Trash Surfers

[billisonboard]

My wife and I disagree:

She is (finally ) going through her collection of stuff she has gotten in the mail for the last year or more.

She asked about shredding some of it.

I said I think we are past the days of people going through garbage for information since everything is readily available on line. If they are in the trash, they aren't sophisticated enough to do any damage.

She disagreed. I don't argue such things with her.

I come here.

Which of us are correct?

[wvugurl26]

I work for a federal agency with a law enforcement branch. They do go through garbage. That's a different situation though. These are suspected criminals.

I shred all of that crap. I take no chances. My DH's identity was stolen, probably from the OPM breach. They opened a bunch of credit cards in his name and tried to get a HELOC on our house.

[Tiny]

I think it depends on where you live and who you know.    I find it hard to go with a total stranger determining that my trash is "pay dirt" and then spending weeks or months somehow collecting and going thru my trash (especially when there is weekly trash pickup).    I don't think anyone I know is out to get me - so they wouldn't be targeting my trash for a long game "revenge" plot. 

I live in a dense urban area. There's not much stolen from the alley trash cans (well, sometimes people come and pick out all the steel and aluminum cans from the recycle bins...

I wouldn't put something I felt should be securely disposed of into my recycle bin. The recycle pick up generally spews recyclables (especially paper or cardboard) down the alley.

I would put "important" stuff in my regular trash - as it would be secured in a plastic trash bag with my kitchen trash and used cat litter and all the other stuff that gets thrown away.  and much less likely to wind up spread down the alley. And I could put out a bag the morning of trash pickup. Odds are I would hand shred the papers - usually into 4 piles: 1 pile goes into the kitchen trash, 2nd pile goes into the basement trash, 3rd pile goes into the trash in my office, 4th pile goes into the kitchen trash after I haul the bag with the 1st pile out to the alley trash can. If someone wants my info so bad - they best be picking thru multiple bags of trash each time they visit my alley trash can and they best be doing that over several weeks.

I'm not overly worried about someone picking thru my trash (or recycleables) for info about me.

That said, I completely remove any sort of second thoughts or fears by going down this list and disposing of anything that I feel should be shredded (or somehow disposed of more securely than letting it fly down my alley)   in order of convenience:

1.) take the important papers to work and put them in the Shred Box (my employer has said it's OK to use the shred boxes for personal stuff)
2.) Store the papers I need to 'shred' and then watch for when my local Government OR Public Library has a "Shred Event" and make the effort to take my pile (or box) of shreddable stuff to the "shred event" - usually it's a big Shredder truck - and you can watch as your papers/boxes are emptied into the bin and lifted to the shredder.
3.) hand shred the papers and mix them up with my regular trash. 

OK, about 10 years ago I removed about 100 pounds of paper that needed to shredded from my home.  I did some by hand, took some to the office, and then discovered that my local Government offers a free "Shred Day"  the nice strapping young men at the event unload the boxes from the trunk of my car and all my paperwork got shredded.     Once I got rid of the Mountain -  it got much easier to hand shred only a year or two of paper that needs secure disposal. 

I don't feel the need to own a shredder - it's just another thing that I would have to store and that would break or need to be replaced.    I can hand tear or use scissors.  

[Tiny]

Apr 4, 2022 18:42:02 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

I said I think we are past the days of people going through garbage for information since everything is readily available on line. If they are in the trash, they aren't sophisticated enough to do any damage.

She disagreed.   

Which of us are correct?

I think it depends on where you live and how your trash is handled.  

In my densely populated area - for someone to hit "pay dirt" with my trash - they'd need to know WHEN I was likely to throw out something with useful information AND WHEN I put out my trash and then get there before the WasteManagement truck arrives.   I think that would mean that someone would need to be close to me - someone I know.  But then, odds are they might have access to stuff in my house - and wouldn't need to pick thru my trash to find useful information - like my SS# and birthday and what banks I bank with and stuff. 

With the advent of paperless billing and e-solicitation for stuff -  there's not much paper documents that I need to discard.  It's only around Tax time (or my old tax returns) that I have paper with important useful info about me on them.    

I don't imagine that there are gangs of criminals plotting out which houses to stake out and which trash bags to go thru.    I can see a crime of convenience if one of my old tax return forms blows down the alley after failing to get into the recycle truck - and someone with questionable morals finds and uses it.    

Having an Electric bill or a credit card solicitation or even some "blank" checks for Credit Card balance transfer offers - doesn't seem like it opens me up to much of any risk if I put it into the recycle bin (maybe after tearing the document in half just for fun.) . 

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

I shred mine. 

[NoNamePerson]

I shred everything. But don’t get a lot of snail mail so not a lot of time spent shredding. It’s a peace of mind thing with me. I got used to shredding when working for CPA. Habit just carried over thru the years. But that’s just me!  

[Cheesy FL-Vol]

We shred.

That said, I think low tech thieves are more likely to hit mailboxes than trash cans.

[chiver78]

Apr 5, 2022 4:05:53 GMT -5 Cheesy FL-Vol said:

We shred.

