Marcia Recieves Well Deserved
TWIN Honor! One of seventy-three
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Did you know that Marcia is a TWIN?
Before everyone starts murmuring for name, age, and other particulars, this TWIN,
is Tribute to Women In Industry,as sponsored by the YWCA. Marcia was one of 73
outstanding female business leaders recently honored at this year's luncheon;
only four of these ladies were from North County firms. And to show the real
magnitude of this award, there have been fewer than 2,000 TWIN honorees in the
26 years the award has been given.
Why was Marcia so honored? Read the description of her duties as detailed in
the event program, and see if you don't agree.
The program reads, "Marcia's responsibilities include scheduling shredding jobs and serving as liaison
between CSR and customer, assuring that each job is completed on time every time.
Marcia also ensures each completed shred meets or exceeds existing standards
regarding the destruction of confidential and sensitive documents. In addition,
she administers Shred-it's popular 'Stop Identity Theft,' a nationally-recognized
campaign dedicated to educating the public on ways to prevent identity theft."
Not stated in the program was her pleasant professional manner, her ability to
handle twenty jobs at once and complete them all perfectly!
What would we do without Marcia and her incisive ways? Thank you Marcia for all
you do. Your honor is much deserved!
The FACT Act and You: To
Help You Comply is The Reason Why We're Calling
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Like it or not, the Fair
(and) Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACT Act), is a fact
of life! Reduced to its basics, this new law has four (4) parts,
and each
one mandates actions by our customers; the Safeguards rule requires 'service
providers by written contract to protect customers' personal information.'
To assist our client's in compling wth this Rule, we have designed
a Client Service
Agreement that meets all compliance requirments. We recently mailed this form
to each client asking that it be signed and returned in the postage paid ennvelope
we supplied.
We know how busy everyone is in today's business world; details may be overlooked
or postponed; to make compliance even easier, our Client Retention Specialist,
Bob Decker is contacting most of our client's to remind them to sign and return
the Agreement. Incidentally, the Agreement in no way changes or alters the
frequency, quality, quantity or cost of your current service - - it is designed
to facilitate
our client's compliance with the FACT Act.
Here is a recap of the two most salient of the laws, starting with The Safeguards
Rule - Shredding Policy: Every firm must have a written privacy procedure in
place, including:
A description of the staff that has access to protectedd material;
how this private information will be used; when and under what conditions this
information can be disclosed;
all associates must agree to these limitations.
In addition the firm must:
1. Design and implement a written statement regarding their information security
program appropriate to the company’s size and complexity, the nature and scope
of its activities and the degree of sensitivity of the customer information
it handles.
(a) Assign one or more employees to oversee the security aspects of their program;
(b) Conduct a risk assessment of their data destruction;
(c) Establish safeguards to control the risks identified in the assessment
and regularly test and monitor these safeguards;
(d) Require service providers, by written contract, to protect customers’ personal
information; and
(e) Periodically update the security aspects of this program.
The Disposal Rule
By June 1st , 2005 each firm must be in compliance by having in place a policy
on what materials to dispose of, and how this disposal is to be completed,
by both adopting and implementing their own document destruction policies.
Compliance with this Rule includes:
• Having a written policy in place which states how the firm will handle nonpublic
personal information (NPI);
• Assigning a person or persons who has the authority to monitor the handling
of confidential and sensitive information, and to implement changes in how
this information is handled;
• Off-site destruction or recycling jobs must be monitored by the person or
persons with the assigned authority; videos of the destruction process are
not evidence
that the destruction process has been completed unless notarized by a notary
who observed the process; if a recycling project can not be completed at one
time, documents must be stored in a locked, secure facility until it can be
completed;
• Implementing and monitoring compliance with policies and procedures that
require shredding or other forms of destruction of paper documents and electronic
media
containing consumer information: and
• “Chain of Custody? must be observed; actual destruction of documents is completed
by the third party firm. “Chain of Custody? is observed when documents to be
destroyed are placed in a secure unit before custody is transferred to the
third party;
• Contracting with a third party to properly dispose of consumer information
and monitoring their performance.
So, look for your letter, and expect our call. For the complete text of the
FACT Act, go to www.ftc.gov; for our synosis:www.shreditsd.com
Stop ID Theft! Free Credit
Repots! Free What? Credit Reports!
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As an update on our highly
sucessful 'Stop ID Theft' program, we recommend that you check
your credit report at least once a year. Now you can do this
FREE!
Beginning December 1st, 2004, the FACT Act (FACTA to some), has mandated
that
credit granting agencies make available to everyone one FREE credit report
from each of the three major credit reporting agencies each year. (Don't
confuse this
with the free credit reports ads that appear every 15 seconds on the internet!
