Error processing SSI file
Absolute Shreds owner Carrie Brechtelsbauer says the technology has changed since she once worked on the truck including video surveillance of the documents getting shredded from outside of the truck that some customers assist upon.Local spotlight
Document shredder fights identity theft
Carrie Brechtelsbauer shows the shredding bin where documents are shredded on one of her shredding trucks.
Comment on this story
AUBURN HILLS -- Carrie Brechtelsbauer, owner of Absolute Shreds in Auburn Hills, claims she's a sworn enemy of identity thieves who haunt commercial parking lots hoping to sort through trash for personal information to create fraudulent identification.
Nearly 700,000 people in the United States were victims of theft, their data mined from Dumpsters or waste baskets, costing individuals several thousand dollars and the nation a whopping $1 billion, according to Brechtelsbauer. Her firm thwarts the thieves with four mobile trucks the size of moving vans. Each one can chew up customer records at the rate of 100 boxes of data an hour, keeping matters private for perpetuity.
"Throughout the industry you hear the warning to destroy before you discard any records containing personal information," said Brechtelsbauer, 35. When she started her business in 1997 competition was rare, today at least 14 other firms run mobile shredding services. Business is also increasing.
Three government acts protecting the privacy of consumers also helps bolster the shredding nationwide. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA) addressing retail transactions, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) addresses hospital records and Graham Leach Bliley Act (GLB) addresses financial record destruction, all conspiring to help people achieve privacy. Safe destruction of records involves burning, pulverizing and shredding.
"We stand over our documents from the time they are put on the shredding truck until the time they are pulverized into fine confetti," says Jackie Oleniczak, member services manager of SOC Credit Union in Troy. Customers like Oleniczak can watch the shredding live on video monitor. She commissions a shredder once a year.
Brechtelsbauer, a former legal recruiter watched how more law offices were spending big dollars to destroy early drafts of case work. She learned hospitals were doing the same thing. Soon she had an idea for a new entrepreneurial venture and spent weeks visiting successful mobile shredding firms elsewhere in the country. Her husband, Mikel Brechtelsbauer, a mechanical engineer, helped design the trucks. Within two years he quit his day job and joined her in managing the firm.
Absolute Shreds charges $75 or $95 to visit a company, then a per-box demolition charge of $5. They handle 70 to 86 customers a week, some with locked boxes to save key materials until the next truck visit. The shredders can eat up magnetic tape, counterfeit clothing caught at the border, computer disks, binders, X-ray results and identification cards. Anything but hazardous materials.
"Many more small institutions are seeking shredding services," says Bob Johnson, executive director of the National Association for Information Destruction in Phoenix, AZ. "People want to protect competitive information in these challenging time and they want to be very careful about the disposal of information."
Maureen McDonald is a Metro Detroit free-lance writer.
Copyright © 2005
The Detroit News.
Use of this site indicates your agreement to the Terms of Service (updated 12/19/2002).