Warren is still delivering the goods after 35 years

What started out as a one man and his car delivery business back in 1989 is still going strong 35 years later.

Owner Warren Etchells (55), who is originally from Royton, has seen his business go through many changes over the years and now has a 2000 sq ft warehouse in Chadderton.

QED Business Services now provide packaging supplies to anyone from house movers and ebayers to businesses needing a van load of bubble wrap or a pallet of cardboard boxes.

Warren is quick to point out that the courier business he established back in 1989 in the spare bedroom at his parents' house is still going strong too, although after driving over a million miles personally he is now content to use drivers to keep that side going rather than be on the road himself.

The business has seen many changes over the years.

"There were no mobile phones and sat navs when I started," Warren laughs.

However, the biggest change of all for the business came in 1999 when he started selling packaging to his existing courier customers after spending a couple of years learning about products and gradually chipping away at the supply chain until he got to the manufacturers.

Now pallet wrap and adhesive tapes arrive by the pallet load and its not unusual to see 40 feet trailers packed with full loads of boxes and bubble wrap arrive at QED.

Warren is well aware that many of the products he sells contain plastic, but equivalent paper products are also available if required. 

Warren said: "We can supply paper tape, paper and cardboard wrapping and void fill and even embossed paper bubble wrap.

"The biggest problem with trying to grow this market, though, is the cost.

"Paper products are more expensive and people often don’t want to pay extra."

Warren also points out that his bubble wrap now has a minimum of 50% recycled content and the entire waste his business sends to landfill is less than a bin liner a week.

He added: "We recycle all our clear polythene, scrap cardboard and scrap pallets.

"I also operate a section of the business called the boxbay ‘carton rescue centre’.

"It is a bit of a play on words, but it is true that 90% of the 20,000 or so boxes we usually have in stock have been rescued from destruction and well re-homed.

"Waste in the cardboard industry is disgusting.

"Most of our ‘rescued’ boxes are brand new, perfect and have never been used.

"We buy these in bulk to save them being pulped and then our customers buy off us and save a fortune.

"We have about 10,000 boxes at just 30p each.

All sides of the QED business remained busy during COVID.

They didn't close for a single day and the business is currently the busiest it has ever been.

Warren aded: "Remember, my business is here for everyone and no order is ever too small for me to care.

"I am just a working class lad from Royton who left school at 16, did this and that for a few years, and then started my own business at 21.

"The rest is history.

"Thankfully the run of constant price hikes from suppliers seems to be settling down.

"That was very challenging, although further challenges lie ahead especially with regards to electric vehicles, road pricing, etc.

"I will just continue to adapt to change as I have done for 35 years and hopefully we'll still be around in another five years."

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