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Paper Shredder Recommendations?

DebBrown

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A family member wants a paper shredder for Christmas. I have no idea if they are all the same or if there is a preferred style/model/brand. Any advice?

Deb
 

"Roger"

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I know almost nothing about them, but I did learn one thing about them from experience. Get a paper shreader that cross cuts the paper as opposed to one that just shreds it up and down. I have the former type (by luck). My sister in law has the latter type and is ready to throw it away (probably has thrown it away by now).

With hers, the cut paper forms into a spaghetti that almost immediately curls back and forth and then backs up into the cutter and stops her from shredding any more paper. Her bucket is no more than one quarter full when it starts backing up to the point of stopping the motor. (She has a more powerful motor than mine, but can do much less because of this.) With a cross cut, not only is the paper shredded more finely (better for security purposes), but it falls from the cutters and the bucket has to be about three quarters full before you need to empty it.

Hope this helps.
 

johnmfaeth

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I bought the Staples brand Heavy Duty Shredder. Item # is 615699. It works great as I shred lots of mail and also business documents.

Does 15 pages at a time and has a decent size output bin. Cross cuts and even does credit cards and cd's.

I normally hate store extended warranties as they are mostly a ripoff. This is one product you want to get the extended warranty on. Even the $1000+ models at the companies I consult to tend to break periodically.

Also let it cool off for 10 minutes after 5 minutes of shredding, really helps the life expectancy.

Price was about $100. Worth every penny.
 

Arkansas Winger

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If they are only going to use it for minimal / light duty jobs you don't need to spend a lot for one. I purchased one from Staples a couple of years ago for about $30 on sale and it has done everything I want it to do.
 

DebBrown

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Thanks for the comments. You wouldn't think that an average person would need to do much shredding but then I think of the stack of junk mail we get every day including endless credit card solictiations.

So at least I know now that cross cut is the key. :)

Deb
 

Arkansas Winger

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DebBrown said:
Thanks for the comments. You wouldn't think that an average person would need to do much shredding but then I think of the stack of junk mail we get every day including endless credit card solictiations.

So at least I know now that cross cut is the key. :)

Deb

I don't shred junk mail. I shred mailings, papers, etc that have private or financial information in them.

Dale ;)
 

MULTIZ321

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John,

How would you rate the motor noise factor on your shredder?


Thanks

Richard
 

johnmfaeth

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It is actually amazingly quiet for what it does. And it is so fast that you only spend 60-120 seconds doing a day's junk mail (I get a lot).

Even if you just do the daily mail, I would say don't buy less than this. These break under daily usage, especially the smaller, underpowered ones. This is one machine to buy a midrange unit. $100 is still nothing compared to what business class shredders cost ($1000+). That is why this is the only appliance/machine in my home/business that has an extended warranty or service contract.

Ever wiork in an office where the boss was too cheap to buy a photocopier capable of the true daily needs? I have and the result was it was down 25% of the time. Buying one that has some excess capacity means it breaks a LOT less.

Yes, $100 is a lot of money. One identify fraud incident could cost you thousands and MANY hours of labor to undo.
 

Cat

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John is right about buying at least a mid-range machine. These are appliances that are temperamental, at best. They do need to rest up or cool down after 5 minutes of shredding, for at least 15 minutes (ours said 1/2 hour.) We learned this the hard way with our last one. When we were moving, we had years and years of saved documents. And we had to go out and buy a shredder when we fried the one we had.

John is dead-on in that this is one item where you definitely want the extended warranty.
 

riverdees05

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We got a heavy duty one at Sam's - Royal 160MX that does 16 pages at a time, plus credit cards, etc. It has been a good one and have used it a lot. IMHO, I wouldn't get one that did less pages.
 

johnmfaeth

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Staples also sells "shredder lubricant sheets" that are supposed to be used every 30 minutes of shredding or a minimum of twice per month. They are 12 sheets per package for $10 or so. Item # is 602400

They are actually envelopes with soybean oil and mineral oil contained in between two metallic sheets bonded together at the edges.

Particulate paper is VERY abrasive since it is basically cellulose fibers which are pretty tough, thus the strength of a sheet of paper. It can hold a weight 2000 times it's own. Never thought of paper as strong before huh?

I think it works by scraping the blades as they slice the metal thereby removing particulate paper dust form their surface and then the oil spreads through the blades.

So I think this probably helps by reducing wear and corrosion on the cutting blades. I tend to remember to use them about once a month in actuality. Just did one now.
 
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"Roger"

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There is also an oil you can buy made especially for shredders. It helps keep the cutting blades sharp by keeping them lubricated.
 
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