Shred Up Those Personal Documents! Don't Let Anyone Read Them!

Review of GBC Quartet 60S Straight-Cut Paper Shredder (May 21, 2001)

My wife is a very cautious lady. She doesn't want anyone to know about any personal stuff. So, one day while we were shopping, we passed by a display of office products. Amidst this display was the GBC Quartet Straight-Cut Paper Shredder on sale for only $19.99. "Wow! What a great deal!" Exclaimed my wife. So, we placed one into the shopping cart.

I was thinking to myself that this is just another thing to clutter up my home office. I can see myself using this thing to shred up some old credit card statements, maybe some old resumes, or personal letters, which I previously just tore up by hand. But, beyond that, I could see little other use for it.

Several months have passed by since we purchased the shredder. Sure enough, I have not used the thing much. However, my wife, who uses it for her small business, has used it a great deal. She often shreds up old sales order information, envelopes with customer information on it, letters, statements, etc. The little plastic waste bucket that comes with the unit is almost always full!

The unit is fairly simple to use. It has a long shredder mechanism that sits on top on the waste bucket. It sort of clips onto the sides of the bucket to keep it in place. A small AC to DC transformer plugs into the wall, and the other end plugs into the mechanism to power the unit. When you want to shred some paper, simply feed it through the slit in the mechanism, and press a button. The shredder grabs the edge of the paper and pulls it through the slit.

If the paper should get stuck, which doesn't often happen, simply press the reverse key and the paper will move out in the reverse direction. The machine will usually only get stuck if you should happen to try to shred a document with a staple in it, or a clip on it. It is pretty safe to use, and it will not shred your fingers or even a small child's.

The small accompanying waste bucket is pretty much a standard sized office waste bucket. It is made of a lightweight plastic. When it becomes full with paper, simply pull of the mechanism, and dump it into your bigger recycle container. It's easy!

I can think of a few benefits of having one of these. The most obvious is it makes it difficult for prying eyes to get priority information from you. An alternate use is to shred paper to use as packing for stuff you are shipping. The shredded stuff, if you use bright colored paper, also makes some nice Easter basket grass for an Easter basket or a care package. It is also pretty fun to use - it almost brings stress relief to watch the paper get shredded up.

The disadvantages include the unit is a bit slow. Not all of your papers will need shredding, so unless you have a small business, it may not be necessary to have one of these (I have used it less than 10 times in the past year, although my wife uses it a lot more). It does take up floor space and it requires an outlet. It is also limited in the number of sheets it can shred simultaneously, although I do not perceive this to be a major problem, unless you have folders full of paper to shred at a time (if this is the case, you may wish to consider a larger shredder).

I would recommend this shredder to anyone who has a small business. It may come in handy to shred personal stuff you don't want anyone to know about (e.g., those nosy garbage pickers that snoop through the trash late at night with flashlights!). They might also come in handy use to someone who does crafts, or for someone who ships products via a carrier. I would not recommend it for basic home use - simply rip up the occasional personal stuff. Also, the manufacturer's price listed on Epinions is crazy! I see these shredders being sold all over the place for under $40. If you shop around, you can always find them for less. Thanks for reading my review and have a nice day!

Mike