Medicine is the first thing to know about paper in Pittsburgh. UPMC and Allegheny Health Network run hospitals and outpatient offices across the county, and the dental, physical therapy and primary care practices around them keep patient files that cannot go in a recycling bin. Downtown, the Golden Triangle holds law firms, banks and accounting offices in towers with freight elevators and loading rules. Those buildings usually want a scheduled console service. A locked bin on every floor beats a pile of boxes in a hallway.
Outside the core the region is hills, rivers and narrow streets, and that shapes the work. A shred truck is a big vehicle. Mon Valley towns like McKeesport have tight blocks and steep drives, and the South Hills are full of cul-de-sacs and switchbacks, so a driver may ask where he can actually park. Say so if your loading spot is on a grade or behind a bridge. Households book heavily from February through April with tax records, and again when a family empties a house that has been lived in for fifty years. Those are one-time visits, and plenty of Pittsburgh basements hold forty boxes nobody has opened in a decade.
Know the pricing basics before you call. Companies charge by the box, the locked bin or the visit, and most set a minimum, so a single drawer of papers costs about what a small purge does. On-site shredding, where the truck grinds the paper at your curb while you watch, costs more than hauling it off, and it is worth it for medical or financial files. Either way, get a certificate of destruction. Hard drives and backup tapes are a separate item, so list them. In the form, give your ZIP code, a rough box or bin count, one time or recurring, and anything about stairs or parking.
