The Inspiration
A tire storage system was already in place at O’Shea Tire & Service Center when Rich Borra took over the shop in 2003, but it wasn’t being offered to every customer. Borra saw this as a missed opportunity. Tires are bulky and not at the top of everyone’s priority list, Borra explains. By offering every customer that comes in the door an area to store the tires that are not currently being used, the shop is able to see each customer’s vehicle a minimum of two times per year.
Since there was room to store even more tires in the shop, Borra made the decision to expand. By adding additional shelving space on top of the existing tire storage and utilizing other open areas in the shop, Borra is now able to offer storage to every customer that comes into the shop.
What It Is
A systemized storage area for customers’ seasonal tires.
What It Does
Every customer that walks in the door is offered an option to store his or her extra tires. If a customer opts in, the staff takes down the customer’s name and address, vehicle information, and tire brand and size. Once that information is collected, that tag is attached to the tires and that set of tires is assigned a color section and row number. When that customer comes back in, the shop takes his or her information and can look up the location of the tires (for example: Red, Row 11).
When a customer signs up for tire storage, he or she signs a document that states that they will come in for those tires once per calendar year. Borra implemented this as a way to cut down on storing tires that certain customers would never pick up. At the end of that year, the staff makes phone calls to remind customers to come in to get their tires changed over.
How It's Made
To create tire storage, Borra expanded vertically on a wooden construction shelving system that the shop already had. The wooden shelves have been painted five different colors to correspond with the color zones and each row is numbered to make locating tires easier.
The Cost
Since Borra already had shelving in place, it only cost him roughly $300 for the expansion and paint.
The ROI
O’Shea’s charges $15.95 for tire changeover and $17.95 for tire storage and change over. That means that each set of tires being stored earns the shop an additional $2. If customers come in twice per year, that’s $4 in storage fees alone that the shop gets.
Borra says that the shop currently has roughly 1,250 tires in its storage area, which means that the shop earns $2,500 for storing winter tires and $2,500 for storing summer tires, which results in $5,000 per year in additional profit.
Borra adds that the tire storage service also means he gets more work since he sees all of those customers twice per year. That guaranteed time with the customer helps him sell new tires if they are needed, or find other jobs that that customer might need.
