What are "permanent withdrawal" or "permanent removal" fees?

Permanent withdrawal fees are a peculiar feature of the document storage industry. It is important to know what they are, why they exist, and how they can impact you.

Definition

A permanent withdrawal fee (or permanent removal fee) is a fee that applies when a customer retrieves a box from storage with the intention of never sending it back. After a box is permanently retrieved, a customer no longer pays for storage space on that box.

Note that some companies also have "Account Closing" fees, which may be in addition to permanent withdrawal fees. Make sure to find how each fee works before signing up with a vendor.

Origin

Permanent withdrawal fees have been around as long as the document storage industry itself.  These fees cover such activities as providing proper accounting  and reconciliation of permanently withdrawn boxes, palletizing and shrink-wrapping the boxes and loading the boxes onto a truck for transportation.

In addition, in order to attract new clients it is common practice for document storage companies to absorb most of the upfront costs of accessioning new boxes into storage. Such upfront costs include the labor costs of transporting boxes to the records center and placing the boxes on the shelves, as well as the cost to acquire new shelving for box placement.  Permanent withdrawal fees allow document storage companies to recover, at the end of the storage life of a box, some of the investment they made at the beginning.

Switching vendors

While permanent withdrawal charges can add up quickly, in order to win your business away from your existing vendor, most document storage companies will work with you to offset the permanent withdrawal fees charged by your existing vendor when you close your account.