The Story of Guard Your ID

Guard Your ID™ began with a simple goal: make the private information on your mail impossible to read — without a noisy, messy shredder. Getting there took our team more than a hundred rejected patterns and one counterintuitive discovery—the best way to hide letters is to use letters.

Identity theft is still one of the most common crimes in the country: the Federal Trade Commission logged more than 1.1 million identity theft reports in 2024, part of a record $12.5 billion in reported fraud losses. Much of what a thief needs starts in the paper we throw away every week — bank statements, cashed checks, prescription labels, and pre-approved credit card offers. This is the story of the tool we built to close that gap.

A Quieter Alternative to the Shredder

For years, the standard advice for sensitive mail was to shred it. But shredders are loud, they jam, they need electricity, and — surprising to most people — shredded paper is hard to recycle. Slicing paper into strips destroys the long fibers recycling depends on and clogs the screens at paper mills, so many facilities now send shredded paper straight to the landfill. We wanted a better way: a security stamp that masks private information in a single pass, stays quiet and mess-free, needs no electricity, is safe to keep around children, and leaves the paper fully recyclable.

The Search for a Pattern That Actually Works

Our first prototype, released in July 2006, used a pattern of plus and minus signs. It failed the only test that mattered: you could still read the text underneath. So we went back to the drawing board. Our R&D team tested more than 100 patterns — x's, circles, stars, checkerboards, even numbers — before reaching a surprising conclusion: the best way to hide letters is to use letters.

We narrowed it to ten letters chosen for their limited white space — A, B, E, G, H, K, M, V, W, and X — then turned, angled, and positioned them until the pattern could cover any string of characters, in any font. That patented pattern is still what does the work in every Guard Your ID product today.

The Ink That Makes It Permanent

A pattern is only half the solution; the ink had to be just as deliberate. We developed a specially formulated, oil-based ink that is water resistant, light resistant, chemical resistant, dark, clear, and quick drying — so a masked document can't simply be wiped, soaked, or held to the light to read through. The formula in our Advanced Roller grips glossy and coated surfaces too, making it effective on prescription bottles, postcards, glossy mailers, and shipping labels where ordinary ink beads up.

One Idea, Expanded

What began as a single stamp has grown into a full line. Today Guard Your ID by PLUS Corporation of America — headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon — makes rollers in mini, regular, and wide sizes; Advanced Rollers built for glossy surfaces; a 3-in-1 roller with a built-in utility knife for opening mail and packages; and refillable stamps and camouflage tape. We keep expanding the line around a single idea: protecting your private information should be simple enough to become a habit.

That's the whole point — one quick roll, and your name, address, and account numbers vanish under the pattern — unreadable, unphotographable, unscannable. See how the pattern holds up in everyday situations in our guides on why your mail is a silent privacy risk, whether shredded paper is actually recyclable, and destroying shipping labels before recycling boxes, then explore Guard Your ID bundles to protect what matters—one simple roll at a time.