still others opt to charge based on time spent shredding. 

ALLMOVE prefers to charge a flat rate per collection container.  The client is charged each time an asset is serviced, with each asset being designated to hold a certain volume as determined by the manufacturer.  The account manager consults with the client on their monthly volumes and an asset allocation is set up with an appropriate service schedule aimed at maximizing their security container volumes.

Why do we choose this option?  We believe this method is the most efficient for all parties involved while also being the most fair.  By working with our clients to maximize security container usage and minimize service frequency we are able to keep operating costs, such as fuel and labour, down and maintain lower service rates. 

Like it or not, whether there is a separate line item on your invoices for fuel surcharge or not, those costs are worked into what you pay.  Helping your service provider keep their costs down benefits you in the end.

Other companies will preach the opposite, stating a rate per pound as being more accurate and fair.  So who is right?  Rather than giving my opinion (which I’m sure the reader can already guess), allow me to present the data and you can be the judge.

All scales, mobile or stationary, are governed in Canada under the Department of Weights and Measures.  The law dictates that all scales sold in Canada must be registered with the Department of Weights and Measures by the vendor, so the person selling it to the shredding company in this case.  However, by the government’s own admission, this does not always take place and there is really no way to verify or enforce that this occurs.

“The majority of smaller scales will be inspected at the factory or at the dealer. They will then sit in stock until they are sold and at the time of sale the dealer is required to notify us, unfortunately this does not always occur.”[i] Terry Voinorosky, District Manager for Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Measurement Canada.

Once the scale is purchased it must be calibrated and certified by the service provider every one to two years depending on the industry of use.  In the case of a shredding company, the requirement is every two years.  Once certified, the certifying company must send the results to the Department of Weights and Measures, and affix a two inch sticker to the scale indicator with the date of re-certification on it. 

Further, the Department of Weights and Measures is not permitted to give out inspection data on specific establishments to the general public.  So if you want to verify the scale being used to weigh your material is legal for trade you have to ask to see the sticker on the scale yourself, or you can request a copy of the calibration certificate.

There is the rub, isn’t it?  Any idea how many trucks your vendor has for document collection? 

ALLMOVE has four mobile shred trucks and four other vehicles for collection of materials for plant-based shredding.  We don’t use mobile scales, but if we did, that’s several re-calibration certificates you would need to verify, and you would have to trust us when we tell you how many mobile scales we have.  Without inspecting each mobile scale yourself, and tracking each serial number, how do you know you have been supplied with all of the calibration certificates?

It is also important that one considers the actual legislation Canada has in place for legal for trade scale certification.  As previously stated, the Department of Weights and Measures requires re-certification every two years.  Even if your vendor follows this requirement flawlessly, what makes the law correct?

The requirement for re-certification of mobile scales used for the purposes of weighing grains and field crops is every year.  Meanwhile scales used for measuring gravel cannot be certified.  Why are scales in these industries treated differently?

In the U.S., the regulations surrounding scale certifications vary from state to state.  If one state requires annual certification and another requires it be done every other year, which requirement is correct? 

Technically, every time a scale is moved there is the chance of the calibration being affected.  Some scales are more sensitive than others.  Typically the more precise the scale, the easier it is to jar the components inside.  This doesn’t even take into consideration the possibility of a portable scale getting dropped. 

Regardless of what the local rules are surrounding the calibration of the scale weighing your material, these are the facts.  Legal does not necessarily mean accurate.

Another point to consider is the circumstance of on-board scale systems which are fitted to a lifter.  These systems are typically used for such things as garbage collection and not industries requiring legal for trade weights.  The constant vibration of the truck tends to have an adverse effect on the load cell which means they require re-calibration on a regular basis.  One has to wonder, why would the vibration have an understandably adverse effect on a mounted scale, but not on a portable one?

What about the operator or the scaling policy of your service provider?  How are they actually weighing your material?  Are they removing the weight of the container holding your material when they weigh it?  Have they pre-calibrated their scale to automatically factor in the weight of the container?  If so, what size container did they factor in?  65 gallon?  95 gallon?  Nylon bag?  If the scale is pre-calibrated to one of these containers, what do they do when a different container type is used at another client’s location? 

