Talking Trash

Shred up those papers and that trash! Or crooks can grab your business cash! And identities, trade secrets and anything else that's not micro-shredded or broken down into its component atoms.Check out just how easy it is to re-assemble torn (not shredded) documents and put them to work.

Time to think about your trashcans.

The ones beside your desks and your co-workers' desks, not the ones on their screens. And don't forget the dumpsters those cans get emptied into.

The taped-up card app shown on Rob Cockerham's cockeyed website had no trouble at all re-entering the financial system. His lesson is a good one -- he's making a point, and it's a point that could be applied to every bit of confidential or proprietary information committed to paper in your business.

Now: how many trashcans do you have in your business? A couple of dozen? A couple of hundred? More?

How secure is your trash? How disciplined is your shredding policy? How good are your shredders?

They'd better be pretty good because it's far easier, it turns out, to tape up confidential documents than it would be to put your shredded business reputation back together again.

Radio Shack is learning the trashcan lesson the hard way -- no reason for you to, too.