History of SKS Bottle & Packaging, Inc.

SKS Bottle & Packaging Inc. was founded in 1986 by Paul and Barbara Horan, who named the company after their three sons: Steven, Kendall, and Shaun. The Horans started the business as a garage-based home operation, with Paul's innovative ideas, 12 years of packaging experience, and a lifetime of entrepreneurship driving the company forward.

From the outset, SKS focused on customer satisfaction, timely order shipments, and quality products and services. The company began as a wholesale distributor of glass and plastic bottles and closures, with Paul making sales calls, hand-writing orders, and packaging and delivering products while Barbara managed the home office and took care of their three young boys. As the SKS client base grew, the company expanded its product line to include glass jars, plastic jars, metal cans, and tins.

Between 1986 and 1990, SKS relocated to larger warehouses eight times to accommodate the company's rapid growth. In 1990, the company built a new 15,000 square foot facility in Malta, NY, to house its extensive product line and warehouse operations.

As the twenty-first century approached, SKS embraced new technology and developed a comprehensive and innovative e-commerce website that eventually replaced the printed catalog and mail order process. SKS was one of the first packaging companies to enter the e-commerce market, and the company was able to expand its sales radius internationally, add new products more quickly, and increase efficiency. Rather than look overseas for cost savings, SKS recognized the quality and value of American manufacturing and continued to purchase inventory directly from USA manufacturers.

In 2005, SKS upgraded to a 52,000 square foot warehouse/business space in Watervliet, NY, which has since been expanded to 72,000 square feet.

In 2007, SKS launched a sister site, SKS Science Products, aimed at laboratories, hospitals, and other branches of the scientific community.

Thanks to the success of its e-commerce site and more efficient operations, SKS has been able to reduce its minimum sales order threshold and offer free shipping on orders over $350.00 shipped within the continental US since 2010.

In May 2014, SKS opened a second warehouse in Sparks, NV, which improved the ordering experience for West Coast customers with improved transit times, reduced shipping costs, and innovations in order processing.

In 2016, Steven and Kendall Horan took the helm of SKS, following in their father's footsteps and aiming to bring the company into the future with an ever-expanding product line, added services, phenomenal customer service, and continual innovation in the packaging industry.

In 2017, SKS broke ground on its current warehouse and offices in Saratoga Springs, NY, which offer a total of 143,000 square feet of space, including two stories of offices.

Despite the unprecedented challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic throughout 2020, SKS persevered and celebrated a momentous milestone in 2021 - 35 years of remarkable success and growth. With the unwavering dedication of the Horan family and their committed employees, SKS remains steadfast in its commitment to providing exceptional products and services to customers.

Today, SKS remains a wholesale distributor and supplier of packaging containers, offering an expansive collection of glass bottles, plastic bottles, aluminum bottles, glass jars, plastic jars, glass vials, plastic vials, plastic bags, metal cans, metal tins, various caps and closures, custom labels, scientific labware, and packaging equipment. SKS serves customers in many diverse industries, including aromatherapy, cosmetics, herbal, food, consumer products, chemical, and pharmaceutical, and offers a wide range of pre-engineered bottle and packaging products, as well as unique decorating and consulting services to suit individual customer needs.

As SKS looks towards the future, it remains poised to meet the evolving needs of its valued customers with unwavering excellence.

SKS has operated under the following principles since its beginning:

• Make environmentally conscious decisions
• Choose products manufactured in the USA whenever possible
• Skilled and dedicated employees as well as customer and vendor relationships are vital to the company's growth and success

These values are reflected in product quality, smooth operations, comprehensive customer service and competitively priced products.

Customer satisfaction has always factored significantly into company decisions. SKS aims to provide knowledgeable and friendly customer service, listens to the needs of customers, searches to expand our product line and provides many customer-oriented policies and features including:

• How-to videos, detailed Help/Info pages, live chat and easy-to-access online accounts
• No purchasing minimums or small order fees
• Free shipping (view for more information) of orders meeting certain requirements
• Sample requests
• Large quantity discounts

SKS began making environmentally-conscious choices when it switched from white shipping boxes to recyclable cardboard boxes in 1994 and has looked for ways to further reduce its environmental impact since. We have continued to achieve this through:

• Offering Mystery bags containing discontinued and overstock items which are free with purchase
• Reduction of waste in warehouse and office operations
• Paperless initiative: SKS now sends digital packing slips and invoices through email rather than including printed versions, and continuously strives to handle documents related to internal processing in the same way.
• Damaged products are returned to manufacturers for recycling