Volume 7, Issue 4
&
July / August 2010
Security Shredding Storage News
Official Publication of the Security Shredding & Paper Recovery Markets
Inside This Issue 7
Workplace Privacy, Data Management and Security Report
8
Take Your Business Networking to a New Level
Shotgun Capital Advisors Survey Takes Aim at Document Destruction Industry
D
10 PRISM International HIPAA Rule Comment Campaign Underway
By P.J. Heller
espite the economic downturn, the document destruction industry predicts strong revenue growth — in some cases of more than 20 percent — this year, according to an annual industry survey. “Revenue growth expectations for 2010 are in the 12.8 percent range and are in line with 2008 growth when you factor in filling the hole left behind by the fall in paper prices,” the report said. “Shredding service revenue (recurring and purge services) in 2010 is expected to grow at double the pace set in 2009.” “This is trending toward becoming a banner year for the industry,” noted Jim McGuire, president of Shotgun Capital Advisors, the firm which conducted the survey. At the same time, however, more than half of the respondents expressed concern about increasing competition from companies offering what was described as “insane discounts” on shredding services in the hope that they would profit when the price per ton of shredded paper increases.
13 Product / Equipment Profiles
Visit our website at www.sssnews.com
Cartoon by Frederic Serre
PRSRT STD U.S. Postage
PAID
Mentor, OH Permit No. 2
“Many of our survey participants express frustration with this short-sighted, cut-throat competitive strategy,” the survey noted. One unidentified respondent described such competitors as “price jockeys who only ride when paper prices increase.” “No matter what we say or do, price seems to be all that the customer cares about,” noted another respondent. “It seems that everybody is selling price, and we have lost jobs for that reason.” The second-most voiced concern according to the survey was growing competition from national firms, which one unnamed respondent claimed was leading to a “Wal-Mart mentality in the shredding community.” “Low pricing from the majors trying to acquire market share. It is devaluing our industry,” he said.
A general concern about the economy was another issue that was cited. “We did see a rise in compliance-related concerns, as a myriad of new legislative initiatives such as the HITECH Act and Red Flags Rule have some players feeling overloaded with schoolwork to stay educated,” the survey added. Other concerns cited ranged from tightening budgets and the paperless office to uncertainty over fuel prices.
The report by Shotgun, a Southlake, Texas, company, noted that the industry fared well in 2009 even with a slumping national economy and decline in paper prices. “We were extremely surprised at how well the top performers managed to grow in ’09 versus ’08 despite the tough economic times and the large hurdle to overcome with the drop in paper prices,” McGuire said. “2009 tested the recession resiliency of the document destruction industry, with volatile recycled paper prices early in the year concealing the growth rate of many industry participants,” he noted. “A number of respondents to our survey reported double-digit or better 2009 revenue growth, an outstanding accomplishment given the economic environment.” Companies that continued to push sales and marketing greatly benefited from those efforts, allowing them to capture more opportunities, McGuire noted. “The top performers refused to let off the accelerator from a sales and marketing spend standpoint,” he said. Those companies either increased spending on marketing or maintained it at the same level as a year earlier. In contrast, some companies cut their marketing expenditures
Continued on page 3