Most businesses focus on creation. They manufacture, they build, they repair. But some offer value for their customers by destroying.

In an age when identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the U.S. - thanks to the Internet, online banking, easy access to credit card numbers and so forth - one of the fastest rising business categories focuses on one kind of destruction: document shredding.

Document shredding companies, like any other, come in all shapes and sizes. Some are small, family-run outfits with a single truck or location. Others are giant industrial concerns that have thousands of customers and often work as a sub-contractor for the Mom and Pop shops.

Whatever their size, companies break down into two basic types or services: offsite or onsite. You bring it to them, or they come to you.

For years, offsite storage was the most secure. Document theft enroute was almost non-existent. Locations that accepted documents for storage and destruction were (and are) well guarded and employees received specialized training and bonding. With many of their major customers being Federally regulated banks, they had to be professionals.

With the improvement of transportation and technology, onsite services have evolved to be as or more secure, and sometimes less expensive.

Trucks along with shredding, pulverizing and burning machines, and other technology have all advanced. New materials and manufacturing techniques have made it possible to create shredding systems that are cheaper, stronger and more secure than ever.

Innovative onsite disposal and storage systems have evolved. One method, for example, involves having individuals or small business owners dump documents into bag-lined, locked metal bins that are delivered by truck. The bins are as or more difficult to break into as the home or business itself and are secured to make theft not an option for most criminals.

Documents in the bins are then destroyed by in-built shredders or taken back to a central site and shredded, pulverized or burned. The product is then mixed further, on request, and disposed of in public trash facilities.

Prices for the services vary, naturally.

Onsite or mobile shredding businesses that do the destruction on location generally are manned during normal business hours. You pay more for that extra service. But, for those who want that extra feeling of security from knowing that the documents are destroyed before leaving the business, it may be worth it. And sometimes such mobile services are, in fact, less expensive.

Often offsite businesses will offer several related services. Some documents are legally required to be retained in physical form for a period of several months or years before they can be destroyed. Businesses that have historically offered secure document storage facilities can then add document shredding services to the menu. Sometimes they outsource the actual destruction. That variety of services comes with correspondingly different prices.

As in any competitive business, prices vary by location, service offered and simply because some businesses are run more efficiently and can pass the savings onto their customers.

But these days, with thieves becoming ever more sophisticated and - as security technology grows - more desperate, the one thing you can’t afford is getting a service cheap because it doesn’t do the job properly.

Shop around and interview the operations manager and visit the offsite plant whenever possible. For mobile services, monitor the employees that deliver and pick-up the bins, or operate the equipment. Check that they are bonded and receive proper background reviews and training.

It’s your information and your money on the line. Choosing a company wisely is critical to protecting them. Find one that’s really good at destruction of information, to avoid destroying your income.

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