# Removing address from mail before discarding **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 11, 2023, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040 "2023-01-11T16:00:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040/21 "2023-01-11T20:08:05Z")
> [@Oly](#): > > Do you routinely remove your name and address from items you receive in the mail prior to discarding them? I do this for things like credit card offers, medical correspondence and other things that might be considered personal, exploitable or sensitive, but not for things like generic junk mail, advertising, magazines, etc. I know people who remove any trace of identifying info from everything they discard, and they seem to think I’m reckless for not following suit. What say ye? Anything I consider potentially sensitive goes through my office-grade shredder. As for less sensitive items, I doubt our local dumpster divers are THAT committed, especially if that trash bag also happens to contain used cat litter. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040/22 "2023-01-11T20:15:45Z")
Papers with account numbers, SSNs, etc. get shredded. Everything else gets trashed without concern. The idea of worrying about bad guys getting my name + address from ordinary mail is soo 1990s. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040/23 "2023-01-11T20:27:16Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > I have never written a check in my life either and I am 58. I’m curious.How’d you pay for rent, utilities, car payment, student loans, etc without writing checks? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040/24 "2023-01-11T20:46:05Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I’m curious.How’d you pay for rent, utilities, car payment, student loans, etc without writing checks? I’m not @Pardel-Lux , but a fellow German who never had to write checks: It’s easy, I never paid for student loans because studying in Germany is free of charge (except for some small fees), other than that: rent and utility payments I’ve always done by cashless means like standing orders or giro transfer. My cars I always paid in cash (used or new), but the auto market seems to be the only vestige of the (legal) market that still insists on cash, otherwise I might as well have paid them per transfer. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040/25 "2023-01-11T20:53:48Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I’m curious.How’d you pay for rent, utilities, car payment, student loans, etc without writing checks? As **Einsteinshund** wrote: it’s easy. I pay my rent by standing order, same as utilities. Used cars in cash, new one by bank transfer, university is almost free. Groceries in cash or with a girocard. Nobody uses checks here! Checks feel outdated in Europe, not only in Germany. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040/26 "2023-01-11T21:11:20Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I’m curious.How’d you pay for rent, utilities, car payment, student loans, etc without writing checks? I’m almost fifty and I’ve never had a check book until I moved to the US 5 years ago\*. In Norway all my bills were paid using the giro system, which I supposed is check like, but different, since the check system existed for decades in parallel before being completely out competed. In my twenties they were giros by mail, a thick envelope sent to my bank once or twice a month, but before I was thirty every bill was paid online by entering the destination account, their invoice number and the amount. These days most of them arrive electronically and I don’t even have to enter the numbers, just approve, or if they are recurring payments, approve auto pay. > **[Giro (banking)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giro_(banking))** > > A giro transfer, often shortened to giro (/ˈdʒaɪroʊ, ˈʒɪəroʊ/), is a payment transfer from one current bank account to another bank account and initiated by the payer, not the payee. The debit card has a similar model. Giros are primarily used in Europe; although electronic payment systems exist in the United States (e.g., the Automated Clearing House), it is not possible to perform third-party transfers with them. In the European Union, there is the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), which The w... \*I actually only got a check book this year, but that’s because my wife, an American, has paid anything that required a check. And I haven’t used mine yet. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040/27 "2023-01-11T21:17:16Z")
My address is in the phone book. Yeah, i guess that’s not as easy to look up as it used to be, but it’s out there. My address is also on the (publicly available) voting history, and probably other public databases managed by my town, county, and state. No, i don’t remove it from discarded mail. I do shred some more sensitive things, like bank statements with account number info. But not very much. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040/28 "2023-01-11T21:31:02Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > All of that stuff goes in the burn barrel. Please make sure you get all the plastic bits out of it first. Others have to breathe the air. Paper portions of credit card etc offers go in my woodstove. Plastic and highly-glossy portions get torn or cut up and go into the very stinky trash. Most miscellaneous junk mail goes straight into recycle – I don’t worry about the address, or the fact that I’m old enough to get mailings targeted at old people, or that sort of thing. > [@XOldiesJock](#): > > I don’t know if any of those stories about people rifling through trash bags to get peoples’ addresses are true Your address is pretty much public record. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040/29 "2023-01-11T21:56:14Z")
I don’t bother with regular mail. I’m organization I’m involved with once ran a magazine drive. They collected them to give to a jail or prison for inmate enrichment programs. Contributors were encouraged to remove identifying information before donating. ---
**Author:** ![Ferris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ferris/32/11573_2.png) [@Ferris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferris)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040/30 "2023-01-11T23:03:06Z")
We have a higher amount of personal information that comes through the mail than most people (medical work, family trust). Anything with a name or address on it that needs disposing of goes through the cross-cut shredder. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040/31 "2023-01-11T23:14:04Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > _Your address is pretty much public record._ Yeah, really. You can easily find out a lot more about a person and their family by entering their name on True People Search. I just like to shred things. I’d be more concerned about leaving outgoing mail in my mailbox with the flag up for the driver to pick up, whenever they come by to pick it up (sometimes the next day) like my neighbors do. That’s really asking for trouble. People do steal things from mailboxes. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040/32 "2023-01-11T23:36:33Z")
