Purchasing a home paper shredder

When choosing a paper shredder, remember your objective: to make documents unreadable.

You want to thwart would-be identity thieves, not keep classified documents from the hands of a terrorist. For your purposes, you need a paper shredder that will cut paper into enough pieces to deter a person from trying to reassemble it. A paper shredder that only cuts your documents into 3/16" strips gives a thief with a little determination and patience the chance to reassemble them. Much credit card and medical data have distinct markings that help a person match them up, much like the pieces of a puzzle. The hardest puzzles have many pieces, yet people are able to put them together. A cross-cut paper shredder that cuts documents into fine pieces of confetti is better for ensuring the safe disposal of documents containing sensitive information.

If you plan to purchase a home paper shredder and don’t want a heavy-duty model due to cost considerations, be sure to only empty your shredding bin when it is completely full. The more pieces, the harder the puzzle. While it is possible to reassemble your shredded documents, given computer scanning technology that can match up the fragments, or a person with a lot of time and patience, identity thieves are not likely to go to the trouble. First they have too many easy targets and second, by definition, they want to get money without having to work for it. Assembling a 10,000-piece puzzle would be work.

Purchasing a Home Paper Shredder