The Margin Math of Modern RIM: Where Recurring Revenue Hides
Shredding and records management businesses have always lived inside a delicate balance: competitive bids on one side, operational realities on the other. In 2025, that balance is under more pressure than most owners can remember. Rates get squeezed by aggressive competitors. Fuel and fleet costs ebb and flow in ways that are hard to predict. Labor is tight, and wage expectations continue to rise. When these forces land at the same time, the simple truth emerges – doing more of the same work, in the same way, doesn’t protect margins like it used to.
As we explore where recurring revenue hides, the through-line is simple: in a market squeezed by competition, input costs, and labor dynamics, the firms that win are those that make more of their revenue predictable, documented, and renewal-friendly. To add a real-world lens to it all, we invited Greg Stangle, Esq., Founder and President of Stangle Co. Advisors and IG2. Greg is an experienced M&A investment banker advising clients on exit strategies, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and other strategic transactions. His vantage point aligns with what operators feel on the ground: durable recurring revenue, geographic fit, and clean fundamentals matter most when markets get selective. With that context, we began with the question owners ask most:
In deals you’ve worked on, how are buyers valuing RIM/shredding firms and what multiples are you seeing, and what most consistently moves a business to the upper quartile?
GS: “Valuations in the RIM space have historically fluctuated based on overall M&A market conditions and competition for deals amongst the major RIM acquirors. If there is a limited number of large acquirors and/or choppy markets with higher interest rates, acquirors can afford to be selective in their dealmaking. Today’s valuations are highly dependent on the revenue mix of the target and the needs of an acquiror in the specific market. I’m seeing deals with strong purchase prices driven by durable, recurring revenue, i.e., storage is king – shredding is a distant second, desirable geographic market presence, and solid business fundamentals. Companies that tick all the boxes can go for top dollar.”
What it means…
Unfortunately, the answer is not simply to stack more stops onto already dense routes or to rely solely on incremental price increases that the market may not accept. The answer is to reshape what your revenue looks like – so a larger portion of it is predictable, less dependent on trucks rolling, and tied to outcomes your clients value every month. In other words, recurring services that sit alongside shredding and create a steady cadence of value, documentation, and conversation. Exploring where that recurring revenue hides, how to package it in a way clients immediately understand, and how to launch it without turning your operation inside out is key going into 2026.
What weight do buyers place on predictability vs. raw growth?
GS: “RIM acquirors are first and foremost looking to acquire a predictable revenue stream. Companies that exhibit an established track record of revenue growth can be more attractive to acquirors than those with flat revenue. I am often asked about growth potential, which is a different matter. While it may pique an acquiror’s interest in a target company, growth potential in the absence of a direct path to scalable revenue or some unique technology or intellectual property asset, which are not part of the typical RIM company, is unlikely to meaningfully enhance purchase price.”
Why modernizing your growth plan matters
If your business relies almost entirely on per-stop, per-bin, or per-box revenue, you’re exposed to three realities you can’t fully control – market prices set by competitors, input costs determined by suppliers and the broader economy, and staffing dynamics shaped by your local labor market. When your top line is pressured while two major cost drivers resist falling in tandem, margins thin even if your teams are working as hard, or harder than ever.
Recurring services change the conversation. They aren’t tied exclusively to wheels on the road, and they don’t live or die on the outcome of a bid. They align with what your clients need to prove throughout the year; that risk is being reduced and documented. Instead of a once-a-month transaction, they create a rhythm that is predictable – reviews, light touch training, quick check-ins, and artifacts that matter at audit or insurance renewal time. The rhythm becomes its own retention engine, and when value shows up regularly in clear, documented ways, renewal conversations get easier.
The mindset of the modern buyer
Clients rarely wake up wanting “more shredding.” They want fewer headaches, fewer surprises, and fewer arguments with auditors, underwriters, or their own leadership teams. They want to know they’ve covered the basics, and they want something sensible to show for it – policies, logs, attestations, plans, and metrics that tell a simple story – we manage our data responsibly, and here’s the evidence.
The moment you anchor your service narrative to those outcomes, a bundle of natural, recurring work appears:
• A baseline set of policies that are reviewed on a schedule so nothing goes stale.
