Richard’s Blogs

I was in a Poundworld type store yesterday and I could not believe the choice of products on offer. From dog beds to duvets, ant powder to Jaffa cakes, and naturally a £15 sack truck. This made me think, why would anyone buy from PARRS when such a diversity of cheap products exists in every out-of-town shopping centre around the country? The answers are here, many are obvious. We are experts at what we do, we know what you need to do to make a great value, high quality sack... Read More

It is a significant organisational challenge for a company to offer flexible working hours to staff at the same time as offering customers and suppliers the absolute highest levels of service. However it is a challenge that needs to be met. Flexible working requests should never be grounds for a battle between a member of staff and their employer. On the contrary, flexible working can be rewarding for both parties; the employee will be happy and less concerned about trying to balance work and domestic responsibilities, and the employer can... Read More

I used to smoke until my wife told me I was not smoking any more owing to the impending arrival of our first-born. Nowadays, announcing you are a smoker, is similar to proclaiming you that you are on the sex offenders register or support UKIP. It’s not cool. So I am pleased that I don’t smoke. What fascinates me now is that smoking e-cigarettes have entered the market as an alternative. There are different rules that apply to vaping and our email this week tells you what they are. Take... Read More

I have been asked to write a blog about one of my favourite products, the Cosco 3-in-1 Sack Truck. It is one of our best selling products because it is amazing value, well made, and does all the jobs a great aluminium sack truck should do. I could go on about the features and benefits, but you really need to try this product yourself to see how fantastic it is. Instead I have written my first, and probably last, limerick, in praise of this great sack truck. Here goes… There once was a... Read More

At Scholes towers, we have spent the weekend fighting over the thermostat. My wife believes that it should be Summer every day of the year, and my three daughters are too obsessed with sacrificing themselves on the high altar of fashion to listen to any arguments from an old fart about wearing more clothes. Conversely I hate to be hot and I think my family can only benefit from my constant lectures about the cost of heating. There is a solution to the issue of central heating wars. And that... Read More

I hesitate to say Happy New Year, because most of us will have returned to our desks through rain-soaked commutes to find an inbox straining almost as much as our belt buckles. Meanwhile, the media, having spent the whole of December telling us to eat and drink as much as possible, is now telling us we have all over-indulged and we should eat less and drink less. My own view is that if there was ever a month to increase consumption, it should be January. So at PARRS, to try... Read More

Happy Christmas from everyone at Parrs. We put up our Christmas tree yesterday at Scholes Towers. For me it is the moment that reminds me why Christmas is so important. My daughters arguing over how much tinsel to put on the tree, the cat hurling himself at the freshly hung baubles and the dog chewing the Christmas angel are as much part of the tradition of Christmas as the clinically obese bearded old man who squeezes down our tiny chimney every year. I can’t pretend that we are a religious... Read More

As Summer makes way for Autumn, and sunshine and showers are replaced by showers and more showers, and people stop complaining about being too hot and start complaining about being too cold, we at PARRS are starting to turn our attention to the state of people crossing our threshold making important deliveries. I was told to write a blog about how we should all buy new entrance matting because first impressions count, and to a certain extent I agree; a smart new entrance mat is a sign that your company... Read More

Lockers are brilliant for storing everything you need for the working day. Whether you are at school, work or university, it is good to know that there is a secure place to put your personal belongings while you go off and do all of the important stuff that needs doing. I want to make an important point here in the spirit of health and safety. Lockers are great for storing things, but they are not so good for storing people. In September 1979, there were some boys at my educational... Read More

Whenever marketing ask me to write a blog about delivery charges, I immediately start bashing at my keyboard with demented fury while foaming at the mouth. So this time I am going to take my Mogadon (other anti-depressants are available), put on my smiley face and remain calm. So let’s look at these businesses who hide their delivery charges. You have spent twenty minutes on their site, entered your email address four times, confirmed that your you live in the UK and not Angola, then you finally get to checkout... Read More

I think that the problem with this product is that it is called a bottle skip. This makes it very difficult for a person to buy for themselves without an implied admission to having a significant drink problem. I have a bottle skip at home. However it does not sit by the side of my armchair in the lounge. And I do not constantly fill it with empty bottles of Stella Artois while shouting obscenities at Match of The Day. A bottle skip should be viewed as a container on... Read More

I’m a substitute for another guy, I look pretty tall but my heels are high. The Who Those of you who are happy to buy cheap, poor quality substitutes when you can have the real thing at a great price, please stop reading this blog. For the rest of you who expect to buy good quality, durable products with your hard earned money, read on. PARRS Step-stool is, without any doubt, the best kick-step you can buy. It is manufactured here in Birmingham from high grade plastic, load tested and then... Read More

