Amazon Basics 8-Sheet Cross Cut Paper Shredder and Credit Card Shredder - Black

This Amazon Basics shredder was ordered to replace a shredder we have had for about 10 years.Frankly, I was surprised at the quality of this shredder. It is a powerful shredder for home or small office. The thing I really like about this shredder is that it is much quieter than our previous shredder. Yes, it does not make some noise, but nothing like the shrill, high pitched, loud sound that our previous shredder made. The largest number of pages of paper that we have tried so far is 10, and it went through those pages like a knife through soft butter. We have also shredded "junk mail" we've received. In most cases, the envelopes are opened and the contents "thinned" if the packet is thick. But, in any case, there were no issues shredding these types of material either. It is definitely as quick as we need it to be. The pages are shredded into pieces that are slightly over an inch long and about 1/8 inch wide, and meet P-4 security measures.One of the other features that I really like is that the paper bin is removable rather than having to remove the top of the shredder from the bin. It is a much cleaner process.We have not shredded any types of credit cards or other similar materials.Yes, we paid a little of a premium for ordering a larger, more powerful shredder. But in my opinion, if this shredder holds up like our previous shredder, it will be well worth the price. I would definitely order this shredder again.

I use this to shred cardboard boxes for vermicompost. I cut the cardboard into strips no wider than a regular sheet of paper and as long as the cardboard is. It starts to bog down a tiny bit on the double-thick cardboard, like international shipping boxes. So just make a little bit thinner. There does NOT APPEAR to be any shredders stronger; the ones that do more sheets actually have auto feed and can only do a couple sheets at a time, they won't handle thick sheets/cardboard like this one. I bought a couple large trash cans to store the cardboard (and dried leaves) until the worms need it. 100% excellent. Also, I checked, Amazon boxes, labels and that cardboard tape, AND THE FIBERS IN THE TAPE are 100% compostable. Unfortunately shiny mail has plastic on the surface, not compostable. And those stupid plastic windows in envelopes don't compost either. Anyway the shredder, I'm 100% happy with it.

I’ve been using the Amazon Basics 8-Sheet Cross Cut Paper Shredder for a few weeks now, and I’m genuinely impressed. It handles everything I throw at it—junk mail, old documents, and even credit cards—with no problem at all. The cross-cut feature gives me peace of mind knowing my sensitive information is securely destroyed.It’s compact and fits neatly under my desk, yet powerful enough to handle multiple pages at once. The shredder is relatively quiet and doesn’t overheat quickly like others I’ve tried. I especially appreciate the easy-to-empty bin and the safety features, which make it user-friendly.If you're looking for an affordable, reliable shredder for your home or small office, this one is a solid choice. Definitely worth 5 stars!

For 20+ years a I had 5-sheet cross-cut shredder that I used for sensitive documents, but it was slow and overheated with much continuous use. I accumulated 10+ years of records from various credit companies, etc., that would have taken over an hour per card to shred with multiple overheating pauses. Before buying this 18-sheet model I checked out the run time for each of the smaller models and they were all significantly shorter than the 30 minutes of this model.This 18-sheet model is a beast. It went through a decade of credit card records in a little over 5 minutes without pause or hesitation. I bought a 12 oz. bottle of professional shredder lubricant but the owner's manual says to lube it once a month--unhelpfully it fails to indicate minute of run-time rather than human time independent of use--whereas almost all the videos for the professional lubricant urge you to use up as much of their product as possible by lubricating every time the bin is emptied. They recommend even more often for a finer-cut cross shredder like the one I had previously but I used it for over 20 years, never lubricated it, and never had a problem other than its fundamental limitations.Why only four stars? The bin is a little flimsy and feels like it would break if hit or whacked or dropped the wrong way. It does not slide easily or elegantly into place. The shredded paper is thick and springy, hard to transfer to a disposal bag because the shards jump when compressed, or stick to the gears of the shredder even if the forward/backward buttons are run manually--but this does help. It tends to leave debris at the floor of the shredder below the bottom of the bin that drops off the gears. Nonetheless, overall a great machine that I am very happy to have purchased.

I bought this shredder for my home office, I don't deal with a lot of paperwork that needs shredding so it's really mostly used for snail mail that I don't want to throw in the garbage. It works perfect for my uses, it's very small and compact so it fits easily under my desk. If you're needing to shred a lot of paper then you might want to consider something a bit larger, but if you're like me and wanting something small for the house then you really can't go wrong with this shredder.