Retail Therapy: ID Theft Edition by. Cl. Panic, pulveriser of paper (and guest blogger)

There are few things I hate more than credit card "convenience" checks. Every day or so they show up, either enclosed with an account statement or arriving on their own. Unlike artichokes, nothing positive can be said about them. They are a nuisance and a scourge.

As consumers we're warned to watch out for ID theft. Make sure we don't leave important documents laying around. Protect our checkbooks. Be wary of disclosing financial details. Don't put anything finance related in the regular trash. And yet the finance industry can't stop sending credit card offers and convenience checks.

I've been in the market for a new shredder. Apparently older strip-cut shredders don't cut it anymore; their pieces are easily reassembled by meth addicts or other neer-do-wells. There's even software out there that reassembles scanned strips.

Wandering the aisles of Costco, America's best shopping locale, I found the answer I'd been looking for: The Fellowes MS450-cs micro cut shredder. This bad boy churns out 5/64" x 5/16" bits, turning a sheet of paper into something like 3,900 pieces.


On the same day that I bought the shredder, Discover Card sent me an envelope marked "Account Documents - Open Immediately." Inside I found a booklet of convenience checks. Hardly my definition of an important account document. Something had to be done.

Here's what the MS450 did to a single check:

Now that's a good looking convenience check. And those tiny little particles were created with almost no noise from the shredder whatsoever!

Now I just need to wait for a credit card application from Discover Card so I can enclose all of those little bits and return them in the envelope provided....