Run time aside, shredding ATM receipts, old tax returns and junk mail make this unit perfect for use in a small business or home office. In automatic mode, shredding begins once the sensor detects that a piece of paper or single credit card has entered the 8.7-inch wide paper feed. As a cross-cut shredder, each individual shred will occur faster than a micro-cut shredder, but it sacrifices the six times smaller confetti-like shred. At 25.2" x 17.4" x 11.2" and 41.5-pounds, the 99Ms is a little on the tall side, which makes it far more suitable for a business environment. Regardless of its placement, the 99Ms can operate for 15 minutes before a 25-minute cooldown period is needed, which allows time to properly dispose of the nine-gallon pull-out bin. Fellowes claims that the bin can hold 80 percent more micro-cut particles per gallon than the standard cross-cut particles, including their own models. And the inclusion of “SilentShred” limits the decibel level for ultra-quiet performance in shared workspaces. The micro-cut shreds at a very high-security level, which is ideal for destroying confidential data to prevent identity theft or documents of importance to a person, company or institution. Finally, the ability to continuously add paper manually during the autofeed stack processing cuts down on the amount of time required to utilize the HSM. Shred style - All shredders do not shred alike. Some destroy documents more completely than others. If you’re using a shredder for pretty routine documents at home, then you probably don’t need top-of-the-line shredding capabilities. But if you deal with sensitive information at home or in the workplace, then paying more for micro-cut shreds, rather than cross-cut shredding, is a good idea. Other materials - There may be times you want to shred more than just paper. Credit cards, CDs with sensitive material on them, paper with staples — the list goes on and on. That’s why you should check and see if the shredder you’re interested in can handle these types of shredding. Staples especially are key because who wants to remove them before sending documents through the shredder?
