Bob Ulrich

Editor

Bob Ulrich was named Modern Tire Dealer editor in August 2000. He joined the magazine in 1985 as assistant editor, and has been responsible for gathering statistical information for MTD's "Facts Issue" since 1993. He has won numerous awards for editorial and feature writing, including five gold medals from the International Automotive Media Association. Bob earned a B.A. in English literature from Ohio Northern University and has a law degree from the University of Akron.

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The i's don't always have it: why retail tire dealers are Jobs-proof

By: Bob Ulrich

Steve Jobs was a visionary who changed the world. How many of us will be deserving of that description when we die?

I have a friend who first said Jobs, the co-founder and former chairman of Apple Inc., had a lot of help with his greatest works, then described him as a "peddler." I think that trivializes his role. Here's a quote from Jobs during an interview on "60 Minutes" in 2003:

"My model for business is the Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other's kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That's how I see business: Great things in business are never done by one person, they're done by a team of people."

He believed in the product before everything else, choosing to help develop the iPod, iPhone and iPad and let the chips fall where they may. (People might also remember he had something to do with that thing called the Apple computer.).

Good or bad, however, his products have helped put many a retailer out of business. Record and book stores are becoming dinosaurs. Even Best Buy sells music (iTunes, iSong) and movie download cards, which essentially keep people from buying CD's and movies in the store.

I bring this up because my thought is how Jobs-proof the retail tire industry is. Yes, consumers can buy tires online, but they still have to get them mounted somewhere. Also, there is a lot of inconvenience with ordering tires and taking them to the dealership.

One solution for the consumer has been TireBuyer.com from American Tire Distributors Inc. The tires can be shipped directly to its associate dealer, who also makes a profit on the tire sale.

In the end, none of us can escape death. But no one is predicting the eventual death of the independent tire dealer. Even talk of his or her decline is greatly exaggerated.

Related Topics: American Tire Distributors, Consumer Tires, iPad, TireBuyer.com

comments

1. RONNIE | October 11, 2011 at 05:16AM
   THE INDEPENDENT TIRE DEALER WORKS HARDER TODAY TO MAKE LESS.YOU HAVE GOT TO BE PREPARED TO ADVANCE YOUR BUSINESS TO THE NEXT STEP.SOMETIMES IT WORKS AND SOMETIMES IT DOES NOT.ALOT OF THE INDEPENDENT TIRE DEALERS WILL LEARN TO GET BY WITH LESS,SOME WILL NOT BE ABLE TO.USUALLY GREAT THINGS ARE NOT DONE BY JUST ONE PERSON,BUT IN MY OPINION BEING AN INDEPENDENT DEALER LESS WOULD BE BETTER.