WASHINGTON (Jan. 14, 2004) — The U.S. Postal Service's plans for a nationwide procurement contract for tires are unworkable and show scant knowledge of the way the retread industry works, representatives of the Tire Industry Association and the Tire Retread Information Bureau said after a Jan. 7 meeting with USPS officials in Philadelphia.
“These are nice people, and their hearts are in the right place,” said Harvey Brodsky, TRIB managing director. “But the way they're going about it is totally wrong.”
The USPS asked TIA, TRIB and the bidding companies to submit further information relating to the contract plans by Jan. 21, according to Marvin Bozarth, TIA senior technical consultant.
Last year, the USPS said it wants to triple its use of retread tires in its vehicle fleet by awarding a nationwide retread supply contract to a large retread technology company. The move concerned TIA and TRIB because of fears that smaller, family-owned retreaders could lose local postal service contracts that have become their bread and butter.