Scanning versus Storage Pricing Comparisons
| Scanning with Extra Help | Scanning with a professional service | Intake for off campus storage | Off campus storage per year | Retrieval from off campus storage | Shredding of files held in off campus storage1 | Disposal for items eligible based on retention | Transfer to archives files of archival value based on retention | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High cost | High cost | Moderate cost | Moderate cost | Moderate costq | Moderate cost | Low cost | Low cost | |
| One Bankers Box2 | $300 | $450 | $3.50 | $2.50 | $4 | $5.73 |
Nominal3 |
Nominal4 |
| Ten Bankers Boxes2 | $3,000 | $4,500 | $35 |
$25 |
$40 | $57.30 | Nominal3 | Nominal4 |
| Fifty Bankers Boxes2 | $15,000 | $22,500 | $175 | $125 | $200 | $286.50 | Nominal3 | Nominal4 |
1Vendor shredding services for boxes on campus include approximately $50-$75 in fixed fees in addition to per box pricing.
2Bankers Boxes are standard size 10” x 12” x 15”.
3Disposal at UIUC is provided by Facilities and Services and is free besides the cost of transport. Disposal at UIC and UIS is not available from Facilities and Services. UIC and UIS offices have local contracts for shredding services with costs that may vary.
4Archival Transfer may have slight costs involved with using hourly support to create a file level inventory and a moving crew to transport the boxes.
This chart is a comparison of prices for scanning, off campus storage, and either disposal or transfer to archives. If scanning is not standard practice in your office, there are additional costs associated with scanning large volumes of documents, including disposal of the paper after scanning. Even when hiring Extra Help to do the scanning it can be quite expensive (costs quoted assume $15 an hour and scanning rate of average speed with no checks for accuracy or legibility as well as automated naming conventions). Using a professional service is more expensive but comes with the security of having a quality check on accuracy of scanned items. Off campus storage may be a better option for items that need to be retained for more than a year and will not need frequent access. It would take storing a box in off campus storage for more than a century to be as expensive as scanning that same box by using Extra Help. The most cost-effective solution for your records is disposing of them when possible and transferring appropriate items to university archives when they have reached retention.
If you are interested in making use of either professional scanning services or off campus storage, please contact RIMS with your request. We are available to help facilitate those processes.
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Records and Information Management Services
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