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PRESENTATION
MADE BY HARVEY BRODSKY OF THE TIRE RETREAD INFORMATION BUREAU INTRODUCTION Public resistance to retreaded tires is an ongoing one, caused mainly by the public's mis-perception that all tire debris comes from retreads. As long as the motoring public believes that all tire debris on roads and highways comes from retreads, the problem will persist. The retread industry must rise to the challenge by continually countering negative mentions of retreads in the media and by promoting the environmental and economic advantages that are offered by the use of retreaded tires. THE PROBLEM Perception versus
reality THE SOLUTION Everyone connected with the retread industry has an obligation to be on the alert for any negative mentions of retreads that might appear in the media, either in magazines, newspapers or on radio or television. Whenever such a mention occurs it MUST be answered immediately by contacting the appropriate media contact, either by a letter to the editor, or by telephone, e-mail or fax to the newspaper, radio or TV station. The reply should give our side of the story and should specifically rebut any inaccurate mentions that might have been made. An interesting example (one of very many) is a statement that was made on the American TV program, NBC Dateline, on 23 October 1998. The statement was made by a reporter that steel belted tires could not be retreaded. His exact quote was, "Why are tires so hard to get rid of? Well, for one thing, the steel belts that make them work better actually prevent recycling. You can't retread steel belted tires..." (emphasis mine). TRIB immediately contacted NBC and pointed out that the above statement was 100% inaccurate, and that there were probably 100 million steel belted retreads running on highways all over the world. NBC Dateline arrogantly refused to make any kind of an on-air retraction, although they admitted that they were wrong. Because of our First Amendment in the U.S. we were not able to further pursue this matter. We lost this one and the many millions of viewers who watched that particular NBC Dateline program went to bed that night convinced that steel belted radials could not be retreaded. But we win far more than we lose. Another recent example was with our national newspaper, USA TODAY. The September 26, 2000 issue had a very negative letter to the editor about retreaded tires. The letter, which was titled CONTROL INFERIOR TIRES ON TRUCKS, stated the following:
TRIB immediately replied with our rebuttal letter to the editor which was printed a few days later. Here is what our letter, which was titled BALANCE MISSING IN RETREAD TIRES DEBATE, stated:
Over the years TRIB has responded to over 100 negative mentions about retreads which have appeared either in magazines, newspapers, radio or television. In the vast majority of cases our rebuttals have been printed or aired, thereby allowing the public to learn about "the other side of the story." Proactive is better
than reactive One must realize, however, that we as an industry could never raise enough money to fund a massive publicity campaign in the media. One advertisement on television would probably consume our entire budget for a year. So the answer lies in what we call "Guerrilla Marketing" in the U.S. "Guerrilla Marketing" means that we must strike by using public service (usually offered free of charge) announcements on radio and television, and by submitting public service non-commercial articles to the printed media. It also means offering to speak about retreads at various civic and service club meetings, and to bring along actual retreaded tires for the audience to see and touch. Offering retread plant tours to schools and other interested groups is another way to tell the positive story about retreads. Most people have no idea how tires are retreaded and how sophisticated the process actually is. A plant tour is practically guaranteed to make converts of all the people who attend. All of the above will help to tell the positive story of retreading and enumerate the many benefits retreads have to offer the motoring public. It is kind of like going to church every week. We don't hear anything that we haven't heard before, but it is necessary to have it restated in another form so that the message continues to sink in to our consciousness. Quality is everything Our mission as an industry must be to weed out those operators who skimp on quality. Any retread tire that is manufactured to less than the highest standards harms the entire retread industry. The new ECE regulations 108 and 109, although perceived as a major headache by many in the retread industry, will probably do much to raise the quality level of all tires retreaded throughout the United Kingdom and Europe. Thanks to the recent Firestone fiasco in the U.S. and many other parts of the world, we in the states will probably be facing our own new regulations of our retread industry before too long. Truckers - Our
best friends and our worst enemies When he "limps on in," he may make it to the truck stop but very often the damaged tire will have come apart on the way, throwing pieces of tire debris all over the highway. Unfortunately, the person driving his car directly behind the truck sees the tire debris being thrown off the truck and thinks to himself, "There's another damn retread. There really ought to be a law against those things!" It would be hard to convince him that he might have seen a virgin tire come apart. The fact is that on any given day on any given highway anywhere, an examination of the tire debris picked up will show that much of the debris examined will have come from tires that have never been retreaded. The true culprit is improper tire maintenance. Tires that are not properly maintained will fail and it doesn't matter if the tires are virgin or retreads. When they do fail and come apart the entire retread industry suffers. CONCLUSIONS As long as tires fail and come apart, throwing tire debris on highways, the retread industry will continue to suffer from the perception that the failed tires are all caused by retreading. Since it is probably impossible to ever totally educate truckers and other motorists about the importance of proper tire maintenance, along with the importance of stopping immediately upon detecting a tire problem, the best our industry can hope for is that our members continue to educate the public about the real causes of rubber on the road. An ongoing public relations campaign is vital to our survival and will result in the increased use of retreaded tires, which in turn will contribute to the reduction in scrap tires that should have been put back into full service after retreading. A tire is designed for multiple lives; anything less than allowing that tire to live out its multiple lives before being retired to the scrap pile is both wasteful from an ecological point of view, and not smart from an economic point of view. The Tire Retread Information Bureau is dedicated to recycling by promoting the environmental and economic benefits of retreads. Our tools include Retread Tire Information Packets, two very active web sites (www.retread.org & www.roadgator.com), videos, news releases, a speakers bureau, attendance at environmental and trucking shows, etc. We have been doing this for over 25 years and will continue to do so in the future.
I wish to acknowledge the financial support of all members of the Tire Retread Information Bureau worldwide, along with the ongoing technical support we receive from the International Tire & Rubber Association. We could not continue our important mission without this support. REFERENCES 1. RETREAD TIRE INFORMATION PACKET. Tire Retread Information Bureau, November 2000. 2. UNDERSTANDING RETREADING. International Tire & Rubber Association, 1994
Harvey Brodsky, Managing
Director
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