Home Paper Shredders

The fastest growing crime today, affecting millions of people, is identity theft. To combat this, home paper shredders have become invaluable tools. There are different types of shredders such as manual and automatic, and a variety of sizes and cutting styles. Let us take a look at the varieties available.

The manual desktop shredders are the most basic and least expensive model. If you do not have many documents containing personal information that need protection, and you are wanting a desktop solution, this is the one for you. It is a simple device that operates through a hand held crank which advances paper through cutter blades. Some versions can cut credit cards and CDs as well.

Automatic shredders equipped with features for ease of operation and safety is a step up the ladder. A handy feature is a start/stop sensor that detects the presence or absence of the paper and either starts or stops the machine. Most shredders also come with a buzzer and alert lamp to indicate paper jam. This may be quite frequent if large quantities of paper are shredded at once. Another feature is to provide a reverse switch to reverse the motor when a jam does take place.

With innovation, more features for ease of operation keep getting added. Some such features are racks to position bags to collect waste for easy disposal and expandable and adjustable basket sides to accommodate differing quantities of waste.

The volume of material to be shredded and the frequency of use should determine the size and capacity of the shredder that you will need. For the home user, 400 to 1000 sheets per day may be the capacity needed. All shredders are rated according to capacity and these are just rough estimates to help you determine the type of shredder to choose.

The capacity of shredders is indicated by shred size, horse-power, sheet capacity, waste volume in gallons and feed width. The rule of thumb is that the more confidential your information, then the smaller the shred width. Shred size of ¼” is adequate for most high security shredding though 1/8” is sometimes required for very sensitive documents. All this information is normally given on the packing material of the shredder.

The more advanced paper shredders were originally used for business use, but now are used in homes too. Additional features such as shredding folded paper and heavier stacked paper, envelopes, CDs and even heavy gauge paper clips also find demand in some segments of home shredder users.

A wide variety of shredders are now available that can protect you from theft of identity. By determining your precise needs and shopping wisely, you can find an appropriate machine.