Fighting identity theft, one box at a time

David Bolles, president of Redmond, Washington.-based Mail Boss, thinks homeowners are wasting their time if they spend it tearing up bank statements and other sensitive information that arrives from the mailman.



“Identity thieves don’t have to look through your trash,” said Bolles, while tending to his booth at the National Hardware Show in Las Vegas. “They get what they need from your mailbox.”



In an age of high-profile data breaches (think Target) and hyper-sensitivity to personal information (think of all your passwords), mailbox security is stamped as an emerging home improvement trend, according to Bolles.



The locking security mailboxes from Epoch Designs are designed to protect against theft and stand up to vandalism. The multiple messages on display included higher-margin opportunities, endcap merchandising options and an endorsement from Gig Harbor Hardware. But the real excitement was the video showing destruction of competitors’ mailboxes.



“A thief can break into this, too,” said Bolles. “But it would take a lot of time. And a mailbox thief wants to get in and out.”