Shredders, specifically confetti & micro cut, recommend some.

I'm about start some serious file reorganization that will involve a large volume of document shredding. We have some strip shredders that will be fine for general low-security shredding, but we're needing a good med/high-security shredder, confetti cut or micro cut. 99% of my shredding will be paper, mostly 1-3 pages; there will be very few credits cards, cds/dvds, etc.

The good news is I'm a fast reader, it only takes me a second or two determine which shredder I would need to use. The bad news is I'm going to be going through a lot of documents. I'm not interested in taking the documents in to have them shredded professionally, I want to shred-as-I-go.

A truly professional/high-volume shredder isn't financially feasable. I'm wanting something that can be purchased locally from a place such as Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples, etc. With that said, if there are better machines for about the same money that require a little more effort to track down, I'm all ears. I'll also consider the shredder to be something of an investment.

As for maintennace/replacing parts, I can usually handle that, but some units (like many things these days) are designed to be throw-away, or require expensive authorized servicing.

I'm interested in hearing the good, and bad, about shredders that you use/have used.

 

Costco never really took off in Houston, not many stores & we don't have a membership, maybe Sam's Club was too entrenched.

 

My wife is a clinical psychologist, which means that she has to deal with HIPPA privacy rules.

One Valentine's Day, years ago, I bought her a nice cross-cut shredder from Staples. It's still going strong. And its output is cut up finely enough to satisfy anyone.

The document shredding technology problem has been pretty much solved. I would think any name brand cross-cut shredder would suit your purposes.

 

I agree, especially since I know not to overwork them, which is one of the reasons I'm also going use our current shredders for less important documents. I hoping that some TFPers might share their experiences, good & bad, with specific brands & models.

On that thought, I've noticed that some of the large office supply companies offer models under their name, usually for a lower price. I know that those are re-badged, actually manufactored by another company.

 

I used to 'procure' medical records at a large healthcare group that operated many clinics. Their shredder at the ROI office was the size of large washing machine, and could shred about 50 pages at a time.

Our credit union has free shredding days at some of their locations, but never at the one near us (WTH?), & they limit how many bags/boxes you can bring in.

I've heard of folks mixing garbage (and other much more gross things) in with their shredded documents. I'm not that paranoid....yet .

 

Do you live in a place where a burn barrel is acceptable? Helluva lot easier and more secure than a shredder.

 

No, and plus one for ease & security. When we moved my mother a few years ago we burned many boxes & bags of docs. We weren't supposed to, but since she was moving out of state we didn't care. I couldn't get away that where we live.

 

Much messier, and not more secure. Unburnt or partly burnt pages can sometimes be found in the ashes. Other partly burnt pages blow away in the smoke for others to find later.

I doubt open burning is a legal way to dispose of private records under HIPPA. Probably they would allow an enclosed incinerator that burns at high temperatures.

 

You're doing it wrong. Like campfires and anal sex, there is a proper way to do things so it's clean, efficient and warms your heart.

I can drop a block of instruction on how to properly construct and operate a burn barrel if necessary.

 

Bush League.

Amateurs.

 

At mom's my BIL & I used a horizontal half metal barrel. We were careful not to overfill it, and stirred it thoroughly to make sure that everything was separated and burned. All we left behind was a pile of cold ash dust.

Now about the shredders.......................

 

Amazon.com's "Amazon Basics" line of paper shredders is kinda hard to beat. The $50 model is very competitive.

 

I know at work I had to buy shredders that were PCI DSS compliant (credit card industry made up standards) and it means they cut the paper three ways but they cost a few hundred quid (maybe as much as a grand in dollars). When they both broke I outsourced it.

Might be an option? Obviously the price I got was on the basis of a contract and regular incme and I am sure a one off job is more expensive, but they will do a huge (I think 400 litre or something) box of paper for about £25 or something like that including driving out to do it on the deal I had. They have a mobile shredding thing in the back of their van so you can physically go out and watch them shred it all in front of you. The company I used is Canadian I think, but I am sure there are US companies who do it to. Probably they are geared to working servicing offices, but probably a private person can buy it. Or if your work has a shredding setup they might let you chuck some stuff into it if you dont take the piss?

Or if you have a back yard, you could just burn stuff?

 

I've tossed old credit cards on the coals just before I lit the coals. By the time the coals were ready for the food the cards were unidentifiable (and hopefully no longer toxic ).

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SF, in the previous posts we've discussed burning the docs (no can do where we live) and taking the docs to have them shredded for free (an option, but it has limitations). My wife would crap if I suggested paying to have them shredded.