All of the ratings are conservative. I've owned three shredders and not a one had ever burned out. I buy the cheapest ones I can find. The last one was a cross-cut shredder from OM that listed at 60.00 and I got it for 20.00 minus a 10 off 20 coupon for 10.00 total. I probably put through 300-400 sheets at one sitting. It locked up for a few minutes because of all the extra paper that was stuck. But I cleaned it off the bottom and it works perfectly. One of my cheapie strip-cuts from Fry's (<10.00 with basket), shredded enough to jam fill 5 kitchen garbage bags worth. It still works great. If it says 120 sheets per day, you can double that easily IMO.