The questions worth asking a shredding vendor

Do I have to be there?

No. A named contact signs the seal record at collection and the certificate is emailed on completion. If nobody can be present, we agree in advance who countersigns and the record names them.

Can I watch the destruction?

Yes, and there is no fee for it. Witnessing is scheduled with the job. A camera feed is not the same thing and we do not present it as one — the CJIS glossary is explicit that cameras do not constitute an escort.

What is a Certificate of Destruction, and do I get one?

It is the document that records what was destroyed, by what method, against which standard, on what date, and under which seal numbers. You get one on every job. Ours is generated from the custody record rather than typed up afterwards, so every seal number on it reconciles or the certificate does not issue.

How fast can you come?

Silverback is pre-operational and cannot commit to a collection date yet. What we can do today is price a real scope and send the sample certificate back with it, so the paperwork is agreed before the schedule is. Quoting and scheduling are separate commitments and we will not blur them.

What is the minimum?

Minimums are set per service line and published on the pricing page rather than quoted on request. A vendor who will not state a minimum is usually setting it after seeing your budget.

Do you take staples, binder clips, and hanging folders?

Yes. Paper does not need to be prepared, unclipped, or de-stapled. Removing fasteners is handling your records for no benefit, and every minute spent doing it is a minute they sit unsecured on a desk.

For hard drives, do you wipe or destroy?

Destroy, unless you specifically ask for sanitization to a lower category. NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 2 defines Clear, Purge, and Destroy as different end states with different assurance. We default to Destroy for media because a platter that will not engage cannot be read by anyone later.

Do you give serial numbers?

Yes, on media and IT assets, at no surcharge. Each drive, tape, or device is listed by manufacturer, model, and serial on an annex to the certificate. A weight ticket cannot answer 'where did drive X go', and that is the question an auditor asks.

Is the shredded paper recycled?

That is the intent, and we will state the actual downstream arrangement once one is contracted. We are not going to claim a recycling chain we have not signed.

What happens if a seal number does not match?

It is logged as an exception with the time, the operator, and the correction, and both the original entry and the correction are retained. It is not quietly fixed. The sample record on the homepage contains a deliberate exception at step 05 so you can see exactly what that looks like before you hire anyone.

Are you NAID AAA certified?

No. No application has been filed. NAID AAA requires operating history, screened employees, and a facility audit, and Silverback has none of those yet. Any vendor claiming 'certification in progress' is describing an intention, not a status.

Are you insured?

Not yet. General liability and auto coverage are not bound. This is a genuine gap and it is listed as one on the compliance page. If your procurement requires a certificate of insurance today, we cannot meet that requirement today.

Do you work with government agencies?

Not yet, and not until SAM.gov registration is Active with a UEI and CAGE code. The government page carries the codes, the standards we build to, and the current registration status in full.

What areas do you serve?

Greater Houston and the surrounding counties — Harris, Fort Bend, Montgomery, Galveston, and Brazoria. One-time purges travel further than scheduled routes do, because a route has to be economic every week and a purge only has to be economic once.

Anything not answered here goes on the quote form, or read where we currently stand on the compliance page.