I remember a time as a teenager we go through the neighbors trash just to see what we could find. This was at the local dump outside a small town, in northern California. People saw us and thought we were looking for old aluminium and copper to sell at our version of the recycling center, in 1968. In addition to the  aluminium and copper we found old love letters, adult magazines, and credit card numbers. Of course we only used what we found for our amusement.

Today, there are unethical people going though other people’s trash, before the garbage man comes to get information for identity theft. This could be a credit card offer, or a bill from a life insurance company, or even an electric bill. You see adding up these bits and pieces of information, along with the internet can yield enough information for identity theft.

It was in Germany 1935 the first machine run paper shredder was developed. Because of the Cold War the paper shredder grew in popularity through out the 1950s. It was in 1959 the first crosscut paper shredder was invented. The crosscut shredder take paper and cuts it into strips, and cuts those strips in multiple directions to create confetti. It was after 1979, when the American Embassy in Tehran was overrun that crosscut paper shredder grew in popularity. Just from 1990 to the year 2000 sales grew by over 7,500,000 units.

Today, you can find two basic types of paper shredder’s; straight and crosscut. The just turn documents into long strips of paper. This does not take much skill to glue back to a readable state. The crosscut shredder, in addition to cutting a document into long strips cuts cross ways at various angles, thus making it even more difficult to reassembly it.

Now when it comes to buying a paper shredder you can get them from under $50 to over $1,000, depending on the volume of  material you want shredded. There are shredders that will shred more than paper, like plastic credit cards and even the thicker CD/DVD’s.

If you are serious about increasing the difficulty of anyone recovering documents you throw in the trash, I would recommend you go first to Paper Shredder Reviews. This way you know what to expect to find before you head to into you local Wal Mart or office supply store.

Tags: American Embassy in Tehran, Crosscut, identity theft, Paper Shredder Reviews, Wal Mart