My wife and I have been shredding the vast majority of the junk mail that comes into our house for a number of years now, probably a decade at least at this point but it dawned on me a few years back that not everybody shreds their junk mail like we do.
This got me thinking, do we actually need to shred our junk mail or are we overcomplicating our lives? Ultimately after doing some research I decided that it’s probably more important that I ever realized to shred junk mail which has led me to get into this business, reviewing shredders and teaching other people how to dispose of and store documents correctly.
It is very important to shred the junk mail that arrives in your mailbox because identity thieves can use the personal information found in junk mail to steal from you. Information found on multiple pieces of junk mail can be combined to form a substantial amount of personal data that you may not want sitting on your curb on trash day.
Now obviously some pieces of junk mail are more dangerous than others and some methods of disposal are more secure than others so I’d like to take the rest of this article to explain what pieces of junk mail are most important to shred and why plus I’d like to cover a few things like how to destroy sensitive information found in junk mail if you don’t have or want to buy a paper shredder.
Before we do that however make sure to watch this video I made that will very quickly summarize the rest of this article.
VIDEOEMBEDHERE
If you don’t have a good paper shredder in your home or office then make sure to see my thoughts on some of the better shredders I’ve tried right here.
Can Your Identity Be Stolen From Discarded Junk Mail?
It is truly unfortunate that it’s virtually impossible to prevent junk mail from arriving in your mailbox, especially because it is so much of a physical risk for identity theft.
By collecting the junk mail delivered to a single person over time a thief can put together a wide array of personal data that is included in the mailings. Addresses, names, partial account numbers, etc. can all be pieced together to make identity theft a real possibility.
The best way to prevent the theft of junk mail at the mail box is to install a locked mailbox at your curb or door or to have all your mail sent to a PO Box but for those that don’t want to take that drastic of a step destroying junk mail before putting it in the trash is the next best defense.
Which Types Of Junk Mail Can Be Thrown Away?
Contrary to what some professional shredding services tell you there are some types of junk mail that don’t need to be shredded.
The safest type of junk mail to put into the general trash includes all the mailers that are addressed to “current resident”. When the piece of mail doesn’t contain your name or any other information on it other than your address then you can safely place it directly into the garbage or recycling bin.
In my home the most common types of mail that I get of this type include local store circulars and bulk mail advertisements that go to all households in the community without any form of personalization.
Usually In our home we shred these items anyway though because when we sort our mail every few days anything that doesn’t look important to either me or my wife goes into the junk mail pile. This pile will include the sensitive documents as well as the non-personalized store circulars that can be simply tossed. We just shred them to keep the process simple in our home.
Bank Statements & Credit Card Offers Should Be Shredded 100% Of The Time
I know this article is all about junk mail but sometimes our financial institutions send us unwanted documents as well. Bank statements and tax documents make sense to receive in the mail periodically and they should be saved for a reasonable period of time depending on the document but eventually they should be shredded as well.
In fact sometimes my banks actually send me weird things that I don’t actually want at all. One of my banks sends me a letter in the mail every month to inform me that my payment is scheduled or has cleared. This is one letter I would love to put an end to and it always includes my name, address, and a partial display of my account number.
If you receive anything from a financial institution that you do not want to store or do not need to store for the long term then it’s always good practice to shred these notices, statements, credit card offers, refinance solicitations, and general documents right along side your junk mail.
There’s never any reason to keep anything you don’t need, especially when those documents may contain personal info and possibly coded info that can be tied to you by a smart identity sleuth.
What About Basic Address Labels or Mail That Only Shows My Address: Are Those Safe To Toss?
Ever wonder if it was safe to throw away simple mail with your address on it? In my home we get stuff addressed to the address with no name. We also frequently get junk mail that includes “complimentary” address labels for our use… even though we hardly ever use them or want them at all.
Seriously, how many things do we put in outgoing mail these days anymore?
It is safe to simply throw away address labels that only show your address on them however personalized address labels that show your name and your address are best placed in the shred bin. Any kind of physical mail, label, and document that ties your name to your address is an unnecessary risk.
