I'm in the same boat as Grace - in a rural area so have to contract with a private company. They provide the big wheeled container and pick up once a week, and will pick up extra items too, just so long as the guys can pick it up and throw it in to be compacted. We put an old sofa out this week that weighed a ton - and they took it. Surprised me!
Anyway, I pay quarterly and it is now up to $76.50 and they are the cheapest ones around. When I first went with this company about 7 or 8 years ago - it was $40 something each quarter. So it's $76.50 minus a senior discount of $4.50 and then add back in $4.21 diesel surcharge, and I end up paying $76.21 - for now anyway!!!