After the million dollar fine that Rite Aid paid and the 2.25 million dollar fine CVS paid for failing to shred patient documents I thought I had seen the last pharmacy make that mistake.  The fines that HIPAA imposes make a mistake with patient records very costly. But Cornell Pharmacy in Denver has been caught with a dumpster full of patient records. The reporter estimated that around 5,000 patients were affected.

After being caught the pharmacy said it wasn’t their fault because a lock had been cut off the dumpster. But there story seems to ring a little hollow. The dumpster was from a waste company so it would have ended up in a landfill and not shredded. Also, the waste company said there locks were never intended to keep anything secure — just keep people from adding in their trash.

For all the other pharmacies that don’t have a million dollars to spend on HIPAA fines here are some good Denver Shredding Companies.

Cardinal Fitness of Indianapolis is the latest star of “What is in the Dumpster.” It appears they closed their location and left all of their customers’ financial information in the dumpster. According to neighbors the dumpster has been out since December with at least daily visits by the curious. The problem was reported to WTHR. They have since boxed up the files and taken them to the Indiana Attorney General’s office.

The best part of the story is the quote by Chuck Taylor, section chief of the Attorney General’s Identity Theft Unit. He says the problem could be avoided with a “$25 shredder“. It is obvious that Mr. Taylor has never used a $25 shredder. A shredder that size would handle a couple sheets at a time and would overheat if used for an extended period of time. In the end you would have to hire someone to sit and shred for weeks. I am guessing the Attorney General supports paying at least minimum wage and the associated taxes. The total for the job could run into thousands of dollars. This is the classic “penny wise, pound foolish.”

If you are looking to save money on Indianapolis Shredding there are several great options. Unless you pay triple the invoice then you will save money. And the added benefit is all the shreds are recycled by the service.

While the most common request we have is for paper shredding, that is not the only thing we can destroy. With industrial shredders there is very little that can’t be shredded. Things are destroyed because they are defective or they may be counterfit. In the end everything that can be recycled is recycled.

One of the things that was most fun to shred were foosball tables. It started with a call from a sporting goods company. They had a very friendly return policy and got a bad batch of tables one Christmas.

Customers returned the bad tables for a refund or replacement. A local trash hauler said he could handle the proper disposal. The problem was he simply took them to the flea market and re-sold them. When they didn’t work they were returned to the sporting goods store.

After doing an audit on what was being returned they discovered that the tables were being refunded multiple times. Trying to save money on the destruction ended up being very expensive. That is when we got the call.

We picked up several semi loads of the foosball tables. We took out the metal piping and ran them all through the shredder. The most intereting thing is that when the particle board hit the shredder it turned to dust. It was a good thing we had a dust collection system.

There are mayny reasons why organizations shred products. They can be defective and if they got out would pose a liability threat. A ski manufacturer in Denver had some defective skis. They threw them out in the dumpster only to have them taken. The theif got hurt on the skis and then filed a lawsuit for a defective product.

Another large shredder is the Department of Customs. Counterfit products come in by the container full and must be destroyed. This happens most often by ports but can be found anywhere in the country.

When you need to shred anything we can help. It might be shirts that were printed incorrectly or just ones you don’t want to end up on the black market.

Tax time is a great time to clean out all of the files that have been building up around the office. The most common recommendation is to keep tax files for seven years. After the seven years has passed it is time to shred them. Here is the full list of recommendations for personal record retention and business record retention.

This alone generates a  great deal of shredding for even a small office. But once you have a truck coming out then it makes sense to get it all done. Check in with the person responsible for human resources and marketing to make sure they are not holding on to outdated files.

The last place to check is with individual employees. They are likely to have files that they have been holding on to from past projects. If it contains sensitive information it should be held in a secure part of the office. If it simply is no longer needed then it makes sense to shred it.

The other thing to consider at tax time is basic security of your mail. Make a list of every tax document you are expecting. Cross them off as they come in and set in a secure place. If one is missing you will know early and it may also be a sign of trouble. Call the organization to see if it was mailed or not. If it was mailed then keep an eye out for fraud. For more tips on identity fraud get the monthly ID Theft Alert emailed to you.

Congratulations to Shred Works. The Oakland based shredding service has been recognized as “Bay Area Green Business Certified.”  The company earned the recognition by recycling 100% of what they shred. This accounted for 3,856 tons of paper last year.

The great thing about operating a shredding service is you get to save peoples identities and at the same time protect valuable natural resources.