Information Overload?: New Data Collection Tools Can Help Dealers – But at a Price
When a telephone installer in Canton, Ohio, leaves his service truck, his boss back at headquarters knows. If the installer moves more than 100 yards from his truck, the boss knows that, too. If that installer checks out his son’s baseball game, the boss can ‘see’ the company’s service truck parked at the ball field,
Price of Progress: Emerging Trends Heating Up Commercial Tire/Wheel Assemblies
All good tire people know that proper inflation is the lifeblood of tire durability. It’s often taken for granted that modern radials, when properly maintained, perform admirably in demanding high-speed, line-haul service. That hasn’t always been the case, however, as some of the more experienced (read: older) maintenance managers might recall. In the latter days
Two of a Kind: Mixing Sizes, Construction Leads to Trailer, Dually Disasters
Why do people seem to lose their ability to reason when selecting tires for trailers and dually trucks? Since tire manufacturers build a specific tire designated as ST – Special Trailer – it is reasonable to assume that they did so for a purpose. Maybe to keep the scene depicted below from happening? Take a
Anatomy of a Steer Tire and Ways to Improve Mileage
Steer tires typically receive a lot of attention from fleets and drivers. Certainly, these tires have a huge impact when it comes to driver comfort and road noise, but their weight-bearing abilities are more of a concern. These tires usually carry more load than any other tire on the vehicle. An individual drive or trailer
Stretching Those Tire Dollars
The best way for any fleet to keep operating costs down is to manage tires. After fuel, tires are a fleet’s largest expenditure. Yet so many fleets tend to under-budget and under-manage this cost center. In fact, many fleets still treat tire management as an entry-level position and appoint the newest, least-experienced technicians to handle
Public Service: Educating Consumers About TPMS is the Biggest Challenge
Com·mu·ni·ca·tion 1. The exchange of information between individuals, for example, by means of speaking, writing, or using a common system of signs or behavior Bart Cavin is general manager of Ken’s Service Center’s three stores in two suburbs southwest of Baltimore – Columbia and Hanover. Combined, they provide tires and service in 26 bays at
Breaking Ground: Service, Real-World Experience Defines Success in Skid-Steer Tire Market
Perhaps the most versatile of all earthmoving equipment, skid-steer loaders have hundreds of applications – excavation, grading, general construction, demolition, recycling, mining, road repair, landscaping, agriculture, snow removal and more. That versatility ensures that there will always be a steady need – and profit opportunity – for tire dealers that sell skid-steer tires. At Maxxis
Gun Control: Compressed Air Can Be a Deadly Weapon in the Wrong Hands
Did you ever grab the air hose to clean off your workbench? Did you feel a little embarrassed when you were engulfed in a cloud of choking dust? Lots of us have, including me – when I was a kid. That’s when the older guys started telling me stories about the dangers of compressed air.
Push the Envelope: Master the Performance Upsell By Knowing About Offsets
“Upsell.” This might be a new word for you or your staff. Or, perhaps your staff has been trained on upselling techniques, and this term is nothing new. In any case, if you want to increase your average sales ticket, there are opportunities that you should look into that will allow you to sell a
A Dangerous Game
How many things can go wrong in one day? Thousands, if you consider that every single thing you do – from brushing your teeth to placing that long overdue call to your accountant – has one of two possible, if relatively minor, consequences. But in any given day, how many actions taken by you and
Fitment Blues: Seven Real-Life Cases Show You How to Handle ‘Common’ Tire/Wheel Problems
You must have at least one employee with some basic knowledge of custom wheels and non-OE high performance tires, even if you don’t sell them. Why would you want to know about something that you don’t sell? First, if you’re not selling custom wheels, you’re missing a huge profit opportunity. Even then, you will certainly
Many Alternatives to Tire Fuel Economy
As record-high fuel prices continue to impact the bottom lines of all types of trucking operations, fleet managers are taking a much closer look at all of the factors that contribute to fuel efficiency. One significant part of the miles per gallon equation is tires, and, as a sizable aspect of any fleet’s costs, maximizing