Originally Posted by deepbluejh

Remember that the Tirerack gets much lower prices than some tire shop down the road.

Originally Posted by aj_40_9

I have a hard time believing there is little money to made in tires, even if that's slightly true, this particular company not only marked the price exactly the same for both front and back, which are two different sizes. He's then going to charge me another $16 to mount and balance each tire. People, I got it, everyone's got to make a living but there's making a living and there's jabbing me cause you know you can. Lets do the math, we're talking ruffly $664 before taxes for all four out the door. Lets say the tires cost $100 for the back and $90 for the front. That leaves us with $284 to cover expenses. shipping the tires might have cost $50. Now im pretty sure it might cost the company $2 to actually mount and balance all 4 wheels with new valve stems and weights. They've got to pay Joe Snufy his $8-9 an hour. That makes ruffly $61 to get the job done, now the rest of that $223 is going to what.. Some of you would say the electricity to operate the machinery, lights, insurance, maybe even the rent for the building. We'll be generous and knock off $50 for all that. Now that still leaves $173 that the company just made off that one sale. For what, giving you the mental comfort of a warranty on tires, so when you pick up a nail or something you can have them fix it. Lets knock off another $2.10 for that repair that you'll more then likely never really need anyway. What i'm getting at here is the fact that you know just as well as me that if there was no money to be made then you wouldn't sell them, nobody would. Please don't think that i'm writing this to be spiteful and some of you made some great points, but you can't honestly sit there and tell me that it's reasonable to believe that there is no profit here, if there was no profit they wouldn't exist.

Originally Posted by takeshi

Be careful tossing the ass label around so freely. Why do you think every retailer pays the same price? Larger retailers have more buying power and can more easily absorb lower pricing and loss leaders since they can rely on volume sales. Have you never heard of a chain called Walmart? They have so much buying power that they can actually dictate terms to their suppliers.

If you don't understand you can ask or research the matter without being a pompous ass yourself.

This too. Consider that B&M's need locations in prime spots (as they rely on customers walking in the door) which costs big money. Online retailers can purchase and utilize relatively cheap spaces since they don't have to deal with B&M locations and only have to ship products to their customers.