Columbus produces a lot of paper that has to be kept for years and then has to disappear. Nationwide Children's Hospital, OhioHealth and the Ohio State medical campus generate patient files by the pallet. Banks and insurers downtown and along the I-270 outerbelt hold loan packets and policy files, the agencies around the Statehouse hold case records, and the law and accounting offices in between each have a storage room nobody wants to open.
Layout decides the service. Offices downtown, in the Arena District and around Easton fill bins on a steady schedule, so a recurring console route usually fits. Spread-out suburbs and older neighborhoods lean the other way: one truck, one visit, a few dozen boxes from a garage or a closed practice. Pricing is built from a per-box rate for purges, a per-bin or per-console rate for routes, a charge per visit, and a minimum that can make a very small job cost more per box than a big one. On-site shredding, where the truck grinds your paper at the curb, costs more than hauling it to a plant, and it is the better buy when you want to watch the paper go. Get a certificate of destruction either way. Hard drives and backup tapes are a separate line item and usually get their own certificate.
Timing is predictable. Tax preparers and accountants book up from January through mid-April, and year-end is the other crunch, so call early. Spring brings estate cleanouts and office moves, and schools clear records after the term ends in May and June. Snow rarely stops a truck here, but a narrow alley or a loading dock with no clearance will. In the form, give us the town, roughly how many boxes or bins, whether the files are medical, legal or financial, and whether you want one visit or a standing schedule.
