Many cities have ‘community shreds’ where they sponsor a local reputable shredding company to park their mobile shredding truck in a parking lot. You bring a few banker-boxes full of papers and they shred them for free. Something to consider if your ‘to shred’ box of papers is more than your $50 shredder (or you) can handle.

Many of these places will also shred on their own site for some fee such as $25/100 lbs. At that price point they don’t generally do it ‘in front of you’, but if you do some research you can find one that is bonded and trustworthy.

http://www.creatrope.com/blog/2007/04/15/community-shred/