Apparently, there’s treasure in my trash.
No, it’s not what you think, though I wish this were a true story of how I stumbled upon a hidden valuable painting in the deep recesses of my attic. Instead, it’s about how my trash was suddenly considered monetarily attractive and became the target of interest for other reasons. Apparently, that was what some dark souls thought two years ago when they took off with our garbage one night. The creepy incident changed some of our recycling habits.
It was one early morning when we heard strange sounds outside our house in the direction of our storage units. We thought they were just some of the usual wildlife — mainly raccoons — that were rummaging through our bins, but instead, a flashlight, a voice, a hooded figure and a running truck conspired together to run off with the trash. Doubt very much pick-ups occurred at 2 AM.
Later, we found our abandoned empty cans by our vacationing neighbors’ driveway with some litter strewn on the streets. Too bad it wasn’t recycling week though. I’m sure they would’ve loved to trade the dirty diapers they got in return for some gold in them junk mail.
So someone out there figured our personal data and information was worth stealing. What else, but a case of attempted identity theft. Of course, you could guess what followed: we went into immediate lock down and turned ourselves into the paper patrol. We revisited our security policies at home, determined what we he had was just not up to par and since we actually already had a shredder around, we immediately had it upgraded to ensure that any form of our identity was obliterated from any material leaving our house (ok, I went overboard on purpose!).
Maybe you’re thinking it’ll never happen to you, but that’s what we thought as well, until all this happened. So I’m no longer taking any chances. You may be interested in some research I dug up while addressing the first line of defense in handling sensitive documents such as account information, bank statements, credit card statements and applications and such, so here it is…
Shredder Features To Consider
- the speed at which it operates
- the size of the shred
- whether the size of the opening will accommodate the paper that is to be shred
- the condition of the documents that are to be destroyed
- how many sheets of paper it will handle in one pass
Shredder Types
We actually went for what was in the middle and selected a cross cut shredder. We figured it was neither too industrial nor too basic for our needs, but just right.
Strip Cut Shredder
This type was what we had initially, so it now wasn’t good enough for us given that after running paper through it, there was still some semblance of the document in the vertical strips that were generated. This basic shredder generates thin strips as long as the paper that you feed it and is the easiest type to maintain. It’s the cheapest available shredder resulting in paper that is cut into strips from 1/64 to 3/4 inches wide and is usually a personal shredder intended for use by one person.
Cross Cut Shredder
This shredder dices paper by cutting it in two directions. It is slightly slower and more expensive, but provides better security. A cross cut or particle cut shredder can fill a waste container with up to 80 percent more destroyed paper than a traditional strip cut machine. Cross cut shredders produce a systematic shred cut, which is available in many different sizes while particle cut shredders produce a nonsystematic cut, which is virtually impossible to piece together.
Micro Cut Shredder
The micro cut shredder is a variation of the cross cut shredder, the difference being that the shred size is much smaller such that it literally turns paper into dust and offers the highest level of security. You can get a level of security which results in reducing an 8 ½ x 11 inch sheet of paper into 6,093 unrecognizable pieces. Some machines can even go beyond this to be able to destroy top secret government and military documents; turning a single sheet of paper into a minimum of 12,064.5 particles.
Today, any sensitive material from our household enters the confetti maker to help us recycle our paper into some gift box and shipment stuffing. How’s that for killing two birds with one stone? As for the trash thief (who unfortunately was never apprehended): hope you’re happy with those diapers because that’s all you’ll be getting from us. Plus, there’s more where they came from!
<Thanks to World Newsstand for the cartoon and the Shredder Warehouse for the skinny on shredders!>
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I guess it’s time to buy a stronger one, after which junk mail will include metal shims for some barely justifiable reason. I want one of those NSA shredders that just coughs up dust when you drop a calculus textbook into it.
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This really breaks down the difference in the shredders. I was familiar with cross cut but, minor cut is something new, thats really taking it to the next level!
Leaving your important documents in the trash without them being properly shred is a bad idea. They are just waiting to be picked up by an identity thief.
I was aware of cross-cutters but micro-shredders is new to me. It’s hugely important to properly dispose of sensitive information, especially with how rampant identity theft has become.