Mason Hess is the Director of Global Mining Division at Purcell Tire and an Executive Board Member and past President of the Tire Industry Association. He is a third-generation “tire guy” whose grandfather ran an independent tire store and whose father worked in the tire industry for decades. Mason began working full-time in the tire industry in 1995, joining D&D Tire in 2007 before it was purchased by Purcell Tire.
When you think about the tires and the various industries that rely on them, you probably overlook the mining industry — which relies on very large and expensive tires and depends on a tremendous amount of service from tire professionals. Because of that dependence on service, Purcell Tire’s Mason Hess says there’s a true partnership between the mining and tire industries. Mining professionals purchase expensive tires — which can cost up to $100,000 apiece — before tire professionals go in with the intent to add value, extend tire life, and reduce costs.
On this episode of Gain Traction, Mike Edge welcomes Mason for the first-ever mining-centric conversation heard on this podcast. Mason talks about the size and costs associated with tires used in the mining industry and why tire service is so important. He also discusses his experience as past president of the Tire Industry Association and what he learned about its effect on industries like farming and mining.
Announcer:
Welcome to the Gain Traction podcast, where we feature top automotive entrepreneurs and experts and share their inspiring stories. Now, let’s get started with the show.
Mike:
Welcome to the Gain Traction podcast. I am Mike Edge, your host today. The Gain Traction podcast is where I talk with top automotive business leaders, particularly in the tire industry as well as auto repair. Before we get started today, I’d like to give a big shout out to Modern Tire Dealer and editor Mike Manges for having me write an article in May’s publication. The title of the article is How to Boost Sales Through Digital Marketing, Why Digital Marketing is as Important as Your P&L. You can find it on page 49 in the hard copy. Thanks again to Modern Tire Dealer and editor Mike Manges.
Also, I’d like to encourage you, if you haven’t already, to listen to a great recent interview that I did with Roy Littlefield. Roy is the past CEO of TIA, Tire Industry Association, and is currently the Government Affairs Consultant for TIA. We discussed right to repair and tire registration, which affects many of the folks listening in this audience today. And those effects, the fines, the expense that could be behind tire registration, or the loss of business if we don’t get right to repair, is massive to our industry. So thanks again to Roy for just revealing all the information he did, and taking the time to be with us, and just tell us what’s going on in our industry, and why those issues are so important.
Today’s episode is brought to you by Tread Partners and the ReTread marketing program. So what the heck is a ReTread marketing program? It is a full scale customer re-engagement program to win back your best lost customers. It is a one-time 120 day program that generates a guaranteed 10 to one return on investment. That’s correct. A 10 to one guaranteed ROI. This is no tricks or gimmicks. It really works and it brings back lost customers that have been gone maybe for six to 24 months. These are customers that are sitting in your point of sale system right now. So, for instance, if you were to invest $4,000 today, what we’re saying is that you would see a $40,000 return in 120 days from that list of customers. So what are you waiting for? Email me [email protected], or you can visit treadpartners.com.
Our guest today is Mason Hess. He is director of mining division at Purcell Tire. He was also past president of TIA, the Tire Industry Association. And we’re very excited to have him today. Mason, welcome to the Gain Traction podcast.
Mason:
Thanks, Mike, appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
Mike:
Yeah, we’re looking forward to discussing. So you’re coming from a whole new angle for us. We’ve done a lot of interviews with manufacturers of tires, people that are advocates like Roy Littlefield, and then we’ve done retail. But mining’s a whole new space for us, so we’re excited about this one.
Mason:
Yeah, yeah, it’s a niche out there that a lot of people don’t know about. And I got a little bit of a challenge following up after Brother Roy last week with you, but we’ll give it a shot, huh?
Mike:
Absolutely. So let’s get into your history. We like to take this a little biographical, and most of our audience knows this. So if you could tell us a little bit about yourself, where you came from, where you grew up?
Mason:
Yeah, I’ve basically been around tires most of my life. My dad was in it, he was around the tire business, and so was my grandpa. So I guess I got it in my blood somewhat. But I grew up, in high school, I spent the weekends unloading trailers of tires and doing that stuff with my dad. And went off to college. And when I got out of college, created a bunch of credit card debt, so figured I’ll go work in the tire business for a little bit and pay off my credit card debt. Thinking I was going to go do something else in life, be a firefighter or something. Then, next thing I know, here I am, 30 years later.