That said, I think low tech thieves are more likely to hit mailboxes than trash cans.

 I've opted out of everything I possibly can, but the CC companies still like to mail those "convenience checks" often enough to be a pain. I shred anything with my name or account numbers on it, and just recycle the rest. I gave my shredder a workout a few weeks back, though. I unpacked a box that had college stuff in it. our student ID back then was your SSN. 

[Cheesy FL-Vol]

Apr 5, 2022 7:25:47 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

Apr 5, 2022 4:05:53 GMT -5 Cheesy FL-Vol said:

We shred.

That said, I think low tech thieves are more likely to hit mailboxes than trash cans.

 I've opted out of everything I possibly can, but the CC companies still like to mail those "convenience checks" often enough to be a pain. I shred anything with my name or account numbers on it, and just recycle the rest. I gave my shredder a workout a few weeks back, though. I unpacked a box that had college stuff in it. our student ID back then was your SSN. 

I think what makes it easier for mailbox theft is that many urban & suburban mailboxes are at the curb now or clustered in an unlocked central area combined with the fact that many USPS delivery people have to use personal vehicles rather than official USPS vehicles.

[NoNamePerson]

Apr 5, 2022 7:25:47 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

Apr 5, 2022 4:05:53 GMT -5 Cheesy FL-Vol said:

We shred.

That said, I think low tech thieves are more likely to hit mailboxes than trash cans.

 I've opted out of everything I possibly can, but the CC companies still like to mail those "convenience checks" often enough to be a pain. I shred anything with my name or account numbers on it, and just recycle the rest. I gave my shredder a workout a few weeks back, though. I unpacked a box that had college stuff in it. our student ID back then was your SSN. 

Same here. It's amazing how many things used SS# back in the "olden" days. Not that you are from the "olden" days but I am. I shred any thing that has my given name on it including the little bit of junk snail mail I get. I'm just glad I don't have a ton of stuff to shred but I would still do it. I figure I spend maybe 20 minutes a month for peace of mind.  

[wvugurl26]

Mailboxes for the townhouses are centralized with the boxes roughly between every other set of townhouses. They are locked. I never put anything in the outgoing box. My office had a satellite post office location so I mailed everything from work. Now DH just takes it to the local post office. He likes to get out of the house anyway. This is probably especially important with the slower service.

I get so many credit card and loan offers in the mail. Our statements are mostly paperless, it's all the junk coming but it has our name and other information on it. It's bad when I get behind but I eventually catch up. I've had a small shredder since 2008-2009? It will not die. I would like to get a nicer one but the old one will not die.

When we get an actual office set up, there will be a place for a shredder so I will get one then.

[NoNamePerson]

Apr 5, 2022 7:47:49 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

Mailboxes for the townhouses are centralized with the boxes roughly between every other set of townhouses. They are locked. I never put anything in the outgoing box. My office had a satellite post office location so I mailed everything from work. Now DH just takes it to the local post office. He likes to get out of the house anyway. This is probably especially important with the slower service.

I get so many credit card and loan offers in the mail. Our statements are mostly paperless, it's all the junk coming but it has our name and other information on it. It's bad when I get behind but I eventually catch up. I've had a small shredder since 2008-2009? It will not die. I would like to get a nicer one but the old one will not die.

When we get an actual office set up, there will be a place for a shredder so I will get one then.

 wonder if I have it's twin? 

[dogmom]

We burn it.

[busymom]

We shred paperwork.  Why make it easy for the criminals?

[daisylu]

We shred. There are too many CC offers and those blank checks from CC companies to just toss. Maybe we do not need to, but why take the chance? It is too much of a pain to get things straightened out after the fact.

[billisonboard]

Why make it easy for the criminals?

We all make decisions and compromises when it comes to our security. I don't travel with a personal bodyguard. I know I would be safer with one but a risk/cost analysis lead me to decide not to hire one. Okay, extreme example but what is the actual risk of not shredding? I do think NoNamePerson is spot on with "peace of mind" being a good reason to do it but am still questioning necessary.

[bean29]

I Shred.  DH just told me the other day that I did not need to shred the mail, but I now moved the shredder into the spare bedroom, so it is just a few steps out of my way.  I especially shred the checks that come from the CC companies.  If I had a balance on one of my CC's I might want to balance transfer, but it has been quite some time since I had that situation.

I should work on getting off mailing lists, I get way too much junk mail.  Has anyone gotten off the Valpak lists?  You said the banks wont turn off the BT Checks?  What else should I try to suppress.  I am just so over going through the mail.

[Tennesseer]

Rip it up or shred it.  If you are a gardener, dig a hole and bury it.  Will turn into soil over time.

[buystoys]

We burn anything that has our SS info on it such as old tax returns.  We have a shredder, but haven't  used it in ages.  I don't remember when we last got those credit card checks.  It's been years. 

[dondub]

Apr 5, 2022 9:42:47 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Rip it up or shred it.  If you are a gardener, dig a hole and bury it.  Will turn into soil over time.

I shred and layer it all into my worm box, worm machine and composters.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

We shred and burn.  Told TD we can throw it into compost now.