I have had this Fellowes Shredder for about a year, having purchased it when I moved from the country (where we could burn our own trash) to the city, where it has to be put on the curb. I have not had any financial theft, nor known anyone personally who has, but I used to work at Citibank, in their Fraud and Billing Dispute department, and could curl your hair with horror stories of things that ~~CAN~~ happen.

We purchased this shredder from WalMart, paying about $20. I think. It has an adjustable "arm" that hooks over a standard wastebasket, and if you bag the shreddings, you can then use them for packing or shipping items (something that came in VERY handy just before the holidays, when our son moved to California).

It is a "strip" shredder, rather than a "confetti" shredder - if you want more security, you might want to consider one of those. This shreds into 1/4" strips, quickly, but kind of noisily.

It sits sturdily on the top of a normal 21 quart Rubbermaid wastebasket, the bracket holding the top lip pretty firmly. It has an adjustable extender arm, that you can attach to the top of the basket, and can push the extended arm tight to the shredder, in effect "locking" it in place, and can lift the basket by lifting the shredder.

It is lightweight, but feels sturdy, with three speeds - On/Auto, Forward, and Reverse. The manual says it will take up to seven pages, but I have not tried that many. For our use, it is mainly 4 or 5 pages at a time, and it handles it easily. It probably isn't sturdy or large enough for a regular business, but I have a home business, managing rental properties, and have perhaps 20-25 pieces of mail daily, with the business, besides my own personal mail, of perhaps 5 pieces of mail daily.

This equals about 50 pages a day that I run thru the shredder - from shiny paper (ads, circulars) to card stock (brochures), and envelopes, regular stock paper, letter size as well as legal size.

I have never had any maintenance problems with the shredder, it runs at about 5-6 seconds for a full page, a little longer maybe for heavier items. If the basket is getting full, it will get a little sluggish - you can either lift the shredder up from the basket, giving the paper more room to fall, or reverse it, and run it thru again. Once the basket starts filling, you will want to stomp it down, flattening it so pieces you have already cut will not float back up into the underside of the machine.

I always bag the shreddings, not only because it is easier for the garbage than having loose shreds in the garbage can, but also so I can save some - if I know that I will be packing something fragile, and mailing it, I make sure that I keep some on hand.

For my use, this has proven to be a fine economical shredder, and has served my needs very well. I recommend it to anyone who does not need a high level of security, but wants a good sturdy efficient shredder for a good price.


Recommended: Yes

Purchase Price (if leased, monthly payment): 20.
Machine age (Months in use): 11