Updated November 2026 · Southern New Hampshire
Shredding pickup checklist: ready before the driver arrives
Everything to sort out before a pickup from your New Hampshire home or office: access, boxes, the count, who signs and what the driver does at your door. Get these right and the visit takes minutes, the price matches the quote and your chain of custody starts clean.
Pickup from $129.95 by zone, plus 99¢ per pound. Shredded at our Tewksbury office. Certificate on every job.
- 3 pickup zones
- 99¢ per pound
- Since 2007
- BBB A+ rated
Quick answer
A shredding pickup checklist has five parts: tell us your town, a box count and how the driver reaches the boxes when you book, stage taped boxes at ground level or by an elevator, keep media in a separate bag, name one person to agree and sign the count, and file the Certificate of Destruction when it arrives. New Hampshire Document Shredding charges the same 99 cents a pound (or $15/$20 per box at 10 or more) plus $129.95, $159.95 or $199.95 by zone and $34.90 per job, with a handling fee for stairs or restricted access quoted up front.
What to have ready when you book
A good pickup starts with a good booking. We need four facts to quote the job and send the driver to the right door, and almost every surprise on pickup day traces back to one of them being a guess. Five minutes with a tape measure and a flashlight saves an awkward phone call later.
| What we ask | What to tell us | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Town and street address | The exact pickup address and the door to use | Sets the zone and the transport fee. We confirm the zone when you book. |
| Box count | How many boxes, and whether they are banker’s boxes or smaller | Under 10 boxes is priced by the pound. At 10 or more, the flat box rate applies. |
| Access | Ground floor, elevator, or a flight of stairs. Any loading dock, gate or building rules. | The zone price assumes ground level or elevator. Stairs or restricted access add a handling fee, quoted up front. |
| Media | Drives, phones, discs or film, with a rough count | Media is physically destroyed and quoted per item, separately from paper. |
| Contact on site | The name of the person who will hand over the boxes and sign | The driver knows who to ask for, and the count has an owner. |
Zones follow distance from Tewksbury. Zone 1 covers the Tewksbury area and the New Hampshire border towns such as Salem, Pelham, Windham and Plaistow. Zone 2 covers greater Nashua and Manchester. Zone 3 covers the Seacoast and points farther north. If your town is not on that list, the zone is confirmed when you book. Our post on how pickup zones change the price has worked examples by distance.
Pickups are by appointment. We do not promise same-week or same-day slots, so book before the lease ends or the movers arrive, not after. Our main page on off-site shredding explains how scheduling works.
Access: ground level, elevator or stairs
Access is the line on this checklist people skip, and it is the one that changes the price. Our zone prices assume the driver can reach your boxes at ground level or by elevator. A flight of stairs, a locked gate, a guard desk or a freight elevator that has to be reserved counts as stairs or restricted access, and a handling fee applies. It is quoted before the pickup is confirmed, never added at the door.
Standard access
Boxes in a ground-floor office, a garage, a front hall or a lobby. Boxes on an upper floor of a building with a working passenger or freight elevator. A loading dock the driver can back up to.
All of these are the zone price, with no handling fee.
Stairs or restricted access
A basement with one narrow stair, a second-floor walk-up, an attic, a storage unit behind a gate code or a building that requires a certificate of insurance or an escort.
Tell us at booking. You get the handling fee before anyone drives anywhere.
The cheapest fix is to move the boxes yourself. If you or your staff carry the boxes from the basement or the third floor to the lobby, the garage or the front porch before the driver arrives, the pickup is ground level and the handling fee goes away. Do it the day before, not five minutes before.
Building rules are part of access too. Some office buildings and medical parks ask vendors to check in at a front desk, use a side door or book the freight elevator. Ask your property manager this week and pass the answer along when you book. Be honest about the stairs. A driver who finds a basement nobody mentioned has to stop and call, and your pickup slides.
Boxes, counts and labels
The driver loads boxes, not loose paper. Pack everything in boxes with lids, tape them shut and stack them where they can be reached. A full banker’s box of paper weighs about 30 pounds, and that is a sensible limit. An overstuffed box splits at the handles on the way down the walk.
You do not need to pull staples, paper clips, binder clips, rubber bands or file folders. You do need to remove three-ring binder hardware, hanging-folder frames and anything that is not paper. Our guide on how to prepare documents for shredding covers sorting and packing in detail.
Count the boxes twice and write the number down. The count is what you and the driver agree on at the door, and it is the first link in the chain of custody.
