Why should you buy a shredder? With the rise of identity theft and financial scamming, the need to invest in secure ways to dispose of your personal information and correspondence is more important than ever. Whether you are running a small business enterprise, or a large-scale company with hundreds of employees, the need to shred all personal, financial and confidential correspondence should be a high priority.

Consider that a potential criminal only needs to gather details of your credit card, address or bank account just once to commit fraud in your name and you will see the importance of investing in a quality paper shredder which will not let you down. Encourage good and consistent housekeeping procedures within your company by outlining a clear company policy for shredding documents to staff and by providing your company with a high-quality shredder that can cater for all your company's shredding needs.

Probably the most robust brand of shredder is IDEAL, a brand name of the German manufacturer Krug & Priester of Balingen, in Germany. Every IDEAL shredder is hand built, right down to the printed circuits than control the machine. With solid steel cutting heads made from a single piece of Solingen Quality Steel, powerful motors and safety factors such as the Safety Protection System that stops the machine when the paper feed flap is opened, these machines are not just robust but safe also and are supplied with high quality wooden cabinets which help to reduce noise levels.

What kind of specification and service can you expect from an IDEAL paper shredder? The IDEAL 2220 paper shredder, at the bottom end of the scale, can cut between eight and 12 sheets at the same time and can even cut through paper clips. It has a shred size of 4mm, giving it a Security Level 2 ? ideal for all internal home or small office information that is not considered sensitive. The IDEAL 2220's cutting shafts come with a five-year guarantee. The shredder is designed to work quietly and has a practical and well-designed handle for lifting the shredder unit from the paper bin.

The IDEAL 4004 has a powerful 2.1 kilowatt motor yet will run on a normal 13 amp power supply. This is the only machine on the market that will change gear when presented with more than a few sheets of paper to shred and will happily shred up to 40 sheets of 70 gsm paper at a pass. With a shred speed of 0.3 meters per second it could also lay claim to being the fastest shredder in the world for a single sheet of paper at least.

At the mammoth end of the scale, the IDEAL 5009 cross-cut paper shredder can shred up to 700 sheets in a session. The machine's shredding speed adapts to the volume of paper being shredded at any one time and will automatically reverse and start again in the even of a paper jam.

IDEAL paper shredders are the perfect option for the office or company requiring an office or industrial shredder. There are 46 models available at every level of security from level 2 right up to level 6 which is preferred by USA government departments, embassies and other offices.

IDEAL paper shredders come as either cross-cut or strip-cut, and are offered throughout the price spectrum to suit the customer's individual requirements, on however large or small a scale. Models available include deskside shredders that shred small quantities of paper to large, industrial shredders capable of shredding up to 700 sheets simultaneously.