Paper shredder-recomendation

[Blair]

Any recommendations for purchase of a paper shredder and which to avoid Blair

[George]

"Blair" wrote in news:dtjtc0$e6t$1 @news7.svr.pol.co.uk:

MoD requirements are that the shredder "cross-cuts" - that is it shreds lengthways and then cuts the strips crossways, making tiny little squares of paper. Perfect for the paranoid!

I have a cheap one from B&Q which cuts into strips, taking a max of 5 sheets of 80 gsm paper. This is more than adequate for normal everyday shredding of utility bills etc. Very few "identity thieves" are going to try and reform a shredded document to use illegally.

George

[Sponix]

Get a kitten.

[fred]

In article , Blair writes

I use a Dahle and am very happy with it, v well made, chunky & good power. It happens to be a cross cutter but you pay your money and takes your choice. Got it from Viking, voracious junk mailers but they do have good prices on shredders (when I last looked).

[Gordon Henderson]

Got a Tescos value (Blue stripe?) cross-cut shredder here. Used almost daily for the past 6 months for junk mail, etc. Probably not up to "office" use, but OK for home for us.

Gordon

[daddyfreddy]

Get a cross cut shredder, you can get them cheap now. Regardless of the extra security, because stuff is cut into small squares the bin doesn't fill up as quickly as the straight cut shredders. So even a small cross cut shredder will need less emptying than a larger straight cut.

[.]

£15 crosscut shredder from staples.

[manatbandq]

The parliamentary committee advising on identity theft was sponsored by ...

... a manufacturer of paper shredders!

You're all too paranoid.

MBQ

[.]

even less so if you simply cut the personally identifying information out of the letter / A4 sheet, shred that and bin the rest.

[Grumps]

Is that a leccy one?

[.]

of course it is !

[Tony Bryer]

Also a lot less bulk.

[Andy Hall]

For something worthwhile in terms of security, a crosscut is necessary.

The strip ones are worthless.

I once had a secretary who shredded a refundable airline ticket after it hadn't been used. She was able to recover the strips reasonably easily and stick them onto paper and send to the travel agent. As it happens, one can get a refund with some painful procedure anyway, but I felt that the glue therapy would aid memory for the future.

Apart from that, it really depends on the volume that you need to shred. The small £20-30 ones are OK for the odd piece of junk mail.

I tend to get a fair amount of paperwork from various sources, including business, which have confidential material and do need to be shredded - perhaps a few hundred sheets a week. I bought a Fellowes shredder from Staples for about £70 or so with removable bin etc. This works really well.

You can use a light duty one as long as you don't over burden it by putting too much through at a time or run for too long. The motors are not continuously rated. Most have a thermal cutout. It's also important to regularly oil the cutters.

[Andrew Mawson]

Definately avoid Blair that goes without saying! Tally Ho

AWEM

[Mary Fisher]

Yes.

I bought Spouse a hand cranked one from Betterwear or the like for about £4. He loves it, spends ages playing with it but I've no idea what he shreds. I can't be bothered with it even though most 'sensitive' mail is addressed to me.

The shredder's contents, thin strips of paper, are emptied into the compost bin. No power use, no land fill. Easy.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Small bin,some matches....pufff! gone in seconds.

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

[dtechy]

Put a dog turd in bin with sensitive documents, who's going to rak through that? (VIZ top tip

-- dtechy

[daddyfreddy]

I know, I do do that sometimes but other times I can't be arsed. With some of these credit card applications you get in the post they have your details pre-filled all over the place.

[Blair]

Many thanks to all who replied. Really good advice given. But definitely avoid Andrew in future Blair

[usenet]

What details are there already filled in on such a credit card application that someone can't find out from publicly available information anyway?