Idea turns into business for former car salesman

Steve Morrison was a car salesman until a relative mentioned something to him and a light bulb flashed in his head.

The relative was working at an insurance company. She told Morrison there ought to be a safe way to destroy documents at the company.

Morrison began looking around and determined there were no shredding companies in Florence. Then he started thinking about all the businesses that needed a secure, economical, convenient and environmentally-friendly way to dispose of documents.

Morrison made the leap and established Shur Shred. He began with a small industrial shredder and a van. He contacted people, knocked on doors, sent out brochures and had business cards made.

“It was slow at first,” he said during an interview at his office at 1442 Floyd Circle. “But one of my first customers had branch offices in Charleston, Florence, Georgetown, Sumter and Monks Corner. I got that business, too.”

Morrison soon moved up to a larger truck with a ravenous industrial shredder. It can chew up mounds of paper, envelopes, time cards, files, folders and extra-thick telephone books without even burping.

His client list includes accountants, attorneys, banks, credit unions, doctors’ offices, motels, pharmacies, government offices, schools, colleges and homes.

He concentrates mainly on Darlington, Florence and Hartsville, although he does go into Bennettsville, Dillon and Sumter.

Morrison’s charges vary based on individual needs. He sells different-sized locked containers to businesses that have a slot to put documents in. When he comes by, he unlocks the container and shreds the contents on the spot.

Once the truck is filled, he takes the shredded material to Sonoco Products Co. in Hartsville for it to be recycled.

“Identity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes in the country,” he said. “Once your identity is stolen, it’s hard and costly to get it back.”

If identity theft occurs, Morrison suggests contacting such consumer reporting companies as Equifax to place fraud alerts,  as well as contacting creditors, filing a police report and reporting the theft to the Federal Trade Commission.

Morrison also offers these pointers to prevent identity theft:

• Shred any financial or personal information.
• Protect your Social Security number by not carrying your Social Security card with you.
• Don’t give personal information over the telephone, Internet or to people you don’t know.
• Don’t click on unsolicited e-mails.
• Don’t use such obvious passwords as birth dates, mother’s maiden name or last four digits of a Social Security number.
• Keep personal information in a secure place.

Morrison named the company Shur Shred because he wanted people to know exactly what he does.

“Shur just kind of went with shred,” he said, “plus it was a little bit different than using ‘sure.’”

Morrison can be reached at (843) 667-4733.

— Staff writer Dwight Dana can be reached at (843) 317-7259. Comment on this story at http://www.scnow.com.