Marki Williams/NYT WirecutterTop pickThis high-security shredder offers the best balance of ease of use, sheet capacity, and price. But it replaces the on-off switch with a lid-activated cutter that may not be totally kidproof.For home offices and households, the Staples 12-Sheet Micro-Cut Shredder (ST62153) is the best value for a paper shredder. Its micro-cutting blades reliably shred the most sensitive documents, it’s relatively quiet in operation, and it takes minimal effort to clear jams on the rare occasions when they occur. The Staples 12-Sheet Micro-Cut Shredder can handle everything from document sheets to crunchy CDs. Marki Williams/NYT WirecutterThe paper shredder can handle (almost) anything you throw at it. Although the Staples ST62153 is rated for 12 sheets, we were able to run through batches of up to 15 sheets of paper, including stapled stacks, without jamming it. (But we don’t recommend doing this at home, as the warranty doesn’t cover misuse.)It chomped through stapled credit card statements, folded letters, plastic credit cards, and CDs like a champ, producing minuscule, indecipherable bits of paper and plastic.Clearing jams is easy. Although this machine didn’t jam during testing, it has reverse and forward push buttons that help clear them when they occur. It also has an automatic jam-clearing function that puts the gears in reverse when it detects you’ve overloaded the machine.The Aurora AU120MA and Amazon Basics 8-Sheet Micro Cut Paper Shredder picks also have this feature. However, some shredders (such as our pick from Aurora) don’t have a manual forward option, which can make clearing tough jams more difficult. The Staples 12-Sheet Micro-Cut Shredder has a P-4 rating, meaning it can shred paper, credit cards, and CDs into 2,000 tiny shreds of material. Marki Williams/NYT WirecutterIt can shred continuously without overheating. We were able to feed the shredder stacks of sheets for about 15 minutes straight before the bin indicator said it was full. At that point, we had to empty the wastebasket before continuing.Some reviewers on Staples’s website have reported their new shredder overheating after just 10 minutes of use, but in our testing we were never able to overtax the shredder enough to force it into its 40-minute cooldown mode. We continued to shred paper after emptying the bin, and the machine still showed no sign of stopping. The Staples 12-Sheet Micro-Cut Shredder’s 5-gallon bin keeps shredded bits contained. But you can’t line it with a trash bag, as the sensors will read the bin as full, even when empty. Marki Williams/NYT WirecutterIt runs quietly. This shredder produced exceptionally low noise levels in our testing, with a maximum of 70 decibels (akin to the volume of a washing machine). That’s a bit higher than Staples’s claimed 65 decibels but still within the expected range for a home paper shredder.The trade-off is that the Staples paper shredder is a tad slower than most others we tested. The Aurora AU120MA, which we recommend for bigger jobs, tore through batches of paper about 30% faster, yet it also ran much quieter, with measured decibels reaching only the high 50s.Flaws but not dealbreakers Marki Williams and Erica Solano/NYT WirecutterIt doesn’t have an on-off switch. To view the shredder’s indicator lights and operating buttons, you have to slide open the cover, which automatically starts the cutters. The slide-top cover is marketed as a safety feature, but the lack of a lock and auto-start feature negates that aim.We recommend keeping it unplugged when it’s not in use, especially if you have curious toddlers or pets around.You can’t line the bin with a trash bag. During testing, the bin either wouldn’t fully close or the machine read it as full when we lined it with a trash bag. We didn’t have this problem with the Aurora AU120MA paper shredder, for example.Still, the ST62153’s high bin sides kept shredded debris from scattering across the floor come emptying time.We wish the warranty were better. Staples offers only a one-year warranty on the machine and cutter. Meanwhile, the Aurora AU120MA provides a five-year warranty on its blades.
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