How to Buy a Paper Shredder

Be it security concerns, or simply wanting to get rid of a high volume of daily paper waste, we have all thought about buying a paper shredder for home use. Read on to learn some important facts to keep in mind when shopping for your paper shredder.

1. Estimate the volume of waste generated daily at your home or office and then select a model that can handle that volume of waste efficiently. It is easy to overwork a paper shredder to the point that it collapses! Shredders will work best at the indicated volume of input, so do not assume that you can buy a smaller model and then make it function like a more powerful model.
2. Shredders can take a single sheet at a time for shredding or a number of sheets together. Try and get a shredder that can accommodate about 5-8 sheets of paper at one go. This will ensure that you don't spend inordinate time at the shredder feeding in one sheet at a time! The 'opening' of the shredder is also important. Typically it should be able to accommodate an A4 size sheet vertically, with no folding required.
3. Some shredders cut the paper into thin strips, while others cut it both horizontally as well as vertically into smaller pieces. The strip cut shredders are good for non-confidential papers and other waste like kids' homework assignments, bills and so on. If you regularly destroy proprietary important information like client details, credit ratings, or any other form of sensitive personal information, go for a cross cut shredder - it provides a higher level of security. Cross-cut shredders do, however, cost more than the strip cut variety.
4. Shredders come with or without built in baskets for the waste paper. These baskets can accommodate trash bags of standard sizes. Some shredders have a clear or translucent wastebasket allowing you to see when it needs emptying. This type of shredder costs a little more than the standard variety that is made to fit onto specific sizes of wastebaskets. In these models, you simply place the shredder atop a specific size of wastebasket. The primary disadvantage in this type of shredder is not being able to see when the basket needs emptying.
5. Some shredder models also offer built in features like 'automatic paper detection' for start/stop, 'auto jam clear' function and 'overload' indicator. These models cost a little more than the standard type.

Staples and clips can seriously damage the blades on your paper shredder. Always try and ensure that you remove all clips and staples from any paper being shredded. Crosscut shredders are more susceptible to damage from staples and pins than the strip-cut type.

The high volume of junk mail that most houses receive and the slow speed and frequent jamming of most shredders has lead many people to search out alternatives. Today there are shredding services that will pick up at homes like Ship 'n' Shred and Express Destruction. They can save a great deal of time over owning a shredder.

Paper shredders can be bought from most office supplies stores online. They are also available in some of the larger department stores online. Try these links for some good offers--

Compax has a good range of personal, small office and industrial paper shredders on offer.

Office Zone provides shredders of all types. They also have promotional sales on specific models.

Cummins Allison is a premium manufacturer of paper shredders of all types and capacities.

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