Port of Los Angeles as snapped by a Falken associate who was flying into LAX recently. He said, "There are so many ships out there that have not been unloaded. I’m sure we have a bunch of tires floating out there."

Where have all the tires gone? Thought I’d pass on some notes that I received from our friends at Falken. In case you haven't heard, the supply lines that bring tires and just about everything else into the states via ports are a tangled up mess. Shipping has never caught up after the shutdown and subsequent surge that occurred this past summer. Cargo ships sit idling off the coasts for weeks as there are not enough docks available to unload onto. Once the containers are unloaded the next issue is the shortage of chassis that the trailers need to roll your way. The ports are piled high with empty containers that must get shipped back overseas some day. Cooper reported to us last summer that they had Roadmaster tires piling up at their factory with no empty containers to put them in. Driver shortages are another issue. Hardly a week goes by that we don’t experience a cancelled delivery from one of our vendors. The usual explanation is “Sorry we don’t have a driver.”    Here’s some stats on Falken’s uber popular AT3W: FALKEN WILDPEAK AT3W Status: 92,492 inbound tires over the next 60 days (1 -60 days out) 56,765 out of the total are inbound over the next 30 day 35,727 out of the total are inbound between 30 and 60 days All backorders will be satisfied as the count stands today and stock on hand should increase.   The west coast doesn’t have a monopoly on this. The Northeast New York/New Jersey Port Terminal is heavily congested. Terminals report that volumes have increased by 30% year over year. The Terminals are simply not equipped to deal with these volumes. Terminals have been turning away ships since they are at capacity.  Please understand that the people at K&W Tire are doing everything they can to maintain the best supply possible. Tires are arriving daily and we never stop ordering more.

They're throwing money at you and you're ducking? Sometimes we get calls asking us to match a competitor's price when we’re literally one dollar more. Dollars are important. No doubt. Imagine the look of surprise that our friends at Cooper and Falken display when dealers that are already selling their products pass on the opportunity to get some serious extra cash. Cooper is paying their Medallion dealers signed-up counter people an extra $7 per tire on Enduramax and $6 on each AT3 and CS5. Cooper’s Tyler Hardgrove (who was a real live math teacher before the tire biz) says, “To upload an invoice, it’s easier to use a phone than a computer. All you have to do is go to www.coopertirerewards.com on your phone, login and then select ‘submit a claim.’ Choose ‘take a picture’ with your phone and it will upload the invoice After that, you fill in the information based off of the invoice and hit ‘submit.’ It takes roughly 1 minute and 20 seconds to do an upload and you make $24-$28 per set.” Or in Math World that’s $1,400 per hour. Cooper calls this “Corner into Cash” and it’s running until February 13th. For more info click HERE.

I'm not making this up Falken has a spiff program too. They call it the ‘Falken Spiff Program.’ See, I couldn’t have possibly made that up. Like that Cooper deal, this is over and above the Fanatic program. And until February 28, they’ll fork over $10 per tire on your retail sales of CT60 and WILDPEAK A/T TRAIL. Now I’m no math whiz (my Mom still has the algebra tutor bills) but that works out to something like $40 bucks a set. Falken’s Joe Aruta reports, “It takes 3 minutes to register and up to 3 minutes to submit (actually about 1 ½ min). At 3 minutes and $40 a set that’s $800 per hour.” And that is his conservative estimate... To Learn more click HERE.

Indispensable Propaganda

Your friends at Cooper have Q1 covered with counterperson spiffs, followed with Double Bucks, and then a consumer rebate. Extra rewards to be had by all. Medallion dealers might notice Uncle Cooper sweetened all levels with an extra buck for the whole year. If you notice another brand lowered their payouts... call me and we’ll talk. Check out the new payouts HERE.

News you can't possibly use But it’s kind of neat. And I can write about it because Avon Tire is owned by Cooper and they helped with the restoration... Who didn’t love 70s superstar stuntman Evel Knievel? Did you have the toy? The kid’s hairstyle? Evel was the man. He had 433 bone fractures in his storied career. And this bike - A Laverda 750? I had no idea. I thought he was a Harley guy. Anyway, this bike was discovered stored away in Montana and is now on display at the Evel Knievel Museum in Topeka Kansas.  This was the heaviest of Evel’s machines and it survived 13 jumps from 1969-1970. For nostalgia, or if you’re too young to remember, watch a quick video of Evel jumping this bike over 13 Pepsi trucks by clicking HERE.

Need to talk? Call me 717.314.4949 Jeff Short

Thank you for your continued support! K&W Tire