I've had a 6-page shredder for a while now; used mostly to deal with unwanted mail.

My problem is that, while I find it pretty easy to identify junk mail without opening the envelope, my consumer-grade shredder demands that I open basically *all* mail and prep it by flattening out the tri-folded pages. Based on rough estimates, this open & unfold step accounts for ~70% of the time I spend on handling my mail at home.

I'm prepared to open & prep those hideously annoying offers that actually contain a fake plastic credit card, but for the rest, here's the math:

The outer envelope is 2 pages.
Any return-envelope is another 2.
Each tri-folded page is 3.
Each credit card application form is generally folded into 4-6 sections, and is typically slightly higher-grade paper.

Thus, the smallest mail I get has a thickness of 5 pages.

The thickest mail I get in any volume is credit card offers, which breaks down as follows:

2 - outer envelope
2 - return envelope
3 - tri-folded introduction/marketing letter
6-8 - application form
1 - trite "Thinking of not applying?" stickie note
---
Total: 14-16 pages minimum

That is *right* at the upper limit of most cross-cutting shredders in the "prosumer" price range, which tend to top out at with an uncomfortable thin margin of 17 pages.

Basically, I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a cross-cutting shredder that'll handle 21-25 page thickness for less than $300.