San Diego Housing Market News and Analysis

how much shredding are we talking about?

would anyone be interested in one that could shred docs but also be a food processor?

I want something that will be able to shred a bank or credit card statement without having to take it out of the envelope.

We got this guy:

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.asp...

and it crapped out on us. Admittedly we were behind on our shredding and had to play catch up when we bought it.

The specs on that one seemed fine. I was just disappointed in how long it lasted.

My shredder crapped out not too long ago, after a long slow decline, and while shopping I was amazed at how much money you could pay for a shredder if you were so inclined. After doing some online research I went with this one which at $64 seemed to be at a reasonable spot in the cost/performance curve:

http://www.amazon.com/Fellowes-Powershre...

This is a pretty basic shredder with a stated 11-sheet capacity. It will cut through staples and CDs but apparently NOT credit cards. I think it'll rip though an unopened envelope with a few sheets, no problem. It's also much faster than my old shredder. So far so good.

How much info on a statement is useful to an Id thief. Just the acct no? Couldn't you just open the envelope and tear off the acct no. And either eat it flush it or bury it? Chew and spit out? Burn w cigarette? Place in chicken coop?

Paper shredding single docs seems like too much effort.

Me and my wife both own a Black and Decker CC1000...

We each had one before we met. They have both lasted over 8 years and see regular use but I remember when shopping for one that A: They were insanely expensive. And B: None of the seem to be very quality.

Mine has turned out to be ok and I have a back-up in the garage when this one craps outs.

CE

We stopped shredding.

No, we're not crazy. We just decided it was much more time effective and cheaper to just take it to the local business that does shredding. $10/bankers box.

Caught Him: We caught this guy on camera, I think he was looking for some old credit card receipts.

Well, you'd be surprised. For instance, a lot of bills still use your last 4 digits of your social... And well, as a password to many banking institutions, your password happens to be the last 4 digits of your social....

Anyway, I just use my bills as scrtach paper. I rip off the top portion and pitch those into either the fireplace or the shredder. Credit cards, I just use the old shears.

How you you know they are actually shredding and not just receiving $10 while looking at your papers? :)

Just saying

I have an idea for a new product. A special type of paper that dissolves when in contact with a little electricity...

got tired of buying shredders that crapped out. No matter the price.

Now we burn, baby, burn. More fun too.

I've got a Fellowes Powershred 110 that I inherited from my father, still works. Probably came from Price Club as my dad was one of their best customers. Wish it did DVD's/CD's but I guess it pre-dated those.

Same way I know the postal carrier isn't stealing my stuff. The car dealer didn't steal my stuff. Any of the numerous banks didn't steal my stuff. The 100+ people in HR at work didn't steal my stuff, or the the 50+ IT people that could use their priveleges didn't steal it. And the same way the every waiter I've handed over the credit card too and it left my sight in the restaurant didn't max it out.

I don't.

So I have other controls in place.

Svelte: Reminds me of my days in the Army. We'd use a confetti shredder for all of our Classified and Secret docs and then the confetti went into a burn bag.

You can talk lots of shit about the gubment, but at least they're thorough...

I use an old Aurora AS1512X that I bought nearly 8 years ago (one of the few of the more reasonably priced crosscuts at the time that would also do CDs/DVDs and credit cards as well as 15sheets at a time). One thing to remember is that they do need periodic cleaning and oiling, depending upon how much shredding you do. Only weakness that I found was weight (cutting head is very heavy) and the wheels on the base are mounted weakly (broke two of the mountings - don't roll it on carpet, only hard floor). Power rating on this one is about 400Watts +/-. - unfortunately it is no longer available. The one from the same maker that looks the closest on specs is AU1217XB.

NOTE: I know that it says it will take paperclips and staples, but I avoid feeding it these so as to keep it healthy. Paperclips can bend and get caught in the followers that strip the cut paper off of the blades. These followers are not as sturdy as the blades on almost all shredders.

Defense companies are required to use the same techniques.. The shredder or should I say particlizer would make pieces of around 3/32 by 3/32 out of the paper.