• An access-request pathway that doesn’t evolve into a fire drill when a request arrives.
• A vendor-risk practice to keep downstream obligations in check.
• Training that nudges people toward better behavior without pulling them off the job for hours.
• Simple, steady threat checks that turn jargon into plain-English signals for a business owner.
• A sensible incident-readiness plan that answers, “What exactly would we do if…?”
None of these are flashy. All of them are inherently recurring. And every one of them produces proof people can actually use—checklists, logs, attestations, screenshots, certificates, summaries, and plans. That “paper trail” (digital or physical) is what underwriters, auditors, customers, and boards ask to see. When you provide it, month in and month out, you shift the value perception from “vendor who picks up boxes” to “partner who keeps us out of trouble.”
Where recurring revenue hides in plain sight
Think of recurring services as outcomes organized on a calendar. Each has a cadence, a small set of inputs, and a tangible output.
Always-on policy and evidence
Every organization needs documentation that matches how it actually operates. The set doesn’t have to be encyclopedic; it has to be right-sized and alive. A scheduled review cadence, a mechanism for confirming staff have seen updates, and a tidy way to surface what changed are enough to transform “we have a binder somewhere” into “we can prove our program is maintained.”
Incident readiness
The question isn’t whether something will happen; it’s whether the response will be calm, coordinated, and documented. A lean incident-response plan – roles, contact trees, decision criteria, and a log format – paired with a quick annual exercise gives leaders confidence and provides material proof that the organization is prepared.
Access request operations
Requests to access, correct, or delete data tend to show up at inconvenient times. Without a defined path, they interrupt everything. With a simple intake, identity verification, fulfillment checklist, and logging routine, the chaos disappears. The process becomes predictable, and records prove you met your obligations.
Vendor risk management, simplified
Most businesses depend on a web of vendors. A basic inventory of who has access to what, a questionnaire for the critical few, and a place to stash proof of diligence go a long way toward satisfying downstream risk requirements and customer contracts.
Human risk reduction through learning
Annual training alone doesn’t change behavior. Bite-sized refreshers do. Short monthly touchpoints keep common threats and good hygiene top of mind, and completion records become tangible evidence that staff are continually engaged.
Threat scanning as a conversation starter
Leaders don’t need deep technical reports, they need signals. A monthly snapshot that highlights what matters in plain language sparks the right conversations that provide meaningful insights on an ongoing basis, review progress, and decide what to do next.
Each of these threads can run quietly in the background, surfacing meaningful data to reassure stakeholders that the basics are covered – and producing documentation to matter when scrutiny appears.
Why this scales better than adding another route
Recurring services thrive on repeatability. And there’s also an emotional dimension when clients receive something useful on a predictable schedule. Their mental model of the relationship changes. Instead of “a vendor who shows up,” you become “a partner who keeps us aligned and ready.” That shift shows up in renewals and in the softness of pricing conversations. People are more willing to continue – and even expand services that reduce friction in their day-to-day work and help them defend decisions internally.
If you could give some piece of advice to RIM/shredding owners on protecting valuation in a margin-compressed market, what would it be?
GS: “Build a fundamentally sound business when it comes to both service and administration. Focus on developing clear, straightforward operational processes to deliver client services more smoothly and efficiently. Update, streamline and organize contracts along with other administrative areas. Utilize skilled professionals for expertise that you don’t have in-house. RIM business owners should empower employees to run day-to-day operations, freeing up the owner to create and pursue a vision for the company’s future. In other words, build your business so it will be attractive to an acquiror even if you have no intention of selling it. My clients and I often tackle these projects well in advance of a planned sale. When the time comes, they are positioned for success.”
Putting it all together
In a market where margins are tight and “more routes” won’t fix the squeeze, the path forward is a steady rhythm of outcomes your customers own: risk reduced and proof they can show. uRISQ® makes that rhythm self-serve – your role as a partner is simply to provide access so end users can run the workflows, stay on cadence, and generate their own evidence (policies, logs, attestations, summaries). When clients control the tasks and are able to produce audit-ready artifacts on schedule, renewals get easier, valuation stories get stronger, and your business grows on predictable, high-margin, subscription revenue without adding operational drag.