This is the 21st century, the days of high-speed info exchange, instant global sharing. It is, by result, the days of doing more with less.
When I was a young puppy in this industry, tire company price increases were closely held state secrets. One had to tap into the right person within companies to get the scoop. And that meant dozens of phone calls and endless rounds of phone tag.
Today, with blistering raw material costs, everyone is raising prices on a pretty regular schedule. We all know that.
Yet, some players in this biz still want to play Secret Agent. I get whispered phone calls, hand scrawled notes and odd responses to inquiries I never placed. Some don’t even bother sharing the information.
And this is not a “publicly traded company” thing. Nearly all are traded on one stock market or another; those traded on these shores follow no pattern. Some send out releases, others do not. Head scratcher to be sure.
Of course, MOST tiremakers take the time to put out a press release explaining their increases. That is straight forward and straight up. What is boggling is when one division within a company will tell us about its increase, while the other wants to resort to, let’s say, “unofficial official communications.” Can’t even have one policy in the same building?
Frankly, it is irritating, wholly unnecessary and accomplishes nothing. Everyone in this industry knows what is going on, and sharing price increase info does not break any anti-trust laws I know of (hear that you attorneys?). Come clean, folks.
If you have comments to share, send to me at [email protected].
– Jim Smith
