A paper shredder is a piece of office equipment for disposing of office paperwork and/or records properly and responsibly. Businesses or entrepreneurs need to get rid of unwanted or used documents such as credit card and bank statements, travel documents, and letters containing tax and other financial information properly. If these documents are not disposed of appropriately, they can come back to haunt you if they fall in the wrong hands.
Best Paper Shredders
Paper shredders come in different capacities and sizes to meet the demands of different types of businesses. Here are the top choices of the best paper shredders for your small business.
Amazon Basics 6-Sheet High-Security Home office Shredder
Top Pick: The Amazon Basics is the ideal home or small office Micro-shredder that takes 6 sheets at a time and shreds for 3 minutes before t needs cooling. This small-scale Micro cutter shreds credit cards, staples, and small paper clips. It has a 3mode power switch auto/off/reverse and a 4.1-gallon waste bin. It weighs 9.7 pounds
Amazon Basics 6-Sheet High-Security Home office Shredder
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Amazon Basics 12-Sheet High-Security Micro-Cut Shredder
Runner up: The 21-pound wheeled shredder has a 4-mode switch (Auto, off, reverse, forward), indicator lights, and a 5.7-gallon pullout waste bin. It has a Shredding capacity of 12-sheets of standard size paper or a single CD and Credit card at a time. It runs for 10 minutes of shredding and 40 minutes of cooling down.
Amazon Basics 12-Sheet High-Security Micro-Cut Shredder
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Aurora AU870MA High security 8 Sheet Micro-cut Paper Credit Card Shredder
Best Price: The Aurora Micro cutter features a safety angled feed and has a security level P-4 as well as an auto start and manual reverse to avoid jams. It can shred 8 sheets of paper or one credit card in a single feed. The AU870MA also can destroy small paper clips and staples, and runs for 5 minutes nonstop. The company offers an Aurora 1-year limited warranty.
Aurora AU870MA High security 8 Sheet Micro-cut Paper Credit Card Shredder
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Fellowes Powershred 99Ci 18-sheet Capacity
The Fellowes shredder is a security level P-4 unit with a crosscut shredding mechanism ideal for small businesses. The shredder can run for 30 minutes straight shredding paper, CDs, paper clips, or credit cards before it needs to cool down for 40 minutes. Additional features include a safe sense that stops the shredder when a hand touches the paper opening.
Fellowes Powershred 99Ci 18-sheet Capacity
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Bonsaii 14-Sheet Cross-cut office paper Shredder C169-B
Bonsaii C169-B is a jam-proof shredder and it can run for a continuous 30-minute shredding mail, staples, credit cards, and paper. It has LED indicators to prevent overheating and overloading with auto start and stop along with a manual reverse option to make sure it doesn’t jam. The unit has a quiet shredding operation and it comes with a 1-year warranty.
Bonsaii 14-Sheet Cross-cut office paper Shredder C169-B
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Aurora AU 1210MA Professional Grade High security 12 Sheet Micro-cut Shredder
This is a wheeled paper and plastic credit card shredder that can run for a full hour before having to rest. This high-security level P-4 shredder has anti-jam and auto-reverse functions that let it run for 60 minutes nonstop. The AU1210ma destroys small paper clips CDs/DVDs and credit cards. The machine is ultra-quiet, weighs 22.4 pounds, and comes in at 14.41×11.02×19.33 inches with LED indicators for overheating, bin-full, and overload status.
Aurora AU 1210MA Professional Grade High security 12 Sheet Micro-cut Shredder
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Fellowes PowerShred 225 Ci 22-Sheet Shredder- 3825001 Model
This is one of the best Heavy-duty shredders capable of destroying any kind of plastic credit cards, staples, paper clips, CD/DVDs, and junk mail. This Cross-cut 225 Ci is fully Jam-proof and can perform indefinitely with its continuous duty motor shredding up to 22 sheets of paper at a time. The commercial-grade shredder offers a safe sense technology that auto-stops along with an LED full-bin indicator for the 16-gallon waste basket.
Fellowes PowerShred 225 Ci 22-Sheet Shredder- 3825001 Model
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What to Look for When Buying the Best Paper Shredders
There are several factors to consider before buying a paper shredder to address your shredding needs. But before you go looking for a shredder, first look at the type of waste you need to be shredded along with the quantity, this will help you decide which machine to get for your office.
CUT-Type: three are three types of cuts Strip-cut, Cross-cut, and Micro-cut. Strip-cut shredders are the best if time is of importance, but it might be possible to re-assemble and read data from the shreds. Cross-cut shredders are ideal and it cuts the paper vertically and horizontally into little pieces, in other words, it cross-cuts the strip-cuts. Micro-cut is the best shredding option for sensitive documents by reducing them into confetti-like pieces.
Security Level: there are seven standard levels for shredder security P-1 up to P-7. Level P-1 indicates the largest shred output size and P-7 is the smallest possible size of shreds. P-1 & P-2 are strip-cuts, P-3 & P-4 are Cross-cuts, and the rest are different levels of micro-cuts.
Capacity: refers to the amount of paper the machine can shred in a single feed. It can also refer to the different types of materials it can take including paper, plastic credit cards, CDs/DVDs, staples, and paper clips.
Jam Resistance: different machines have varying jam resistance capabilities. Some are 100% jam-free as they can power through or reverse and auto start their jam. Some can auto-stop but are manually reversed. And others auto-stop but need to be manually reversed and started.
Size: depending on the size of your operation and the layout of your workspace the sizes of the shredder can be as small as a desktop shredder to large heavy duty shredders. The size of the waste basket is also a factor to consider in line with your shredding frequency.
Security Benefits of Paper Shredders
When you need to dispose of sensitive documents, paper shredders are a fast, thorough, and time-saving tool to make it happen. When it comes to security, shredders protect and destroy not only your sensitive data but those of your clients. Ensuring the destruction of these documents results in increased trust between you and your customers. Not only that but several state and federal rules and regulations mandate secured shredding of data. So, you will be compliant when it comes to these regulations.
Additionally, paper shredders are eco-friendly as they are compliant with clean environment regulations. Moreover, they also provide input to recyclers by reducing the size of waste and expenses related to waste management.
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This article, "The Best Paper Shredder for Small Business in 2022" was first published on Small Business Trends
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