Shred it

I've been organizing a busy office in San Francisco and one of the chores no one wants to do is the shredding. Let's face it, it's a drag to stand at a shredding machine for hours at a time, not to mention the noise the darn machines make.

Part of the problem is having the wrong shredder for the job. Most shredders sold at your local office supply store do not hold up to the mountains of papers that need to be shred. Just about any shredder under $200 is useless in an office setting. Besides paper it has to be able to handle staples and the occasional paperclip that slips through the sorting process. Many companies need plastic and discs shredded as well. So, when shopping for a shredder, buy the best you can afford for heavy duty shredding. Don't forget to buy the oiled sheets that are needed to keep the blades lubed.

If you have a box or more of papers to be shred, you've got some other options to standing over the shredder. You can take your boxes to a shredding company and in a matter of minutes they shred them right in front of you. My favorite is Automatic Response Systems in Berkeley. ARS also offers a "bin service", they bring the shredder and pick up your shredding for about .37/pound.

You can also call a shredding company to come to your home or office and shred your papers right in their truck. Just search for "mobile shredding companies in ...." and you'll get an idea of who to call in your city.

What ever you do, don't forget to recycle all that glorious shredded paper.