The FACT Act credit reports are free, no subscription needed!
So, what do you do? And how do you do it? If you live in Alaska, Arizona,
California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon,
Utah, Washington
and Wyoming, go to AnnualCreditReport.com, give them the info they request,
and as Emiril says, 'Bam' you'll have it within 3-4 days via mail or within
secondly
if by e-mail.
No on-line capabilities? Call 1-877-322-8228 or write: Annual Credit Report
Request Service,
P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5261.
For those outside the Western section, be patient,your time is coming: the
Midwest gets the service in March, the South in June, and the Eastern states
in September.
How to Correct Errors
Just as sure as you can be sure that J. Lo will be on the cover of People
Magazine, you can be sure that your credit report will have mistakes, errors
and mis-statements
in it. These may be as varied as showing a wrongly defaulted loans, a divorce
recorded to someone who was never married, mis-spelled names, typos in addresses,
even perhaps, loan's granted to identity thieves in your name and never repaid.
(Some experts say that four in five credit reports contain some error of
consequence.)
You can dispute errors by following the instructions listed on the credit
report you receive. Procedures differ sligtly from company to company. But,
don't
expect miracles - - the three credit bureaus were fined $2.5 million by the
FTC for
not answering calls to toll-free numbers set up so consumers could dispute
inaccuracies in the credit reports. The system was overwhelmed by compliants
before, and instead
of hiring the personnel to handle the influx, the credit bureau boys
shined the entire process on. Most experts are expecting a little better,
but not much, service this time around. We'll see.
And, if you do get them to respond to your particular problems, be prepared
to prove your claims. As Judge Wapner says,'You got receipts?' Use them.
And, keep
a log of your contacts with the credit boys. Good records offset stupid spending,
or something like that.
Industrial Espionage or
Dumpster Diving? It Still Costs You!
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The Orange County Register
reported recently that Poly-Tak Protection Systems,Inc., an
Irvine CA, firm which makes plastic film used to protect carpets
and other
surfaces during painting and reconstruction jobs, filed for reorganization
under Chapter 17 of the Federal bankruptcy code.Why?
Because an Illinois federal court jury awarded $2.35 million to Surface
Shields Inc.,a competitor which makes similar protective plastics. Why
the award?
Because Poly-Tak was found liable for tortious interference with economic
advantage,
defamation, deceptive trade practices and commercial bribery. The claim
arose from a separate incident unrelated to the Dumpster-diving claims
as described
above. In that claim, Surface Shields Inc.,accused Poly-Tak of stealing
confidential company information, sacrasanct trade secrets, customer lists
and other vital
company information, by sifting through their trash (dumpster-diving, box
surfing, 'trashpionage'). Poly-Tak was found guilty of these charges. Their
bankruptcy
filing was seen by Surface Shields executives as a move on the part of
Poly-Tak to avoid paying this judgement.
What all thie means to you and I, is simple. Shred all documents. Protect
yourself, your company, and your employees. Remember the old adage, it
is better to be
safe than sorry. Shredding helps protect you from competitors who make
your trash theirs in an attempt to gain an unfair advantage.
World Class Service Makes
Shred-it S.D. World Wide Winner
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Tom Caso, Vice President
and General Manager of Shred-it San Diego returned from the
Annual G.M. Meeting in Canada with a world class prize: the
prestigious
'Most
Efficient Franchise' award.
Competing world-wide with over 130 franchises and Corporate owned branches,
Shred-it San Diego won this award, by demonstrating the security measures,
shredding speed
and safe, efficent handling of consoles and shredding jobs this past
year.
In accepting the award, V.P. Caso said, 'It is a great honor to win this
highly-coveted prize. I accept it humbly on behalf of the greatest group
of Customer Service
Representatives in the World, that dedicated group of professionals who
every day perform legendary customer service, often under difficult circimstances,
yet they do it with a smile on their face and a sense of joy in their
hearts. Make no mistake, this award honors them and their dedication,
motivation
and spirit of cooperation - - attributes they show daily. I thank Shred-it
Corporate
for this recognition, but in all good faith it is our CSR's who deserve
this
award. I am honored to accept it on their behalf!'
In a related issue, two independent customer surveys found Shred-it San
Diego to have a Customer Satisfaction Index of 97%! In each survey, our
customers
expressed Total Satisfaction with our service, and would gladly recommend
us to other firms.
Shred-it San Diego Achieves
Certification from The National Association for Information
Destruction
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Although the security and document destruction practices of Shred-it
San Diego have long exceeded the standards established by NAID (National
Association
of Information Destruction), we have only recently applied for certification
from
this national group. Why did we do this now?