As well, containers from different manufacturers will weigh different amounts.  A 95 gallon container purchased from Allsource will likely have a slightly different weight than a 95 gallon container purchased from Jake, Connor & Crew.

So considering all of these factors that can affect the weights you are being charged for, how confident can you really be about the accuracy of bills, not to mention the environmental sustainability reports you may be requesting? 

Well, this begs the question:  How bad can it really be?  Surely it still must be more accurate than using collection container volumes to estimate your weights.

Consider the following scenario:  Your service provider uses 95 gallon bins to collect your paper, takes the bins to their truck, weighs them and then shreds.  Let’s assume their scale is perfectly calibrated so the weights are 100% accurate.  Let’s also assume the scale has been pre-calibrated to factor in the weight of the Allsource manufactured 95 gallon I-Series collection container which weighs approximately 44 lbs. when empty.[i]

Now using this best case scenario consider these external factors that can affect your weight:  

• Your facility has 65 gallon containers on site, which your shredding company uses in lieu of 95 gallon containers.  These containers weigh approximately 39 lbs. when empty.[i]  For ever two 95 gallon containers used, three 65 gallon containers would be required to handle the same volume of paper.  So using 65 gallon containers could add as much as 29 lbs. for every 600lbs. of paper shredded.  That’s a variance of nearly 5% on its own.

• It is a windy day.  From experience our stationary truck scale (which is used to weigh loaded tractors and trailers, and handles up to 105,000lbs) can have weight variations of up to 600 lbs. on a really windy day.  The effects on a small mobile scale would certainly not be as severe, but even at an addition of 5-10 lbs. per container, it adds up.
• Your shredding contractor has just purchased some new 95 gallon bins for collection from Big Dog Shred Bins which weighs approximately 47 lbs. when empty.[i]

These common scenarios can all effect your documented weights and hence your invoices.  Even with a perfectly calibrated scale your documented weights can be out a significant amount depending on circumstances.

Now imagine if the scale in question being used is out by a small amount, say 1%-2%.  Doesn’t sound like much, does it?  Consider the graph below:

The rate per pound you are currently paying is irrelevant.  Even with these basic environmental allowances, which are quite common, you could be looking at an increase of 4% to your bill for every bin you pay for. 

This may not sound like much; a mere 4 cents on the dollar.  Extrapolate that over a significant time period (say a year) and then calculate by the number of assets you have on site and this dollar figure increases exponentially.

This is all assuming your service provider has appropriately calibrated their scale to accommodate the collection container.  If they did not then they will wind up including the weight of the container in your weight amounts. 

Even if they are using a 65 gallon container for collection when their scale is calibrated to allow for an Allsource 95gallon you could be looking at a variance of over 9% on your weight totals.  However, consider the possibilities if the scale has not been calibrated to consider any collection container:

Using the Allsource 95 gallon container which only weighs 44lbs, on a full bin with 300lbs of paper your weight totals would be out by nearly 15%.  The Big Dog containers weighing 47lbs would result in a discrepancy of nearly 16%.  Add to this the standard environmental variances discussed above and you could be looking at an overage of almost 20% on your weight totals, and by extension your invoices and environmental sustainability reports.

Now, if standard environmental factors can put your weight totals, and hence your invoice amounts, out by over 4%; and using different containers can increase that variance to over 19%, imagine if the scale being used is not properly calibrated? 

Any number of factors could cause a scale to lose calibration.  Dropping the scale; weighing on an uneven surface; vibration from vehicle operation; even standard load cell deterioration over time can all have an adverse effect on the scale’s performance.

Have you ever jumped onto your bathroom scale at home?  How does the scale react to that excessive force?  Now imagine a person wheeling a 44lb-47lb bin filled with 250-340 lbs. of paper onto their scale.  Do you think every single bin is placed gently, or do you think the occasional bin is dropped down a little more forcefully than it should be, especially at the end of a long and tiring day of work?

