Thieves Beware: Fellowes PS60C-2 Paper Shredder is Running Smoothly!
Written: Jun 24 '04 (Updated Jun 24 '04)
Product Rating:
Reliability:
Ease of Use:
Ease of Maintainence (toner/paper change):
Pros: Lightweight; Powerful motor for its size; Pieces are well- cut
Cons: Opening is only nine inches wide; Not practical for large, busy offices
The Bottom Line: This compact shredder is great for smaller offices. It costs more, but it shreds paper in a way that makes it nearly impossible to reassemble.
Bryan_Carey's Full Review: Fellowes Powershred® PS-65C (Confetti-Cut) Sh...
Credit card fraud and identity theft in its various forms are great cause for concern nowadays. With so many individuals carrying several different pieces of plastic around in their pockets, the need to keep this sensitive data secure is often very important.
Anyone can take documents containing credit card numbers and Social Security numbers and simply tear them up and toss them in the trash, but this won’t do much good to stop a thief. A determined crook will pull the papers out of the trash, unfold/reassemble them, and presto!- he/she has the numbers needed to wreck havoc on someone else’s credit. This is why having a good paper shredder in your place of business is so important. And the one that is now used in my workplace is also one of the finest compact shredders manufactured. It’s the Fellowes PS60c-2 Confetti- cut Shredder, a paper shredder that stops thieves dead in their tracks.
Basics of This Shredder:
This model of shredder is compact in size and lightweight, making it easy to setup and easy to store. The unit is shaped like a small bathroom trash receptacle, with the cutting unit on top and the waste container on the bottom. It measures approximately 18 inches (45 cm) in height, 14 inches (35 cm) in width, and 10 inches (25 cm) in depth. The weight of the unit is only about 17 pounds (8 kilos) when empty and the waste container holds just over six gallons (23 liters) of shredded paper. There is a small, clear window in front that shows when the paper level is getting high. To empty, you just lift the top off and dump the waste into another trash container.
The opening where you feed the paper through isn’t very wide. It measures only about 9 inches (23 cm) in width, with a height of about 3/8 of an inch (6 mm). Standard, 8.5 x 11 inch (22 cm by 28 cm) paper fits easily through the opening, but larger sheets will need to be torn apart first or folded in half to fit. The opening can handle stacks of paper about five or six sheets thick (the manufacturer says it can handle up to seven, but I would play it safe).
How Does it Operate?:
To use this shredder, you simply feed the paper through the opening and wait a few seconds for the blades to complete the work. All sorts of different materials can be fed into this machine, including credit cards, laminated plastic cards, cardboard, and even staples and other office supplies made of metal. The materials come out the other end shredded not just lengthwise, but also in a crosscut fashion, making it next to impossible for anyone to piece the paper back together.
If your paper is too thick (feeding too many sheets at once) or is fed improperly (not torn first or folded, in the case of larger sheets), it can easily jam the shredder. If this happens, all you need to do is hit the switch over to the reverse setting. The item will then pop back out and you can try again.
Cost/Availability:
This model of shredder isn’t difficult to find. I have been able to locate it at places like Office Max, Office Depot, Staples, Amazon.com, and other stores. The price varies, so you need to do your homework before you settle on the first offer you find. I have seen it retailing for as low as $90 on- line and as high as $120 at stores. Extended service plans are also available, for an additional cost of $13 to $22.
Final Thoughts:
Shredding documents with sensitive data is becoming more and more important as thieves develop newer and more sophisticated methods to obtain credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, and the like. At the university where I work, Social Security numbers are used for all sorts of things, from student id numbers to logon ids. In order to protect individuals from theft, any sensitive document is supposed to be passed through a shredder. We had a different shredder before that cut the paper length- wise only. It didn’t seem all that secure so the department decided it would be worth the investment to purchase a new shredder that would cut the paper up in such a way that no one would even bother to try to put the pieces back together. The model they chose was Fellowes PS60C-2.
This shredder is compact and quiet, and it performs its task quickly and efficiently. The thing that I noticed right away was the size of the shredded paper particles. They are small and are cut in such a way that there are really no worries at all about identity theft. If I was a thief and I came across a pile of shredded paper like this, I would turn elsewhere. It wouldn’t be worth the trouble to try to assemble together a puzzle like this. The shredded pieces measure 5/32 of an inch by 1.375 inches (4 mm by 33 mm), making it very difficult to attempt to match them up and put them together.
Fellowes claims that this shredder can accept paper clips, staples, and other small pieces of metal, which it can. But for myself, I always remove staples first before feeding the paper through the shredder. I know that the shredder can handle staples, but I would rather take the staples out and preserve the life of the blades. Also, I think my reluctance to send staples through the shredder is, in part, due to past experiences. The shredders of old could not handle anything but paper. I cannot get used to a shredder than can devour staples so I take them off, out of habit.
Since this piece of machinery has a motor and blades, it will need to be oiled from time to time, to keep it in tip- top condition. Fellowes makes special oil, which can be purchased where office supplies are purchased. Be careful about overuse- if too many papers are fed through in a row, the machine will overheat and will automatically shut off. It will have to be left to cool for a while before it can be used again. For this reason (and others), this piece of office equipment is not really practical for businesses that have more than a few hundred sheets of paper to shred each day. It is really designed for smaller offices where shredding is important, but not a major activity, and for personal use in the home office.
Some administrative people and secretaries are so accustomed to just throwing papers in the trash that it’s hard to get them to use the shredder at first- not because of an attitude of non- compliance, but because of the fact that they must remember to do something new. It just takes time to get people to change old habits. But with the fear of identity theft growing more and more each day, a paper shredder is a must if you deal with documents containing any type of sensitive information. Fellowes PS60C-2 Confetti- cut Shredder gives much more peace of mind than other types of shredders. It does cost more than bargain bin shredders of the same size, but the additional cost is worth the peace of mind and the quality that you get with this model of shredder.
Recommended:
Yes
Purchase Price (if leased, monthly payment): 99 Machine age (Months in use): 4
Reduces confidential documents to 532x2" confetti particles, Shreds up to 8 sheets per pass 2550 times per day for a total daily capacity as high as 4...More at Target
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