About a month ago, I purchased “new to me” tires at Rusty’s Tire, 2401 West Broadway. The tires cost 30-something dollars each, which included the installation. Where, I wondered, does Rusty’s get such affordable tires?
One of the guys at the shop told me how the owner goes to scrapyards and finds the vehicles with decent tires, which he purchases and resells at the shops. But scrapyards are probably not the only source of re-salable tires.
A friend of mine related what she was told about the source of Rusty’s wares: Out in the affluent suburbs, “soccer mom” car owners purchase new tires yearly. But their old tires are still relatively decent, suitable for resale in our happy (rapidly revitalizing!) hood. Thus the tires make their way down the socio-economic food chain. Everybody wins, including the earth, since re-using tires is better for the environment than creating new tires. (Though riding a bike and using mass transit is, of course, even better.)
I must say that, for a long time, I hesitated to do business with Rusty’s. It was only due to the repeated enthusiastic recommendations of my friends (click for only one example, already published on this blog) that I ventured into their humble shop on West Broadway. Now I’m a fan of Rusty’s and I will be buying all my “next to new” tires there.
Comment