The Gadgets Page

I’ll never forget the year we gave everyone a paper shredder. It was about five years ago and it seemed that everyone we knew in the older generation was worried about identity theft. Mike’s parents, my parents and even my grandpa had mentioned that they were worried about identity thieves. I’m sure identity thieves do get information about people out of garbage cans, but I don’t think it’s as prevalent as the media made it sound. When we bought everyone paper shredders, you would be amazed at the positive response. My mom immediately walked into the other room and brought out a pile of papers to be shredded, “I’ve been taking these to work to shred them. Now I can do them here!”

Christmas morning was filled with the noise of shredding paper.

Even grandpa called us from Montana, “I got that paper shredder. That’s a nice machine. I spent all morning shredding papers. I even accidentally shredded something that I probably shouldn’t have.” He was able to get Merrill Lynch to send him another check and all was well with the world.

Finally, there is no joy better than shredding paper. I can attest to that. Just watch this scene from The Office. Kevin works in a crappy job with no power or respect, but they let him shred the company documents. That is really all he needs…

If you haven’t given your loved ones a super-duper shredder, this is the year to be a hero. It’s not about whether identity theft is really an issue or not. It’s about shredding papers and CDs and even credit cards. Just be careful!