RDS boasts decades of quality service

The GO! & Express was born in the late ‘90s when the GO! merged with the Kei Express.

Over the last two-and-a-half decades, it’s seen a number of big changes, from the cycle of staff to a change of base.

However, there is one thing that hasn’t changed, and that’s RDS, run by Kenny Romans, which has been delivering new copies of the GO! & Express since the beginning.

RDS offers leaflet distribution services throughout the Border region and currently employs about 70 people.

The company is owned by Romans and his wife, with the couple having started RDS in 1992.

“It was actually a fairly strange set-up in the beginning. I was an estate agent at the time and we brought out a property magazine every week.

“We found the services that were offered [by the distributor] weren’t of an acceptable standard. Very few people received our magazine.

“So my wife and I decided to start delivering on a Thursday and Friday.

“From there, it just became more and more popular and our services were needed further afield,” Romans said.

His family is also involved with the business, with Roman’s sons Chad and Devin serving as operational manager and assisting with distribution respectively.

While RDS does handle the distribution of the Your Home magazine, the GO! & Express remains the only newspaper handled by the company.

Romans said the lockdown had hit the company hard financially.

For example, RDS had to purchase PPE equipment for all their staff to keep them safe while out delivering.

Romans also said they had seen a decline in business orders.

“We do a lot of leaflet distribution, which has ceased because of Covid-19. “We also have to fetch our staff who come from as far afield as Berlin.

“Once we’ve finished our distribution – we sometimes only finish at 9pm – under normal circumstances, staff would have taken the train home,” he said.

However, Romans was optimistic and praised his dedicated staff, some of whom have been with RDS for a number of years, saying they had had a “major influence on the success of our business”.