I use a shredder. Check out the effectiveness of just tearing them up.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
I rip them up and put some of the vital pieces in our (indoor until we take it to the recycle place) paper recycling container, and some of the other vital pieces (I like to rip important numbers in half) in a trash can, which is taken later in the week to a completely different location.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
You see, I have faith in the innate goodness of my fellow travellers on this spaceship Earth. I crumple them lightly and use them as packing material in my baskets of food and clothing for the disadvantaged.
Nah, who am I kidding? Shred them? Why would I? I've been PRE-APPROVED!! I'm using all the cards to tile my guest bathroom.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
O_O
So I guess my solution is not a good one then.
. . .
I put them in the prepaid envelopes from other junk mail, and mail my junk mail from one sender to another . . .
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
Whir them in the blender with 2 cups warm water and some dried flower bits and then drain and press to make lovely handmade recycled-paper notecards.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
But I use fugu's solution for old credit cards. Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Holy carp!
that's disturbing.
I have a regular single-plane shredder. I think maybe I should get a cross-cut model.
Or, using dkw's idea... paper making kit.
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
psst. . . cross cut shedder. Under my desk.
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
*snicker*
Posted by pfresh85 (Member # 8085) on :
I tear mine to pieces, but much smaller than the ones on that site. I mean I tear it in half until it can't be torn in half any longer, which is quite small. If someone wants to try and put it back together after that, go ahead. It'll take the person ages, as it's a puzzle with no reference picture and thousands upon thousands of pieces.
Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :
It boggles the mind that a credit card company would accept an app that has been torn up or shredded like that? What do they think happened to it? Did the mailman give his deliveries to a bunch of monkeys who left piles of ripped up mail inside your front door?
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
pssst...
cross-cut shredder not working...
Posted by Tinros (Member # 8328) on :
Kindling for fires in the winter. We keep a little box under the computer desk where we throw all our old receipts, credit card stuff, anything with personal information, then use it for indoor fireplace starters in the winter and bonfire starters in the summer. What do you know! They ARE good for something!
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
Not only did they accept the app, but they let him send it to a different address and a different phone number for verifying. That's just scary. Hope he sent the URL to the company president/PR officer and the BBB.
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
I do what fugu does -- tear them up and split the pieces into multiple receptacles.
Added: My parents always used to burn them in the wood stove.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
I do that with old credit cards. It never occurred to me to have to do that with shredded documents, though.
Duh.
I think the fire pit is the way to go.
Posted by Theaca (Member # 8325) on :
I finally bought a cross cut shredder after my identity theft scare last year. Of course, since I was the one accused, a shredder wouldn't have helped last year. But I figure using a cross cut shredder plus continuing to keep good records for 5-7 years should be a safer combination in the future.
BTW, in February I did get some blank checks in the mail for my credit card. Then I realized I didn't have that credit card number. I called, it had been set up somehow about 11 months earlier and never used. Same company as another credit card that I DO own. I had them cancel the second one and send confirmation. Kind of scary.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Bob, did you break the shredder?
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
I'll bet he was trying to grind coffee beans in it.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
These guys ----> look like a bad set of ball bearings in the shredder of life.
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
I tear mine into tiny pieces and divide those pieces between different garbage cans/bags (which I take out at different times). I figure anyone who's gonna go though my trash for more than a week and piece back together several hundred pieces of torn paper deserves the money.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
I put mine in my "to be shredded" bag in one of my closets. I haven't actually employed my shredder in over a year though.
Posted by Amanecer (Member # 4068) on :
quote:It never occurred to me to have to do that with shredded documents, though.
Duh.
I'm right there with you, but way worse. As a college student, I get them daily. Kinda scary. *Looks online for a shredder*
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
I believe there's a site where you can have yourself taken off the mailing lists of a lot of credit card companies. I don't remember what it is, but I used it and started getting a lot fewer credit card apps in the mail. And by "a lot fewer" I mean "one every day or two instead of several each day."
Posted by pH (Member # 1350) on :
I don't get any credit card applications anymore. Doesn't Visa love me?
-pH
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
A couple months ago I noticed that there's a list of addresses and phone #s on credit card applications that you can use to request to NOT get applications. I sent requests off to the 3 different companies that were listed; I think it's helping, though i'm not sure how much of a lag time there'll be before the request takes effect.
