Shredding documents has become a requirement by law for many businesses and a high priority for those concerned about customer confidentiality and identity theft. There are 2 types of paper shredders: strip-cut and cross-cut. The strip-cut cuts the paper into a long strip; the cross-cut cuts the paper into little pieces. The smaller the strip or piece, the better the security, with cross-cut the more secure.

Paper shredders typically fall into these categories:

Desk (Personal): Designed for use by one, possibly two occasional users, they are small enough to sit beside or under a desk. Small also means that these document shredding machines hold under 9 gallons of shred, and their motors are intended for light duty use. They can shred 10-25 sheets at once, depending on the model.

Office: Intended for occasional use by a few people in a small office. The shred container holds more cubic feet, and the motor generally has about the same power speed as the personal sized. Throat (opening) size varies, so they shred from 10-35 sheets. Some of these document shredding machines are mobile.

Departmental: For use by a number of offices within a company with moderate use. These paper shredders can hold more than twice that of the smaller ones. The motor also has twice the hp. Throat size increases to 16” and can shred up to 70 sheets of paper at a time.

Industrial: Designed for heavy or constant use. The shred bins can hold up to 56 gallons and, depending on the model, shred up to 550 sheets at a time with a much larger motor.

High Security: High-security shredders are available at the personal and departmental size level. They shred paper to a tiny .8mm x 4.5mm, impossible to reconstruct.

Multimedia: Multimedia shredders are available that shred only credit cards, floppy disks, CDs, DVDs, and zip drives. Other machines shred only cardboard--into your own packing material.

Please call us if you have any questions about which machine is right for you.