I’m surprised this news bite I happened to catch on local TV recently didn’t get picked up more. Recently, a lady called our local TV station, to say that a company whom she purchased from, shipped her order with shredded checks used as cushioning for the product.
That on its own is absolutely not OK. To make matters worse, the shredder didn’t even do that good a job – parts of some checks were still intact. Adding insult to injury, the shredder used was one of those old style strip shredders what were about 1/4 inch wide that even a child could easily piece back together.
According to the reporter, they called the company and the owners said they’ve been “using it for years“, that”this is the first time anybody noticed” and “they’ll stop using it now“.
I shudder to think how many uninterested businesses handle my personal information that way. Just because they have been using it for years and nobody noticed doesn’t make it right. The report did not say if they used their own customers’ checks or worse yet, got those from other businesses. Either way, this is outrageous!
In this advanced, technically inclined world of ours today, businesses like to talk about encryption, securing their web site, protecting customer data, tools and methods to keep hackers at bay and restricting access to customer data. These are all important. I am not discounting that. But all this focus on protecting electronic information is not going to help you much when your paper system is flawed.
Protect your customer data, whether it is on paper, verbal or electronic. It is the law. But really, what should be more important than that – you owe it to your customers.
P.S.: You might want to check out “Protecting Personal Information – A Guide for Business” published by the FTC.
P.P.S.: Upgrade your hardware. 80′s style paper shredders are not good enough. Go for cross cuts or confetti cuts at least. The smaller it can shred the better.