- Every box taped shut, lid closing flat.
- Box number on each one, such as “1 of 14”, so the count is easy to check.
- No sensitive description on the outside. A department code and a date range are enough.
- Media in its own labeled bag, not mixed into the paper.
- Your count written on one sheet, ready for the person who signs.
The count also affects price. Under 10 boxes is priced by the pound at 99 cents. At 10 or more, the flat rate is $15 per small box and $20 per large banker’s box. Nine full banker’s boxes priced by weight cost more than ten at the box rate, so if you are at eight or nine, look once more in the closet.
What the pickup costs by zone
A pickup is priced in three parts: the shredding, the transport fee for your zone and the $34.90 per-job fees. The per-job fees are a $14.95 HIPAA filing fee, which covers the Certificate of Destruction paperwork, and a $19.95 environmental fee, which covers recycling the shred. Add a handling fee only if access needs it.
| Full banker’s boxes | Drop-off | Zone 1 pickup | Zone 2 pickup | Zone 3 pickup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 boxes (about 150 lb) | $183.40 | $313.35 | $343.35 | $383.35 |
| 10 boxes (flat $20 each) | $234.90 | $364.85 | $394.85 | $434.85 |
| 20 boxes (flat $20 each) | $434.90 | $564.85 | $594.85 | $634.85 |
The transport fee is the same whether the driver picks up five boxes or fifty, so it matters most on small jobs. For three boxes from a Salem or Pelham kitchen, driving to Tewksbury is about 15 minutes by I-93 or Route 38 and skips the fee. For twenty boxes in a Nashua office with no staff to spare, the pickup earns its keep. Our shredding rates page has the full price list, and our comparison of drop-off vs off-site shows where the break-even falls.
Your shredding pickup checklist, a week out
Most pickups go wrong in the week before, not on the day. Boxes are still half-packed, the person who was going to sign is on vacation, or nobody asked the landlord about the freight elevator. Work through this list and the day itself is a formality.
- Confirm the bookingCheck the date, the address, the zone and any handling fee in the confirmation. If anything changed since you booked, such as more boxes or a different door, call (978) 636-0301 now.
- Finish sortingPull anything you still need to keep. Once a box is taped and counted, treat it as gone. Retention questions get settled this week, not at the door.
- Pack, tape and numberFill boxes to about 30 pounds, tape the lids and number each box. Bag drives, discs and phones separately.
- Stage at the exitMove the boxes to ground level, the lobby or beside the elevator, inside a room that locks. Do not leave them on a loading dock or a porch overnight.
- Clear the building rulesTell reception, the property manager or the guard desk that a pickup is coming. Reserve the freight elevator if the building needs it.
- Name the signerPick one person to hand over the boxes and sign for the count, plus a backup in case they are out sick.
If you are clearing a whole office before a move, give yourself more than a week. Our guide to office cleanout shredding plans a bigger purge from the first walk-through.
The shredding pickup checklist for pickup day
On the day, three people matter: you, the person who signs and the driver. If the boxes are taped, stacked by the exit and counted, the visit is short. Here is who does what.
What you do
Have the boxes staged and the count written down. Keep the door clear and the elevator available. Point out the media bag so it is not mixed into the paper boxes.
What the signer does
Meets the driver, walks them to the boxes, and agrees the box count with them at the door. Signs for that count and keeps a copy or a photo of it for your file.
What the driver does
Counts the boxes with your signer, loads the sealed boxes and takes them straight to our Tewksbury office, where the paper is shredded. Nothing is shredded at your curb.
The signed count matters more than it looks. It is the moment custody passes from you to us, and it is the number the rest of the job is checked against. Our post on chain of custody shredding follows the boxes from that signature to the bale.
If you would rather watch the paper go through the shredder yourself, a pickup is the wrong service. Book a witnessed shredding session in Tewksbury instead, at $1.99 per pound with a $100 minimum, plus $34.90.
After the pickup: the certificate and your file
Pickup material is shredded after it arrives at our Tewksbury office, by cross-cut shredder, and all of the shredded paper is recycled. Then the Certificate of Destruction is issued for the job. It is included at no charge beyond the $14.95 HIPAA filing fee.
What to file together
The signed pickup count, the Certificate of Destruction and your own log of what each numbered box held. Stapled together, those three pages answer what you destroyed, when and who had it in between.
