If you want a shredder that completely obliterates; here it is. Military strength document destruction! I assure you - nobody is going to reconstruct anything fed through this machine!
As shipped, the unit arrived in a plastic shroud, seated inside reinforced double boxed cartons. The only unit assembly required after unboxing was to poke 4 roller "feet" into holes on the bottom, a 20-second task. The rollers are more of a convenience than a necessity.
The internal shredder chamber is a heavy plastic pull out drawer. Included in the shipment were two plastic liner bags. Personally, instead of landfill unfriendly liners I found that a standard large-size brown paper grocery bag makes a pretty good liner. To make sure everything shredded lands inside the paper bag I spread the 4 sides of the bag's opening with strips of tape stuck to the interior of the drawer. Then I just push the drawer back in and shred away. There is a warning light lit if the drawer isn't fully returned to its closed position. However there is not an overflow warning so it's up to you to check the bag once in a while.
Along with the rocker switch next to the slots directly on top, there is also a master power switch on the back. This extra switch provides added safety for instances where the unit exists near pets and/or children.
There are 2 shredding slots on top: a 9-inch wide paper slot which effectively swallows 6-10 sheets at a time, plus a smaller slot designated for credit cards (if you dare to gunk up your nifty micro shredder assembly with particles of plastic that may never dislodge).
The run operation is fairly quiet, quieter than the sound of a table fan. There IS significant heat build up after a few minutes of steady use. A label up front advises that after 10-15 minutes of continuous use, the unit will shut down for 40 minutes. I call that self preservation.
Maintenance is as simple as feeding a sheet of shredder lubricant into it at the end of each month. For example, the Amazon item "Aleratec Shredder Lubricant Sheets - White (240165)". (These sheets provide an eco-sensible and mess less means of keeping the shredder assembly lubricated.) This is the only drawback I can think of, and not much to ask considering the level of security afforded. The unit is well designed and durable. I expect it to last for years to come.