MyBinding Knowledge Base
How do I choose the right shredder?
Nowadays, almost every office has a paper shredder. And if they don’t, they definitely should have a paper shredder. If your office is one of the few that doesn’t have one or if you need to upgrade, then you are going to need to pick the right size shredder for your office. This article will help you understand some of the things that you should consider when deciding on the size of shredder for your office.
Many offices end up buying a paper shredder that is too small for their needs. When the paper shredder is too small for your needs, three things usually happen.
- Employees get frustrated and end up just throwing their documents into the trash instead of shredding them. Obviously this defeats the whole purpose of having a paper shredder.
- People try to overload the paper shredder with too many sheets or too much material and burn up the motor or strip the gears. In this case the company usually needs to replace the shredder.
- The shredder bag ends up being full all the time. This usually results in users throwing their sensitive documents in the trash or in the office shredding piling up next to the shredder.
- First, you will want to decide what type of shredder that you want. Strip cut shredders are generally faster and cheaper than cross cut shredders. However, if you decide you want a strip-cut shredder you will need to make sure that you have a larger capacity storage bin since the shredded material will pile up far quicker than with a confetti cut model. I usually recommend a cross-cut, micro-cut or confetti-cut shredder for most offices since they are more secure and require far fewer bag changes.
- You will need to consider how many users will be sharing the shredder. If the shredder is for an individual then you probably need a deskside wastebasket shredder. If it is for a small department with just a few people you will need a larger wastebasket shredder or an introductory office duty shredder. However, if the shredder is going to be shared by more than five people you will probably want to consider getting a larger office duty commercial shredder that is designed for a multi user office environment.
- For larger offices where shredding volume may occasionally be heavy, you will want to consider getting a shredder with a continuous duty motor. These shredders can shred continuously for long periods of time without overheating or needing to cool down. Many smaller shredders will require a substantial cool down period if you shred continuously with them for more than a few minutes.
- If your office uses CD’s and DVD’s with confidential information on them you might also need to consider a shredder that is capable of shredding these. Most shredding machines are able to handle documents with staples and paper clips. However, you will need to check to see if the shredder you have will shred disks and credit cards.
< Over the years, a number of customers have asked me whether they can use twin loop wire with their plastic comb binding machine. These customers often don’t want to have to buy a brand new machine but like the look and feel of twin loop wire binding. However, the answer to their question isn’t as simple as it seems. You see, they actually do make twin loop wire that is designed to work with the plastic comb binding hole pattern. With that said, if you want to use these wires you are going to need a way to close the wires. What is Spiral-O Wire? Let me explain a little bit more…There is a product that we carry called Spiral-O Wire. This wire has 19 loops and is designed to work with the hole pattern from a plastic comb binding machine. Spiral-O Wire is sometimes called Wire Combs or Ibico Wire and was originally designed for use with some of the older Ibico binding machines. A number of the older Ibico plastic comb binding machines also included a twin loop wire closer on the front of them to allow users to use both plastic combs and wire. This 19 loop wire was designed for this purpose. What Equipment is Needed? As the Ibico brand has been phased out by GBC and all of the older Ibico plastic binding machines have been replaced with new models, they no longer have the twin loop wire closer on the front of them. This presents a problem in trying to use these spiral-o wires since you can’t use the wires without a way to close them. One of the only options left is to purchase a Twin Loop wire closer. However, since twin loop wire closers are not incredibly cheap this option usually only appeals to users who have larger electric plastic comb binding machines. Otherwise, it is often advisable to simply buy a low end 3:1 pitch twin loop wire binding machine (the supplies are cheaper). This being said, if you have one of the older Ibico binding machines that has a wire closer included you are in luck. The Spiral-O binding supplies that we carry will work perfectly with your machine and you will be able to use both plastic combs and wire depending on your needs. These Spiral-O binding supplies are available in Black, Silver, White, Blue and Red and in sizes up to 1″ in diameter. If you aren’t sure what type of wire binding supplies that you need to work with your machine simply give us a call. Our trained sales representatives will be glad to help you find the correct supplies for use with your machine.(Read More)