Who needs the file
Medical and dental practices keep it with their HIPAA records. Businesses that use consumer reports keep it with the disposal policy the FTC Disposal Rule expects. Households can keep it with the tax papers that are still on the shelf.
Federal rules point the same way. The FTC Disposal Rule at 16 CFR 682.3 gives, as one example of proper disposal, contracting “after due diligence” with a company “engaged in the business of record destruction.” The FTC’s guide for business adds a simpler rule: put your security expectations in writing in contracts with service providers. For practices covered by HIPAA, we sign a Business Associate Agreement on request. Ask for it when you book.
Our page on the certificate of destruction explains what it shows and how long to keep it. If old drives or phones went out in the media bag, our post on secure hard drive disposal covers what to record for those.
One last item on the checklist: decide when the next pickup happens. If paper is still piling up in the office, put a date on the calendar now. There is no contract to sign. You book another pickup at the same rates when the boxes fill.
Frequently asked questions
What do I need to tell you when I book a pickup?
Four things: the pickup address and door, a box count and box size, how the driver reaches the boxes (ground floor, elevator or stairs) and any drives, phones or discs to destroy. Also give the name of the person who will sign. With those, we confirm your zone, quote any handling fee up front and send the driver to the right place.
Is there an extra charge if my boxes are in the basement?
The zone price assumes ground-level or elevator access. If the boxes are up or down a flight of stairs, or behind restricted access such as a gate or a guard desk, a handling fee applies. It is quoted before the pickup is confirmed. If you carry the boxes to the ground floor yourself before the driver arrives, no handling fee applies.
How much does a shredding pickup cost?
You pay the shredding rate (99 cents a pound under 10 boxes, or $15 per small box and $20 per banker’s box at 10 or more), plus a transport fee of $129.95 in Zone 1, $159.95 in Zone 2 or $199.95 in Zone 3, plus $34.90 in per-job fees. Ten banker’s boxes from a Zone 1 border town come to $364.85.
Who needs to be there when the driver arrives?
One person who can open the door, walk the driver to the boxes and agree the box count. That person signs for the count and keeps a copy or a photo for your file. Name them when you book and pick a backup in case they are out. It does not have to be the owner, just someone you trust with the handoff.
Does the driver shred the paper at my building?
No. The driver counts and loads your sealed boxes and takes them to our office at 1215 Main Street, Unit 115, Tewksbury, Massachusetts, where they are cross-cut shredded. Pickup material is shredded after it arrives at the office. We do not run a shredder at the curb. If you want to watch, book a witnessed session in Tewksbury instead.
Can you pick up the same day I call?
Pickups are by appointment, and we do not promise same-day service. Book as early as you can, especially before a move, a lease end or a practice closing. Drop-off is the fast option for small jobs: walk in Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and drop-off paper is shredded the same business day.
Do I need to take out staples or empty the file folders?
No. Leave staples, paper clips, binder clips, rubber bands and file folders in place. Remove three-ring binder hardware, hanging-folder frames and anything that is not paper. Bag drives, USB sticks, discs and phones separately so the driver can keep them apart from the paper. Media is physically destroyed and quoted per item.
Do I have to sign a contract for regular pickups?
No long-term contract is required. Each pickup is booked and priced on its own, at the same rates every time. If your office fills a few boxes every season, book the next pickup when the boxes fill or put a date on the calendar. Fewer, larger pickups cost less, because the transport fee and the $34.90 per-job fees are charged once per job.
Sources
- GovInfo: 16 CFR Part 682, Disposal of Consumer Report Information and Records, section 682.3 (checked November 2026)
- FTC: Disposing of Consumer Report Information? Rule Tells How (checked November 2026)
- FTC: Protecting Personal Information, A Guide for Business (checked November 2026)
- GovInfo: 45 CFR 164.504, including (e) business associate contracts (checked November 2026)
Book the pickup with the checklist done
Tell us the town, the box count and the stairs when you book, and we confirm the zone and any handling fee before the driver leaves Tewksbury. Prefer to drive? Walk in any weekday with your boxes.
Visit or call
1215 Main Street, Unit 115, Tewksbury, MA 01876. Route 38 near the I-495 interchange, about 15 minutes south of the NH line. Free parking out front.
Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Witnessed sessions and pickups outside these hours by appointment.
Three ways to shred: walk-in drop-off at 99¢ per pound, pickup by zone, or a witnessed session at $1.99 per pound.
New Hampshire Document Shredding · 1215 Main Street, Unit 115, Tewksbury, MA 01876 · (978) 636-0301 · Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.