How to Choose a New Paper Shredder for Your Office

Typical homes and businesses all use a paper shredder of some type. With all the different models and varieties available in today's market, it can be difficult to tell which type of shredder is best for your business office. Knowing what features are available for these are key to getting a model that works best with you and what you need it to do. In this blog post, we will go over the different categories of paper shredders and how you can determine the one that will work best for the needs of your company

The Variety

In the overall market of paper shredders, you will find that there are many different types, colors, sizes, and models available; however, there are only two real classifications for these. - Home use vs. industrial or business use Typically, those models made for use by everyday individuals are smaller and do not have the strength that can be associated with the business models. With your average home use paper shredder, you will find it can only shred a few standard printer pages at a time and will likely have a small trashcan style bin for the paper reservoir. You will also notice that the rate at which these units can destroy the paper is much slower than a commercial device. In contrast to the home use types of paper shredders, the ones made for use in a business environment are typically stronger, faster, and can hold a larger volume of waste. This means that they can generally handle items in envelopes, paperwork with staples or paperclips, and thicker forms of mixed media. The more industrial units can sometimes handle whole files of paper including the file folder its self with high speed and efficiency. - The Kind of cut provided by the paper shredder When evaluating the paper shredders by their cuts, you will likely find that there are three types of cuts available. The strip cut, a cross cut, and a micro cut option.

• Strip Cut
• The strip cut paper shredders cut the pages into elongated pieces.
• Cross Cut
• Paper shredders that utilize this cut technique, reduce the paper into strips with cross section cut through them. This effectively creates shorter much smaller strips.
• Micro Cut
• A micro cut paper shredder will reduce a paper to tiny squares smaller than the average piece of confetti.

Each type of cut has its merits. The Strip cut is typically done the fastest, but the waste usually takes up more space and the cut is not seen as secure as the other two cuts. Cross cut paper shredders will take a little more time but are more secure than strip cutters. Micro cutting paper shredders generally take the longest and have a longer cooldown after using them; however, their method allows for a more substantial amount of paperweight to take up the same volume of space as well as being considered one of the most secure cuts available.

Which type is right for you?

You will want to review the volume of paper that you typically shred and what kind of content will be in it. If you are like most offices having the convenience of an industrial type of shredder will be the best bet for you and your needs. These machines allow for full media folders, credit cards, and stapled documents to be destroyed at a rapid and efficient rate. Having a model that will be speedy is going to ensure no payroll is wasted while you are waiting to get those sensitive documents destroyed. Likewise, the cut you choose will typically be measured by the type of information you are shredding. If you find that you generally include customer or employee data among the items you are putting into the shredder each day, you will want to make sure that you are choosing the micro cut for securities sake. This will ensure the maximum amount of destruction done to the confidential information that you are eliminating.

Paper Shredders and PBS Office

Here at PBS Office, we offer a large selection of paper shredders. One of these units is sure to meet your paper handling needs. After a brief conversation with you, our professional and highly trained sales experts can help you determine which of the shredders we provide would likely be best for your business. They can point you to specific models that have features which may increase your office’s efficiency and security. We also offer a wide range of other office equipment on our website, PBSOffice.com. When browsing our stock, please do not hesitate to utilize our chat feature to work with our customer service representatives immediately. This will allow you to get any questions or concerns out of the way. Let PBS Office help you meet all of your paper handling needs by getting your company set up with a new top of the line paper shredder today.