Posted by Yozhik (Member # 89) on :
We rip them up and throw them in the kitchen trash can with all the coffee grounds and slimy vegetable peelings and two-week old bits of sandwich meat and dripping icky tin cans that we are too lazy to rinse out and recycle and clouds of dusty dog hair from the vacuum cleaner canister. I figure that makes them so nasty, nobody would want to look for them, much less put them together.
Just thinking about it makes me feel nauseated.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
quote:Originally posted by Yozhik: coffee grounds and slimy vegetable peelings and two-week old bits of sandwich meat and dripping icky tin cans that we are too lazy to rinse out and recycle and clouds of dusty dog hair from the vacuum cleaner canister
The bioterrorism approach to thwarting thieves.
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
ok, I'm throwing the pieces in different trashcans from now on.
That's just scarey!
And there are always people fishing through our dumpsters!
Posted by SC Carver (Member # 8173) on :
I haven't opened an application in years. Do they actually include any personal info other than your address and name? I wouldn't think they could issue one, without you providing your SS#. So as long as your not throwing things away with that on it.
I'm sure the credit card company would take your application on a used coffee filter if you put all the appropriate info on it.
Posted by Lupus (Member # 6516) on :
That is just wrong. You would think that there would be some law against a credit card company taking an obviously ripped application...particularly one that changes that address that the card should be sent to.
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
Wow, that's a great story, ElJay. I can't believe a credit card company would accept an application like that.
We shred the credit card applications we get. Although, on occasion, I have torn up the identifiable as me information into teeny tiny bits (much smaller than that guys tearing up) and flushed them down the toilet. Posted by TheTick (Member # 2883) on :
I eat mine in front of the mailman, like in the movies.
It's a heck of a lot harder than it looks...if only they made credit card apps out of rice paper!
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
I always just throw them in the trash.
But we live in the country, and burn our paper trash, so it isn't like I have any real worries here......
FG
Posted by JennaDean (Member # 8816) on :
I knew there was a reason I needed a fireplace.
Posted by Ela (Member # 1365) on :
*stalks FG's trash* Posted by ludosti (Member # 1772) on :
I think this the link Jon Boy is talking about. And yes, it does drasically reduce the number of "pre-approved" junk that comes in the mail.
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
I rip off the part with identifying information on it and cut several slits one way, leaving a bit of intact paper on the end to hold all the strips together. Then I cut the other way. The result is tiny confetti.
When I'm feeling lazier, I'll rip it into a few pieces and put one in my trash, one in the recycling, and one in the trash can in the communal bathroom.
Posted by Amanecer (Member # 4068) on :
I just went to Best Buy and bought a shredder. WHEEEE!! These things are fun! Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
quote: *stalks FG's trash* [Wink]
Better bring along some doggy biscuits if you think you can make it past my front yard, Ela.
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
quote: Although, on occasion, I have torn up the identifiable as me information into teeny tiny bits (much smaller than that guys tearing up) and flushed them down the toilet.
As a member of the civil engineering community, I do not recommend using your toilet as a way of destroying credit card applications. No matter what 4-letter word you might use when finding yet another one in your mailbox, it still doesn't belong in the toilet.
This ends our PSA.
Posted by dawnmaria (Member # 4142) on :
I shred them and then put them out in the dirty diaper bag. If you want to brave the funk of forty thousand years be my guest!
Posted by Stan the man (Member # 6249) on :
I use one of the shredders at work. We just got news ones too. These things are awesome. They sound like they are jet engine powered and shred paper to a dust. For giggles we put a quarter down the slot one time. It was never seen again.
Posted by GaalDornick (Member # 8880) on :
Why not just save up a bunch of them and then make a little fire out of them in the backyard . I like fire. <----pyromaniac
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
I have them all in a paper bag in a corner, because since we moved, I can't find the power cord for my shredder.
And we bought a house, so of course, everyone wants to give us credit, especially home equity credit.
Posted by ReikoDemosthenes (Member # 6218) on :
I'm a fan of purging by fire, myself.
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
We must purge the devil from them...with fire!
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
I expect that everyone has already explored the rest of the stuff on Cockeyed.com (ElJay's initial link is to a page on the site), but if not it's well worth checking out.
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
That guy has made some pretty elaborate costumes. Did you see the Doc Oc costume?
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
I like his pranks, personally. I've been following his site for years.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
Yeah, the pranks are far and away my favorite part of the site. Looks like he hasn't done any new ones in a while though.
The Doc Oc costume is great though.
Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :
Noemon, yeah baby. I had fun poking around. I loved his "Buy 1 Get 1 Free" sandwich board with rotating arrow. Pure evil.
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*Looks online for a shredder*
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FG
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