In most cases you’ll find that name and address labels are a very low risk and can be hard on shredders due to their thickness and the adhesive on the stickers but again I default back to keeping things simple.
I shred everything I don’t want to keep from the mailbox to keep the process of mail sorting simple and so long as I maintain my shredder regularly with cleaner and sharpening papers then everything works just fine for me month after month and year after year.
What To Do If You Receive Junk Mail Addressed To Another Person
Here in my home we still occasional get something in our mailbox addressed to a couple of people that lived here nearly 15 years ago! It’s crazy that it still comes but this is not uncommon. In fact it would probably be strange if junk mail addressed to previous residents or tenants didn’t show up in your box from time to time.
It is not legal to simply throw away, open, or tamper with other people’s mail even if it appears to be junk mail. The best way to get rid of junk mail sent to the wrong address is to write “no longer lives here” on the mailing and place in the outgoing mailbox for the postal service to deal with.
One additional tip that can help limit the amount of “other people’s mail” problems you have to deal with include a placing a simple note to your letter carrier inside your mail box that lists all people in your household that you may receive mail addressed to.
Tape the note to the inside of mailbox where your carrier places mail and this will help him or her to only deliver mail to occupants at your address instead of all prior occupants. This won’t stope everything but it will slow it down.
How To Destroy Junk Mail If You Don’t Have A Shredder
Now I don’t want to sound like I’m giving you an ultimatum, you need a paper shredder to discard junk mail and other sensitive documents. Owning a good shredder in the home makes my life simple but if I didn’t have one or didn’t want to get one for whatever reason there are plenty of businesses that accept material for safe destruction.
Where I live I’ve used Staples for this very purpose. A while back after a move from one house to another my wife and I had a few boxes of papers that we wanted to get rid of. It ended up being a very simple process to just take the boxes to my local store and dump them all at once into their big shred bin. Of course you pay for this privelege but it was reasonable.
Taking your junk mail to a local shredding service provider is easy because collected mail and documents take up very little space compared to shredded papers. If you collect your junk mail in a shoebox you won’t have to take it to a shredding service provider more than once every month and consequently you don’t have to deal with shredder maintenance or cleanup of those little paper pieces in your home.
Burning is another option but it’s one I haven’t tried and don’t recommend due to the hassle and risk associated with fire.
Lastly composting is always an option unfortunately this will require you to sort your unwanted mail and documents in to compostable and non-compostable piles which in my opinion overcomplicates the process. Although my wife and I garden and compost on small scale composting the unwanted paper mail is too time consuming and cumbersome for our taste.
How To Make This An Easy Process
Most people have a system for sorting mail when it comes in the door even if it looks a bit like chaos. In my home I immediately sort important looking mail for my wife and put it all into her stack. I then put the stuff for me in my stack. Usually everything else is junk mail of a few different sorts.
If I feel the desire I’ll open the mail up and look through it but on those days (or weeks) that I’m pressed for time I literally just shred the mail without even opening it but that requires the use of a powerful shredder that can handle thick folded papers, cards, and sometimes bits of plastic.
I use a really nice shredder though; I have fully reviewed it over on my shredder reviews page if you want to check it out, but most people don’t want to pay for the nicest shredders possible so I recommend to my readers and viewers over on the Brian Shreds YouTube channel to get the nicest shredder you can afford and open your junk mail up at the shredder so you con put small pieces into it immediately after opening.
If you are anything like me you’ll find a good bit of satisfaction in elimating the problem of junk mail accumulating on a desk or table before the stack ever gets big.
If you are thinking about getting a nice shredder then you can look at the link above for my reviews of the best on the market these days but I also think you’d benefit in looking at the following article first which explains the differences in shredding cut styles.
A long time again I had no idea what a diamond cut shredder was nor did I know how it was any different from a micro-cut – chances are that most of my readers don’t know the difference either.
► Paper Shredder Cut Styles Compared & Explained
Take a look and learn a bit before trying to go shopping. It feel better being an informed customer!