Intimus PacMate Cardboard Shredder

The Intimus PacMate Cardboard Shredder is a great way to turn unused boxes sitting in the recycling into usable packing material. Offering a slightly smaller design than its big brother, the PacMaster, the PacMate is built around the same concepts while being geared for lighter use. It still utilizes strong blades to quickly convert cardboard pieces as well as newspaper, non-confidential computer printouts, and papers into economical packing material. Let's take a more detailed look.

Strengths:

• Small design allows for use in tight spaces. With dimensions measuring 23 inches by 15-1/2 inches by 12-19/32 inches, it can be easily stored on a tabletop in a mail room or near a recycling bin. In addition, a convenient mobile stand with a paper shelf is included with this machine.

• This shredder is very easy to use. A single switch controls forward, stop, and reverse functions. Items are fed in through the front of the machine and come out in the back.

• One piece of double ply corrugated cardboard can be taken in at once through the 15 inch wide feed opening. The blades offer a mesh cut measuring 1/8 inch by 4-1/2 inches and shred items at a speedy 25 feet per minute.

• An included bag frame mounted on the back pulls out to hang a plastic bag to catch the shredded items. When not in use, it pushes back in for easy storage while still being accessible.

• The packing materials created offer a wide versatility. Thick cardboard mats can offer padding between plates or other stackable items. Or, more flexible mesh-cut newspaper can fill and wrap around delicate items, such as a vase or tea pot. Filler material can also occupy the void often left at the top of a box after an item is placed within.

Weaknesses:

• This device may only weigh 84 pounds when empty but is heavy to move around, especially with no casters. Even so, there are handles on the top for easy pickup, though it will still be hefty to move.

• Only one piece of cardboard can fit through at one time. For businesses with only a few boxes or light shipping needs, this will shred enough at once to keep up. But larger offices with higher amounts of boxes to get rid of or more quantities of items needing to be shipped might prefer the larger Intimus PacMaster.

• It would be a nice bonus if this machine could also shred items into particles or strips for even more versatility. However, depending on their sheet capacity, many regular shredders would also be able to do this. We don't think most users will be too bothered by this.

Overall, this is a great addition to any small office. Packing material and recycling pickup can add up; the PacMate will eventually pay for itself and then save you money by eliminating these two things from your budget. With a down economy, it's nice to find a machine that is economical and beneficial to the environment as well. We think any smaller industry or business would greatly benefit from the PacMate Cardboard Shredder.