Staples MailMate(TM) Shredder Reviews

****Below you will find my original review on this product.  I must amend this review to include the product is an absolute waste of money.  My original review was written in October, 2008.  Since then, I have used this product on a bi-weekly basis for disposing junk mail.  It is now the beginning of February, 2009 and the motor completely burned out.  I did not abuse the product in any way.  As a matter of fact, I never put a credit card or folded mail into it.  Nothing that would strain the motor.   This shredder is not cheap; actually it is quite pricey. 

My best advice to...

I was delighted when I first bought this two months ago. It shreds paper like a dream.

That is, until it dies.

I've had two of these in two months' time. One died after two weeks; the other, a sturdier model, I assume, limped along for two months until it died in the midst of shredding this morning. No warning, no reason. It's dead.

No paper is clogging it. The container is empty -- and it was close to empty when it died.

Good thing the guy hoodwinked me into buying the extended warranty, huh? I can't wait to go up there today and tell them what a piece of crap it is -- and wait for them to give me...

The Staples Mail Mate Shredder is good at schredding paper and cds.  However, everytime you empty it it makes a huge mess on the floor and everywhere.  Also, the drawer gets jammed shut if you have too much paper.  It looks only half full, but won't open.  We empty daily and often.  We need a new shredder after less than a year because this one is unusable because the drawer won't open to be emptied.  We sent the first one in with this problem (paying a huge amount in postage), and they returned us a new shredder in the same model.  Now when I contacted Staples w/ the same problem, they...

We used the Staples Mailmate shredder to shred old-fashioned credit card carbons, approx 100 per week for 12 weeks. This is very light paper. (We had to use an old-school credit card swiper until our computerized gear was set up.) The Mailmate died after four months. We had shredded on CD right after purchase just to see if it would work, and it did. That was the heaviest use the shredder ever received.

Unless you only need to shred a couple of pieces of paper don't buy this shredder.  After a short amount of time the unit overheats and shuts down and after just one year of owning the shredder it stopped working completely.  Staples did not stand behind their product and told me there is nothing they could do and all I could do was purchase another one. 

The Mailmate shredder from Staples is great.  One of the biggest factors that sold me on buying this shredder was the price, I got it for only $29 and that was because of a price error. (remember any price still advertised they must honor it)  It also came with free sheets to keep it clean. I also like the fact that it can be placed practically anywhere; on a desk, counter, under a table, on a shelf. I also like the sleek look of it (the black and stainless steel). I especially like that it can shred credit cards and an entire junkmail envelope. But there are a couple of things I don't like,...