Aristo! Aristo! A la lanterne!: My gut says this is important.... but why?

Sunday, February 5, 2012

My gut says this is important.... but why?

Saturday I stopped in at the local tire store to purchase new skins for the truck. This is a place I have dealt with for years, and the grouchy old fart who runs the place always ends up talking business with me. He knows what I do, and my background, so we have a common ground to speak on.

This Saturday, a new wrinkle entered the conversation. Amongst the 'Business could be a lot better' and 'No one has any money' and 'The help are idiots' stories.... something new.

Let me preface this next by explaining; This is a 'Tires-Only' retail outlet. They don't do anything else. Just sell, install, and repair tires.

He told me his biggest problem now is getting product.

A few questions on my part, and the details came out. Boil it down, and it comes to this: His company is only able to get about 60% of the tires they need to stock and sell. Six out of ten. He's had standard truck tire sizes backordered for three months now.

His company has nine locations, each able to move a truckload of units each week.

They can't get them.

Something in my gut is telling me this is important. I just can't figure out why yet.

Thoughts?

(Peter shares his at Bayou Renaissance Man)

7 comments:

Peter said...: You're right, it is important: but the answer is too long to put in a comment. I'll do a blog article about it. Check my blog later this morning.; February 5, 2012 at 10:56 AM
Carteach said...: Thank you Peter.

As I listened to the man, I had the distinct impression I was living through a scene from Atlas Shrugged.; February 5, 2012 at 11:01 AM
ZerCool said...: ... this sounds like I should make new sneakers on my truck a priority sooner rather than later.; February 5, 2012 at 11:02 AM
Peter said...: My response is up at:

http://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2012/02/yes-this-is-important.html

Hope it helps!

Peter; February 5, 2012 at 1:49 PM
Carteach said...: Thank you Peter!; February 5, 2012 at 1:53 PM
Crucis said...: I haven't been to Peter's site yet (he's further down my blog-list.) From what I've been able to find doing just a quick search isn't a lack of demand, nor of raw materials, but rather a shortage of production. Prior to 2010, there was sufficient supply to meet our domestic and overseas needs.

However, due to the economy, the producers didn't/couldn't expand and the market increased. Many who would have replaced tires in 2010 and 2011, delayed their purchase. Now, those need have become acute but the amount of production isn't able to meet the demand.

There's a dichotomy there. A demand, but no returned increase in production. Could it be that the uncertainty of the market and other governmental regulations have prevented or delayed expansion of production? Could be.; February 5, 2012 at 2:50 PM
Anonymous said...: Cooper tires is dealing with a strike. They make off brand tires as well as the brand name Cooper. As you can imagine productivity has taken a nose dive. They make lots and lots of tires. Their absence has left a large hole.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/dec2011/coop-d31.shtml; February 6, 2012 at 3:06 PM

Robert Heinlein

"Do not confuse "duty" with what other people expect of you; they are utterly different. Duty is a debt you owe to yourself to fulfill obligations you have assumed voluntarily. Paying that debt can entail anything from years of patient work to instant willingness to die. Difficult it may be, but the reward is self-respect.

But there is no reward at all for doing what other people expect of you, and to do so is not merely difficult, but impossible. It is easier to deal with a footpad than it is with the leech who wants "just a few minutes of your time, please — this won't take long." Time is your total capital, and the minutes of your life are painfully few. If you allow yourself to fall into the vice of agreeing to such requests, they quickly snowball to the point where these parasites will use up 100 percent of your time — and squawk for more!
So learn to say No — and to be rude about it when necessary.
Otherwise you will not have time to carry out your duty, or to do your own work, and certainly no time for love and happiness. The termites will nibble away your life and leave none of it for you.

(This rule does not mean that you must not do a favor for a friend, or even a stranger. But let the choice be yours. Don't do it because it is "expected" of you.)"

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.