Try permanent mulch in the deep South, or California where I was first disappointed with mulching, or the Maritime northwest where I now live, and a catastrophe develops. During the first year these soil animals are present but cause no problem. But after the first mild winter with no population setback, they become a plague. Slugs (and in California, snails) will be found everywhere, devastating seedlings. Earwigs and sow bugs, that previously only were seen eating only decaying mulch, begin to attack plants. It soon becomes impossible to get a stand of seedlings established. The situation can be rapidly cured by raking up all the mulch, carting it away from the garden, and composting it. I know this to be the truth because I've had to do just that both in California where as a novice gardener I had my first mulch catastrophes, and then when I moved to Oregon, I gave mulching another trial with similar sad results.
Sources for Composters, Grinders and etc.
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Shredder/Chippers and other power equipment_
I've been watching this market change rapidly since the early 1970s. Manufacturers come and go. Equipment is usually ordered direct from the maker, freight extra. Those interested in large horsepower shredder/chippers might check the advertisements in garden-related magazines such as _National Gardening, Organic Gardening, Sunset, Horticulture, Fine Gardening, Country Living (Harrowsmith), _etc. Without intending any endorsement or criticism of their products, two makers that have remained in business since I started gardening are:
Kemp Company. 160 Koser Road., Lititz, PA 17543. (also compost drums)
Troy-Bilt Manufacturing Company, 102D St. & 9th Ave., Troy, NY 12180
Mail-order catalog sources of compost containers and garden accessories
Gardens Alive, 5100 Schenley Place, Lawrenceburg, Indiana 47025
Gardener's Supply Company, 128 Intervale Road, Burlington, VT 05401