So ... anyone know of some cheap shredders?

[Opti]

Since we are looking for other topics I'm wondering if anyone on the board while doing their back to school shopping has noticed any cheap paper shredders somewhere? So far the cheapest I've seen is a shredder at Staples on special for $35 which might be after a $10 rebate.


Thanks!

[Wizard of Id]

You don't want to buy too cheap. You DO get what you pay for with them. The cheaper ones don't have the power to shred multiple pages and the motor will burn out quickly

[8 Bit WWBG]

"Cheap" and "shredder" only go together in the following sentence: "that damn cheap shredder keeps jamming".

It all depends on what kind of shredder you are. If you are a very diligent shredder who doesn't let paper pile up, and who shreds mainly regular size paper, then an inexpensive one will do fine.

If you are like me, and you let paper of various sizes (cards, receipts, envelopes...) pile up then try to do it in one big batch, you'll want something much more powerful.

I currently have a small Royal shredder from costco. Its OK, but does not do well with receipts. I miss my big fellowes shredder that could handle stacks of 10-12 sheets at a time.

[Deleted]

6 bucks

[Opti]

Aug 6, 2012 21:23:53 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

6 bucks

Actually I have one of those and it cost me more like $8 with the coupon at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

[Opti]

Aug 6, 2012 21:23:03 GMT -5 8 Bit WWBG said:

"Cheap" and "shredder" only go together in the following sentence: "that damn cheap shredder keeps jamming".

It all depends on what kind of shredder you are. If you are a very diligent shredder who doesn't let paper pile up, and who shreds mainly regular size paper, then an inexpensive one will do fine.

If you are like me, and you let paper of various sizes (cards, receipts, envelopes...) pile up then try to do it in one big batch, you'll want something much more powerful.

I currently have a small Royal shredder from costco. Its OK, but does not do well with receipts. I miss my big fellowes shredder that could handle stacks of 10-12 sheets at a time.

Ideally I'd buy industrial strength as I burned out the motor of one years ago trying to shred papers before my house sold and I had to move. I find the shredding scissors does work, but as you state the pile is getting larger and I'd like to make a dent in my pile. I'm trying to prepare for the possibility of needing to move quickly possibly before year end. I don't have the funds to get what I want so something that can shred 6 or 8 sheets of paper is better than me being able to do those 6 or 8 sheets with the scissors.

With the scissors my hand gets tired and I rarely do more than 6 or 8 in a day. I have some old unemployment claim forms plus lots of utility bills I'd like to obliterate in the next two months. Having blown out one motor I'm hoping I will be better behaved this time knowing the funds are not available for something else unless I live on pasta and tuna literally for several weeks.

[Deleted]

Start a fire.

[Sammy]

ARCHIE, you tha man. I never knew there were sissor like that. Cheap shredders are a serious waste of money. Ya, sissors and fire..... good solution.... or stick your paperwork in with the smelly garbage....LOL.

[8 Bit WWBG]

...:::"I have some old unemployment claim forms plus lots of utility bills I'd like to obliterate in the next two months.":::...

Hopefully no optometry records though

...:::"Can you take your papers to work and shred them there? We have the service that does ours at the office. I don't think we come close to the minimum amount they charge us for, so we are free to bring our home shredding in.":::...

Our office just has bins you put stuff in, and someone else shreds it. I don't trust that it actually gets done.

[Opti]

Aug 6, 2012 21:28:22 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

Can you take your papers to work and shred them there? We have the service that does ours at the office. I don't think we come close to the minimum amount they charge us for, so we are free to bring our home shredding in.

I don't have a FT job at this point so not really. Where I work on the weekends does locked box shredding, meaning all the papers in the locked box are dumped out by the company onsite at where I work and shredded off-site. Given our locked boxes are almost always overflowing and emptied late with legit patient medical info I think my UE claim forms and utility bills would stick out and possibly get me fired if noticed.

[Opti]

Aug 6, 2012 21:31:31 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

Start a fire.

No fireplace and I live an apartment complex. Not practical sadly.
I don't even have my own balcony or porch.

[chiver78]

Aug 6, 2012 21:23:03 GMT -5 8 Bit WWBG said:

If you are like me, and you let paper of various sizes (cards, receipts, envelopes...) pile up then try to do it in one big batch, you'll want something much more powerful.

Aug 6, 2012 21:28:22 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

Can you take your papers to work and shred them there? We have the service that does ours at the office. I don't think we come close to the minimum amount they charge us for, so we are free to bring our home shredding in.

historically, I'm somewhere in between these two. if it piled up a ton, I'd bring some in to work. otherwise, I'd just take an hour or so and plow through it. since I started the "let's get this condo MLS-listed" thing, I'm ridiculously diligent about no clutter, anywhere, for any reason.

the last time I let it all pile up, I burned out my old shredder. I went out and bought a "MAILMATE" from Staples that looks like this one: www.staples.com/Staples-M5-Mailmate-Shredder/product-nr_740127 I can't find anything on it that says which particular model mine is, nor can I remember at this point. that said, I have no complaints about the one I have. I also make sure that I feed it a "lube sheet" when it starts squeaking, which I can't say I ever did with the old one.

[Opti]

Thanks Chiver. I think I noticed that one. Around $49-50? In my brief research Staples did at least list times for continuous operation. I noticed for the cheap ones it was around two minutes so that info would hopefully help me from overheating the motor and remembering to take long breaks before doing another two minute shredding round or less.



So focus peeps. Any suggestions on cheap shredders or even suggestions on places to look for them? I was thinking perhaps even places like Walgreens might have some because of this time of year. I've only checked Staples and Home Depot online. I think Staples is the only office supply retailer in my area. I'm looking for cheap so I'm not planning to order online unless item + shipping is less than the best deal I can get in a local bricks and mortar store.

[Deleted]

My cocker spaniel is available. In fact, we've been telling her that she needs to get a part-time job because she is eating us out of house and home. She is on steroids, and it is not a happy site.

Anyway, she will shred ANYTHING. She demolished an empty pizza box in the time to go to the bathroom. I knew better than to leave food in it, but it didn't matter. Tissues are her victim of choice, though.

She works for tummy rubs, but our cut is cold cash. Ok, warm cash might be ok. Why isn't it cold, though?

[Deleted]

More seriously, I paid maybe $25 for my shredder at either Staples or Office Dept. It is fine. If I was going to do serious shredding, I would take it to school where the Special Education students practice shredding as a Work Skill (no joke). They don't care what they shred so they don't care if they shred my stuff, etc. I personally don't like that arrangement because I feel funny about them shredding special education documents, but they moved the shredder out of the workroom and into the Special Education classroom. So what can I do?

[chiver78]

Aug 6, 2012 21:46:58 GMT -5 Opti said:

Thanks Chiver. I think I noticed that one. Around $49-50? In my brief research Staples did at least list times for continuous operation. I noticed for the cheap ones it was around two minutes so that info would hopefully help me from overheating the motor and remembering to take long breaks before doing another two minute shredding round or less.

that price sounds about right, it's been a few years since I bought mine. I don't recall exactly what the continuous operation times were for mine, 30 minutes sticks out for some reason. TBH, I just listen for squeaking and feed it a Staples-brand lube sheet (follow those directions) and it's been fine. I had a weekend a couple springs ago where I shredded probably 5 years' worth of "current files" by YM standards. I think I went through a full package of those lube sheets, but the shredder's still kicking.

[zibazinski]

Office Depot is where I got mine but I can't do more than 5 pages at a time.