Providence is small, old and dense, and it keeps paper in places a newer city would not. Brown University, RISD and the hospitals on the East Side and along Eddy Street, including Rhode Island Hospital and Women & Infants, hold records for generations of patients and students. The State House and the agencies around it, the courthouses, Citizens Bank, Textron and the insurers downtown make up the rest of a very office-heavy core.
Rhode Island is small, so the metro reaches into Massachusetts. A shred truck can cross from Providence to Attleboro or Fall River in half an hour, and providers usually serve both states. Downtown buildings and the Jewelry District use scheduled consoles. Older triple-deckers, mill buildings and small shops in the other cities lean on one-time truck visits, and narrow streets are the biggest practical problem. Pricing uses a per-box rate for a purge, a per-bin rate for a route, a charge per visit and a minimum. On-site shredding costs more than a plant and is worth it for patient and client files. Get a certificate of destruction, and ask about hard drives separately.
Winter nor'easters and the occasional hurricane can close roads and flood basements, so autumn and spring are the easiest seasons to schedule. Tax preparers fill from January. Estate cleanouts follow the first thaw, and colleges clear records after commencement in May. The state's size helps, since a provider based in Warwick or Cranston can often reach most of it in an afternoon. In the form, put your town, a box or bin count, the kind of files and whether the job is one time or regular.