One thing that surprised me though, was handling of DVDs.. which was the same as CDs -- using an embosser on both sides. The problem is that a DVD's recording layer is in the center of two plastic disks.. The embosser would not get into the recording layer.. so it was possible to carefully refinish the surface and get at the data of a DVD after embossing. A CD's recording layer is just under the lacquer on one side - so the embosser is able to cut into it. I usually ended up embossing DVDs to make the base security weenies happy.. and then breaking the DVD up by hand to make myself happy - good stress reliever too.

I have actually had these happen..

A postal carrier did steal stuff checks I sent, tried to bleach out the 'to' without changing the amount so it would be harder for me to detect. I used archival permanent ink when writing the check, so he was SOL. This guy was eventually busted.

I have had a bank 'misplace' a deposit of over $2000. It was my burden of proof that I did do the deposit. I had kept all of my transaction receipts, which surprised the bank.. and helped them track it.. the money had been, a-hem, deposited into the wrong account. Kind of hard to do since it was done @ the bank's ATM which records the account that the deposit is to.

A brokerage had 'mis-placed' a large block of stock I owned. They 'mis-placed' it in the process of merging two different systems (on broker bought out another). This stock had a very large short position where the shorts were 'trapped'. I had gone round-and-round with the support and gotten no-where.. same BS, no action. I ended up tracking down and calling their Corporate Legal Department. Gave them succinct accurate info. They had it resolved in about 24 hours. (I suspect that someone, a broker, had 'moved' the stock out of my account to cover their ass while the systems were being merged.).

These problems do happen, and I have found that being prepared helps as well as finding that a good old ounce of prevention is better than one pound of cure.. A lot of those 'credit protection' companies are almost worthless and clearing identity theft is quite painful.

PS: A secret to shredding personal/sensitive info, is to shred some stuff that is not important too.. and mix it all together. If anyone is crazy enough to try to piece together shredded stuff.. shredding useless paper and junkmail(w/o personal info) ends up frustrating dumpster divers who might spend a lot of effort and reassemble something completely worthless to them.

Uco: Or purchase a good quality cross-cut shredder, which eliminates said problem entirely. Unlike strip shredders, a good cross-cut will completely shred (meaning both vertically and horizontally), thus preventing anyone from re-assembling the output.

I agree with your "better safe than sorry" approach, too. Too many shitbirds out there and having a good plan in place will save a lot of heartache.

"Just cuz you're paranoid doesn't mean that they're not out to get you!"

Actually it doesn't. That is why the burn order on mil docs. True Mil type cross cuts, cut to a strip width of 1.5mm, length of about 10mm (roughly 1/16 x 1/2). Most good quality cross cuts that you can get w/out sacrificing an arm and a leg are significantly larger. The Aurora I have is a 5/32 x 1 1/4 cross-cut, which is better than most 8 years ago - I was comparing cut sizes when I bought it. I can reconstruct docs from this shredder in somewhat reasonable time, if I limit the selection of shredded paper that I am working with. If I start mixing irrelevant, similar type paper - it becomes a real chore. I have also found that many shredder manufacturers understate the size of pieces the shredder makes(smaller is better). I measured mine before I bought it.

To Salesman:

Oh, thats a sales brochure you are handing me.. let me see..

over to shredder.. RRRRRRRR.. opening basket and looking in.
To Salesman:

No, I need smaller pieces. Do you have another brochure?

On the other hand, strip cut is completely worthless.

Or maybe just cautious and having an understanding of what can happen.. and why.

I think there needs to be a measure of reasonableness here. If I shred a couple dozen documents and dump them in the recycle bin, I think at this point we're below the threshold of the other identity theft risks previously mentioned (bank employees, HR folks, the mailman, etc).

Using a $60 crosscut shredder to shred old finance documents and credit card solicitations seems like reasonable security for me. I'm not going to lose any sleep worrying about someone digging through my trash and pasting those little bits back together. They're just going to go down the alley to find the guy who doesn't shred his documents.

I want something that will be able to shred a bank or credit card statement without having to take it out of the envelope.
I got this site