Offsite Document Storage and Retrieval

Quickly, because everything is indexed on the way in rather than stacked in the order it arrived. You get an inventory printout on disc or hard copy, so your team can look up which box holds a file before calling instead of guessing.

Retrievals are handled locally out of our own facility, not routed through a national dispatch queue. That is one of the real advantages of using a Matthews company rather than a franchise — the boxes are here, in a building that is access controlled and monitored around the clock.

Depends on how often anyone touches them. Files that get pulled regularly are usually better scanned, since a searchable digital copy beats waiting on a retrieval. Files being held purely to satisfy a retention rule are cheaper to box and store than to digitize page by page.

Most clients split the difference: scan the active records, store the dormant ones. We do both under one roof, which means one vendor for the whole records lifecycle. Our cost comparison tool works the two options out over a ten-year horizon if you want to see the math for your own volume.

The box is securely destroyed at the end of its lifecycle, with a Certificate of Destruction for your file. Because retention is tracked as part of the service, expired records do not quietly sit in storage for another decade accumulating both cost and liability.

That closed loop is the point of using a NAID AAA Certified provider for storage rather than a plain warehouse. On the intake side, you can use your own boxes if they are industry-standard size and in good condition — no requirement to buy new ones to get started.