- How much shredding will you do? – The amount of shredding that you do will make a significant impact on the type of shredder that you purchase. If you occasionally shred documents at home, you can purchase a small lightweight shredder. If you plan on shredded daily, you may look to a more heavy-duty model.
- What are you shredding? – If you plan on using your shredder to dispose of basic office paper, a standard office shredder will work just fine. However, if you plan on running construction paper, newspaper and heavier papers, a larger shredder will be necessary.
- Where will you put your shredder? How much space do you have in your office? If you plan on buying a large shredder, you may want to make sure you have room away from employees so the noise that these machines make is not distracting in the workplace.
- What will it cost? – Probably the most important guideline of all. Heavy duty shredders can be expensive, while smaller, home-office shredders and quit economical. Set a budget before you begin shopping.
Types of Shredders on the Market
Most shredders can be purchased close to home, in office supply stores or stores that sell copy machines. However, more advanced machines that are used for big shredding jobs will have to be ordered from specialty retailers, either online or through a catalog. There are four basic types of shredders on the market today.
- A personal shredder – Probably the most common type of shredder being sold today. These small shredders will have a sheet capacity range of between 6 and 12 sheets with a waste bin holding that is capable of holding 50 shredded sheets.
- A deskside shredder- Similar to a personal shredder, but has a slightly larger capacity, up to 24 sheets at a time and often has a larger waste disposal bin.
- Departmental Shredders - Larger units that are intended for office settings. These shredders can also handle larger format paper and are ideal when complete files or records need to be destroyed.
- Industrial Shredders- These are the largest shredders on the market. They are for large jobs that are not considered standard shredding jobs. Some industrial shredders can be so large that they need several men to operate the machine.
By Chris Saunders