Having humiliated the Australian nation last week in the noble game of cricket by regaining The Ashes, it is now time to show our colonial cousins some respect. While they have clearly forgotten how to hold a cricket bat and their defence is about as useful as a French Border patrol, the Australians have a much better understanding of what to do when the sun comes out. Now we could argue that we have less experience of the sun than our antipodean chums, but we really need to understand that... Read More

This week offices across the country are behaving like hairdressing salons on acid. ‘So where are you going on holiday?’  is a question that has developed a metronomic beat of its own as it is repeated ad nauseam from every workplace Aberdeen to Canterbury. The younger staff, who are off to Malia again this year, will be looking forward to immersing themselves in the local culture. This will involve comparing bodily fluids with strangers on the pavement outside The Rose and Crown while clutching a bag of chips and a... Read More

I am sure I speak for all B-to-B retailers in saying that Mr Berners-Lee has had the more influence on our development in the last 15 years than any other man or organisation. Without the internet we would still be printing 200,000 catalogues a year, our customers would not have access to the most up-to-date pricing and it would take us months to bring a new product to market, rather than hours. But there has also been a downside to the internet: Fifteen years ago I knew who all our... Read More

We have just installed a new defibrillator in the phone box in our village and while I don’t want to be pessimistic, I think that it will be significantly more useful to the rural community than the phone that was in there before. Beyond being a venue for courting teenagers and a target for male dogs, our phone box has served little purpose until the instillation of this fantastic defibrillator. Defibrillators save lives, and defibrillators in rural communities offer the opportunity to treat people quickly and efficiently, long before a... Read More

We worked out recently that Parrs currently has about 14,000 unique product codes to choose from. Now we are a bit nerdy when it comes to workplace products; Parrs staff are a rare breed who can often be found gazing at delivery drivers, hanging around behind market stalls and peering at empty bays of racking. So we are perfectly content to spend our waking hours discussing sack trucks, racking and lockers. However we appreciate that you may actually have a life. And you probably just want to get on and... Read More

I went on a competitor’s website this week. They were selling a Litter Picker for £3.50. Wow! I thought, how do they do that? So off I trotted like a drunk pig through the welcoming doors of an abattoir into the ordering process to the inevitable, completely predictable and utterly frustrating moment when the ridiculous £8 delivery charge appeared as I arrived at the check-out with my little basket. Delivery for online goods is just one of the great marketing cons of the 21st century. It’s like an airline trying... Read More

We have just started with a third party review company called Feefo. So when you order online you might get an email asking, very briefly, if you were happy with the service and the quality of the product. I hope this isn’t too much of a nuisance for you, as I know that my general reaction to questionnaires is not that positive. However I think it is better to give our customers the opportunity to comment on Parrs rather than just send out the order, put our hands over our... Read More

In the age of the online review, it’s just not good enough to be satisfied anymore. I pity the Courtyard restaurant and the Oddfellows arms in my home town of Stratford-upon-avon. Out of 154 restaurants in the town reviewed on Tripadvisor, they are the only two that are below average. At school I was taught that average meant somewhere in the middle, however we are lucky enough in Stratford to have 152 eating establishments that are above this kind of acceptable, middle of the road, level. We are either truly... Read More

Ever had a squirrel in your warehouse? And no, that is not a euphemism. Last week we spent an afternoon trying to escort a fluffy tailed rat off the premises; all to no avail. It was a race against time, we knew that once we had locked the building up, our furry friend would have soon had us back at work by setting off the movement sensors in the warehouse. Worse still, I had visions of him calling up all his mates for a huge warehouse squirrel rave, the moment... Read More

Our most expensive sack trucks are the cheapest ones we sell. Ok. So, with headlines like this, a career in advertising is not for me. However there is a serious point here. We have become so obsessed with price that we never consider cost. In our daily lives, we are always looking to spend the least money; whether it is car insurance, clothes or household products. But a bargain is only a bargain if what we buy for less money does the job just as well as a more expensive... Read More

Last weekend I decided to take my bike out and roam the Warwickshire countryside. I dressed appropriately, studiously avoiding any figure-hugging Lycra ( I wouldn’t wish that sight on any unsuspecting passer-by!), then went out to locate the bike that I had carefully stored at the back of the garage in September. Unfortunately the children had not regarded my noble Bicycle with the same deferent respect as I had. It had been buried under a selection of odd plastic items, old sheets and a teapot which we had been considered... Read More

The sun is shining here at Parrs Pavilions and the local council are out mowing all of the flowers that are trying to get a short glimpse of this beautiful weather. The warehouse staff are still wearing their hi-viz vests despite the warm weather, although I would appreciate it if they could wear some other pieces of clothing as well. Oh well. In anticipation of the forthcoming European elections, I wanted to talk about a side of being in this huge trading block that many of you may not be... Read More