Extra Space in Your Community

If you are worried about identity theft, there was quite a chilling article on the ABC7 news site yesterday evening. A woman in Aurora, cleaning out an apartment that she rents, found a file cabinet in it. The apartment had previously been rented by a bail bondsman, and the filing cabinet contained documents from people who had bailed someone out of jail at some point, dating back to the 1990s.

“They all have birth dates, names, Social Security numbers, driver’s licenses,” said the landlord, Hermine Putman, in yesterday’s ABC7 article. She went on to comment, “That could create an identity theft for some of these people….If I throw it in the trash, this can get into the wrong hands.” Putman was absolutely right. But she was just getting started.

She went on, “I don’t have the time, in my age, to stay out in that heat out there to sort all those papers out, what should go to a shredder. Why was it left up to me, to do this?…I could have taken them and just threw them in the trash for all I care, but I do care.”

Putman, unlike the bail bondsman who abandoned the records, was determined to do the right thing. This made me think. Putman is a landlord for an apartment building. But the same thing could easily happen to a self storage facility manager or operator, and perhaps it is more likely here, because many businesses use our units to store their old, archived files. Of course, if we find any personal records, we will do just what Putman did–turn the files over to the police, in case they related to any ongoing identity theft investigations.

But, like Putman, I want to point out that the original responsibility for safeguarding those records lies with the business or organization that originally generated those records. If your archives include sensitive information belonging to your clients or customers, it is your responsibility to see that those records, when you no longer need them, are either returned to to the client or customer to whom they belong, or are shredded. I cannot say what your legal obligation is — I suggest you check with a lawyer to find out for sure. But morally, I have no hesitation in saying that you cannot ever simply abandon records, whether they contain financial information, medical information, information that could be used for identity theft, or even sensitive personal information such as might be contained in old diaries or student essays.

Frankly, there is no need to throw files into a dumpster, even if it is a recycling dumpster. Shredding the files does not stop them from being recyclable. It is not hard or time-consuming. If you cannot afford a shredder, check with the Better Business Bureau, and they may be able to let you know of a free shredding day.

Take the time to protect your customers. We do — we take tenant records very seriously. I urge all my business tenants — and even those businesses who don’t use self storage — to give some thought to your record disposal practices. Someday, the thoughtfulness of a small business owner may be the only thing standing between you and identity theft — and when that day comes, believe me, you will realize how serious a matter this can be.