Most portable scales used for weighing shredded paper are designed to handle up to 500 pounds.  If a full bin is dropped forcefully onto one of these scales frequently enough, the potential for damage to the load cells cannot be ignored.  Yet by law a shredding company is only required to have these scales re-calibrated and tested once every two years?

Let me be clear, I am not claiming that your shredding vendor is cheating you, deliberately or otherwise.  Most shredding companies are very honest and trustworthy to deal with.  However, it is important that as a customer you fully understand what it is you are asking for in terms of service specifications. 

Often customers approach shredding vendors requesting pricing based on weight as that is “how it has always been done in the past”.  The belief is in paying by weight the client gets the best possible breakdown on where their dollars are going and they are only paying for what they actually shred.  However, facts demonstrate this is not always the case.

In truth, if security containers are used properly and filled at or near to capacity, paying per service container can actually be cheaper than the same quantity of paper billed by weight.  Your service provider can work with you to maximize your asset allocation and service schedule.  This methodology also avoids any environmental variances and also helps to keep your bills more consistent, which is better for cost budgeting.

Properly educating yourself about the potential pitfalls associated with the pay by weight methodology allows you to properly assess your actual needs as well as arming you with the right questions to ask your vendor.  You may be surprised to discover that your vendor does not even consider these issues in their weighing process.  Just like you requested your price based on what has been done in the past, vendors can get caught in the same rut, as new employees do not know about the variances associated with weighing material.

The most important factor is that you are comfortable with the vendor you select and the billing methodology used.  Ultimately it doesn’t matter how “good” the shredding company is or how accurate or fair their pricing methodology is if you don’t feel comfortable with or trust them.  When dealing with the final disposition of your confidential records, that is the most important consideration.

Endnotes

[i] E-Mail correspondence with Corey Layes – Sales Manager with Big Dog Shred Bins  June 20, 2014

The post Legal for Trade Scales: Weighing your Options appeared first on ALLMOVE Blog.

It’s time to return to the Clarifying Certifications Series.

What the Heck is…a CCLP?

CCLP stands for C.I.T.T. Certified Logistics Professional.  C.I.T.T. is the Canadian Institute for Traffic and Transportation (yup, it’s a mouthful) and serves as the pre-eminent training program for Logistics professionals.  Unlike a Bachelors degree in Logistics or Supply Chain Management, the CCLP designation requires its graduates to earn “Continuing Education” credits. 

In other words, rather than allowing their knowledge to grow stale they must continue learning in order to maintain their designation.  These continuing education credits can be earned by taking courses, attending seminars, teaching, writing or a multitude of other means.

As one can gather from the name, C.I.T.T. is a Canadian based and taught designation.  It is recognized internationally, but not as much outside of Canada.  As a Canada-centric program, it primarily focuses on Canadian logistics issues.  Weather, geography, provincial rules and regulations as well as a focus on the various transportation modes utilized in Canada and their challenges.  This is not to say international issues are ignored.  Rather they are dealt with as they apply to Canada and Canadian companies specifically.

With a CCLP you are getting a person who has been highly trained in Supply Chain problem solving.  As well through the contacts made in the program if one CCLP doesn’t have an answer it is likely she can get it from someone else quickly.

The CCLP Program teaches more than just logistics.  It also deals with business management as a whole.  Business writing, economics, business law and policy analysis are all mandatory subjects in the program.  Additionally, in order to graduate a CCLP student must have a minimum of five years practical experience in the logistics field.

A CCLP graduate brings a well rounded knowledge base to the table, with a focus on logistics and supply chain.  As these two very broad topics tend to touch most aspects of business, it’s a good focus to have.   I have personally translated my logistical training into my security related functions with great success!

While the CCLP designation is still working towards greater overall recognition in Canada and abroad, it is a valuable tool to have in your place of business.  As with all designations, graduating takes years of study and practical experience, while the Continuing Education Credits ensure the CCLP grad keeps his knowledge fresh.

…and now you know.

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