Nashville runs on health care, music and a growing downtown, and all three make paper. Hospital companies and physician groups have headquarters in and around the city, and their billing, coding and records offices fill the office parks off I-65 and Briley Parkway. Music publishers, entertainment attorneys and accounting firms work out of converted houses on Music Row and Division Street, where contracts and royalty statements stack up in back rooms. Downtown towers hold banks, insurers and the state offices around the Capitol, and those use scheduled consoles on a weekly or biweekly route.
Out in the surrounding counties the work is different. Williamson, Rutherford, Sumner and Wilson counties have grown fast, with new offices opening in strip centers and business parks. Those tenants rarely need a standing contract. They need a truck on a Friday when the lease ends or the dental practice changes hands. Storms can flood a basement records room in an hour, and wet files still have to be destroyed properly. Accountants are booked from February to mid-April, and the weeks after year-end are when closed files finally leave the building.
Know a few things before you ask for quotes. Companies usually charge by the box for a purge, by the bin or console for recurring service, and by the stop for a truck, with a minimum on each. On-site shredding costs more than plant shredding, and for patient charts it is usually worth paying for. Get a certificate of destruction every time. Hard drives and backup tapes are a separate request. In the form, tell us your town, roughly how many boxes or bins, whether it is a single visit or a standing route, and whether you want the truck at your door.