'Primarily,' says Tom Caso, Vice President and General Manager,'with
the growing number of laws and regulations regarding information protection,
we wanted
to be able to go to one source to obtain needed information. In addition,
we felt
that it was important to have industry 'feed back'on our actions in
the area of employee hiring, policies and procedures and information
protection
and
compliance.'
NAID sets the criteria for certification as an impartial, independent
security professional in their audits. Applicants for NAID certification
submit
certain critical documents -- policy and procedures manuals, employment
records,
promotional materials and other material -- for NAID review; facility
security, monitoring
systems, document destruction equipment and access control are also
examined.
Compliance to NAID Standards is just another example of the overall
operating excellence of Shred-it San Diego. Congratulations, Team!
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Free White Paper on Fighting
Identity Theft Is Popular!
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Identity Theft continues
to be a major problem: Over 10 million Americans will have
their identity stolen this year, according to the United
States Department
of Commerce, merica, costing American business, by some estimates,
over six billion dollars a year. Corporate espionage and the theft
of intellectual
property continues
unabated.
Our free White Paper details how to avoid becoming a victim of this
crime, and lists what actions to take should your identity be compromised.
This
easy to
read and follow paper is availabe free upon request by calling 1-800-421-7473;or
e-mail:info@shreditsd.com.
A customer list in the hands of an unscrupulous competitor can be
a dangerous thing. Dumpster 'diving,' 'box surfing' and ëpaper poachersí
are slang
terms used to describe the stealing of data from trash bins.
Most corporations are aware of what steps to take to protect their
sensitive and confidential documents, but the average consumer is
often ignorant
of this problem, or knows little of what can be done if their identity
has been
stolen.
What course of action do they have?
ìHow to Avoid Identity Theft:Protect Your Good Name' has been compliled
by our Staff to address these problems. It clearly
outlines what to do if your identity is stolen. It lists the government
agencies to notify, gives addresses of appropriate credit agencies
-- even provides
sample letters to use in notifing authorities of the problem. More
importantly, it lists
a number of actions you can take to avoid the problem in the first
place.
ìWe focus on those questions our customer's have asked us most frequently,î
says Tom Caso, our General Manager. ìThe document destruction business
is relatively young, so until recently there were no real guidelines
on what
material to
destroy,
or how long to keep certain materials. We were the first firm to
offer on-site shredding in Southern California, a short ten years
ago.' He
adds, ìLegislation
such as The California Privacy Act, HIPAA, and the Gramm-Leach Bliley
Act, clearly puts the responsibility on the information-gathering
firm to destroy
confidential,
sensitive financial and employee records.'
'We give an overview of these laws in this White Paper, but we also
answer such questions as: How long should a consumer retain certain
documents?
What proof
is needed that documents were destroyed? Why is 'Chain of Custody'
an important security consideration? Our White Paper answers these
and other
questions.î
There is no charge for the White Paper.It is available upon request:
Shred-it San Diego, P.O. Box 2077, Vista, CA., 92085-2077. Or, if
you wish, call: 760-598-5700.
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Shred-it offers Lost Key
Assurance Program FREE!
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No one likes to put personal
information (name, address, phone number) on key rings, since
it can lead to harassing phone calls, unwelcome
vistors, even
Identity Theft. Lost keys, personal or business, always cause a
problem, even though extra
keys may exist. Research shows that if given an easy alternative
to return lost keys, the finder will do so in 70% of cases.
With our Lost Key Assurance Program, keys are registered with us,
along with contact information. Then if keys are lost, the Finder
is simply
drops them
into any mailbox. The U.S. Postal Service delivers them to us.
We'll contact you and
make arrangements to return them, without your personal information
being divulged in any way! (Our way of saying 'Thank you' for allowing
us to
be your partner
in document security.)
How do you get started?
Print out the information shown below, or call 1-800-69-SHRED and
ask for a free Registration card. Once you have the form, complete
the
information, and
mail
it to Shred-it San Diego or, if you prefer, e-mail us at info@shreditsd.com.
Do you want additional registration cards for colleagues or family
members? Our customers get five (5) at No Cost. (Non-customers
may register their
keys with
us, but a nominal handling fee will apply.)
Rest assured, your information is safe with us. We will not sell
this information or reveal identities in any way. We use this information
to contact you
only to return lost keys.
--------------------------------------------
Print the following form, and mail it to Shred-it San Diego, P.O.
Box 2077, Vista, CA 92085-2077, or via e-mail:info@shreditsd.com
---------------------------------------------
Lost Key Assurance Program Registration Form
Complete the information below and mail it to the above address.
Itís that simple. (Donít you feel better already?)
Name:________________________________________
Company:_____________________________________
Street Address:_______________________________________
City:____________________ State:___________________ Zip Code:________
Phone:_________________________ Email:___________________________________
Birthday: Month_______ Day:_______
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