Just curious how you paid bills 30 years when you were 24 and electronic bill payment was not a thing. Was there something like the Swiss Postkonto? The only checks I wrote when I was in Switzerland were on my Canadian accounts to deposit in my Swiss account. That system was very convenient. Pretty much the only checks (or cheques) I write today are to charities. I’m not sure they’re set up to receive electronic deposits. Oh yes, birthday gifts to grandchildren are another place. I can’t think of any other checks I’ve written in years. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040/33 "2023-01-11T23:50:08Z")
We don’t. Our names and addresses are easily publicly accessible. We do burn items that have our SSNs, but luckily that is becoming very rare as companies finally realize you don’t have to print/include all the PII. It really doesn’t matter since I assume our SSNs are also easily available which is why we have locks with all the credit agencies. And they work: We went in to open a bank account for our young relative that is living with us and we had to unlock it with the agency they use to complete that account creation. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2023, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040/34 "2023-01-12T00:28:35Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Pretty much the only checks (or cheques) I write today are to charities. I’m not sure they’re set up to receive electronic deposits. Charities all take credit cards, in my experience. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2023, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040/35 "2023-01-12T01:24:09Z")
I’m still baffled by the premise. Even if your address were somehow sensitive information, how the heck is someone going to look through your trash if they don’t already know your address? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2023, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040/36 "2023-01-12T04:03:26Z")
It goes like this: 1. Bad guy drives through nice neighborhoods looking for trash cans. Sees a can in front of the McMansion at 1234 Fancy Pants Drive. Grabs some trashed mail & discovers that Buford T Smith & Muffy J Smith live there. 2. ??? 3. Profit!!! Or at least that’s the BS story the scaremongers like to peddle in AARP magazine, Reader’s Digest, and other highly intellectual & up-to-date publications. All bunk IMO. But they’ve been beating this drum for at least 30 years and it seems to have sunk in with much of the populace. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2023, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040/37 "2023-01-12T10:45:53Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Just curious how you paid bills 30 years when you were 24 and electronic bill payment was not a thing. Was there something like the Swiss Postkonto? The only checks I wrote when I was in Switzerland were on my Canadian accounts to deposit in my Swiss account. That system was very convenient. Yes, something like that, per giro transfer (Überweisung). You filled out a slip of paper similar to a check with your own bank account number and that of the recipient, the sum to transfer, signed it and gave it to your bank which did the electronic transfer. Of course nowadays most people do that online, but in principle it’s still the same, and some old people still do it on paper. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2023, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040/38 "2023-01-12T10:57:43Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I still haven’t heard about a way to commit identity theft by only knowing an address. I haven’t looked into this in depth, but I know that official channels here list going through someone’s discarded mail as an identity theft risk. Obviously an address is not enough, nor not only what the crook has to work with. Combining a name with other documents in the trash can easily yield tons of useful info, up to and including social security numbers etc. With name, address, e-mail address & social security number, it’s trivial to make fraudulent online transactions, typically placing online orders, with the delivery address changed. Taking online instant loans in another person’s name is another popular method. Even with just a name and address, it’s usually easy to find the person’s phone number, e-mail address, possibly social media info etc. etc. online. This kind of data in total is what starts to make identity thieving possible. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2023, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040/39 "2023-01-12T11:04:23Z")
I used to shred stuff like bank and CC statements, but they are all online these days. Communications relating to accounts never show full account numbers, so a miscreant would not get anything useful from them. Even so, I usually tear through the header and put part in recycling and part for landfill. I used to shred cards, but these days I just cut them in two and split the parts between two separate bin collections. Since I am in the UK, cheques are almost unheard of and cash is becoming less and less used (although there is still a demand, mainly from older people) - even buskers take Apple or Android pay these days. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2023, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040/40 "2023-01-12T15:04:15Z")
Those ‘pre-approved’ credit card offers aren’t really pre-approved. It says so right in the fine print as you’re financial condition may have changed since they started pulling lists for the campaign; therefore, they’re really just name & address & not a true indication that you’re credit worthy; therefore, they go right in the recycle bin, usually unopened. Between my town (2x/year), my state rep (3-4x/year) & some of the neighboring towns; anything more sensitive (bank statements, medical stuff, etc.) gets thrown into a box & driven over to one of the multitude of community shredding event; typically they are drive up, one of the many volunteers will take your stuff right from your backseat or trunk into one of the big plastic bins that then gets wheeled a few feet into the big, mobile shredding truck; no need to even get out of your car. Easy-peasy. What amazes me is the number of sites that ~~want~~ _require_ your birthdate. I was just on a (reputable) classic car auction site yesterday because I wanted to watch a few that were coming up for sale. I only wanted to watch but thought I might sign up to bid just in case there was a deal. When you go to register to buy, the _very first_ & only field on the first screen is birthdate. Ummm, why do they need that, all they might need to know is you’re old enough to buy a car. How secure are their systems? I’m sure a hacker would love all of the extra info, making it so much easier to commit identity theft. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/removing-address-from-mail-before-discarding/978040.md?page=3)