But I got back in with my dad, just working in accounting. I got an accounting degree when I was in college. And was in a cubicle, and did not really like the cubicle life after being a wild animal out in the wilderness for so long. So I watched a lot of the salesmen in the industry that would come through the corporate office. I worked for a company, Cobra Tire. And they strut through the corporate office like peacocks. The salesman got their chest out and they got their golf shoes on. And you have an impression of what those guys are a little bit. And thought, “Oh man, I want to do that.” So very quickly I said-
Mike:
You said, “Man, those guys look happy.”
Mason:
Yeah, “Those guys look like they don’t have to…” I was in accounting, so I was in a cubicle, balancing T-cells, trying to do general ledger stuff, real exciting stuff. But I quickly got dumped into basically commercial sales. And I didn’t know anything about tires. I just was out fumbling around. But I was good on a computer, and I considered myself a nerd, an internal tire nerd. And I would go out, take pictures, and collect data in the evenings, when scraper fleets would park and get lubed and fueled, I was out there surveying and stuff. But, over time, that grew and one opportunity after another. I worked into the mining group, out of commercial.
And then went through two buyouts in my career, only changed jobs once. Cobra Tire got bought by GCR, which was Bridgestone. And then I left Bridgestone/GCR to work for a company, D & D, about 10 years ago. And then they got bought up by Purcell. So went to work for Cobra Tire, and D & D, and then I kid around and say, “Oh well, they bought Cobra Tire because I was there. They bought D & D because I was there, to get me.” Because I was so valuable as some accountant or something. But then fumbled my way through with Purcells as a regional guy, handling Mexico and Alaska and the Southwest. And pretty much ended up going back to regional focus with some of the sales, all around mining for the most part. And then recently messed around for the last seven years with TIA, being part of the board of directors there and the executive group. And here I am-
Mike:
That’s awesome.
Mason:
… 30 years later.
Mike:
Well, and folks, I’m going to tell you something. So I got to do a little study and background check on this guy. And he’s Arizona’s greatest athlete, I think. No, I’m serious, man. You had some impressive stuff.
Mason:
Well, me and Al Bundy. I think Al Bundy’s got it won, but I might be second place. Ask my kids, they’ll tell you that I won’t stop talking about the glory days.
Mike:
Oh, there you go. You’re like the old Bruce Springsteen song there, Glory Days.
Mason:
Yeah, something like that.
Mike:
Well, it was cool. Look, you played football, basketball, you were involved in track and field. Folks, he’s actually even won a dunk contest, and then he’s been a marksman at a thousand yards for… But that’s a later hobby from what I could tell. Is that accurate?
Mason:
Yeah, I had to find something to stay busy outside of the tire business because it didn’t wear me out enough, I guess. But yeah, I messed around with long distance shooting, and I also did dirt bikes for 20 years.
Mike:
Did you break anything?
Mason:
Yeah, broken a few things. I’ve eaten a few bugs. But I lived through it. Really good memories, had a bunch of really good friends that we got to go out and see the world a little bit. We did boys trips up to Utah and Colorado and all over the place, running dirt bikes up in the hill. So I’m good.
Mike:
Well, so you got into the mining industry. Talk about the… Because this is a cool topic for me. I’ve not had anybody to discuss this with, and I don’t really have that interaction. So I was excited to have you on as a guest. Talk about the sheer size of the tire? Because one of the things I had told you prior to us recording, I’ve had experience walking through the Caterpillar dump truck plant in Decatur, Illinois, so where they make the largest dump trucks in the world. And you can’t even assemble them in site. You have to take them onsite wherever they’re being shipped to, assemble them. But a couple of things I remember, and I refreshed my memory by looking it up, but they weigh 1.3 million pounds. They cost around three and a half million dollars. They can carry 363 tons. And they’re 24 feet tall. That’s insane. So how do you get it to work?
Mason:
We just say they’re big. But like I said, it’s a specialty niche. And the largest tire in the world is what they call 70/70, and that’s in size or by mass. It’s a big loader tire for one of the giant loaders. And that tire’s over $100,000, just for one tire. And then the haul truck, like you mentioned, those tires are very, very big as well, 63-inch, they call them. That’s the wheel size. So instead of your 20-inch spinners on your car, they’re 63-inch, to give you a perspective. And those tires are in maybe the $50,000 to $80,000 range, depending on markets and stuff like that. So the one thing I sometimes compare it to is, in commercial and retail tire tire world, there’s a lot of volume of business. So there’s not as much time spent on the servicing side. Come in, change, and have a good day. And that that’s important, obviously.
But on the mining side, it’s a little bit like racing because you get to dial in the tire specifically to one application. So the mining side is you have a profile where they move dirt, basically, from one spot to another out of a hole, their whole life, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. So you have a profile that’s consistent. So if there’s tire nerds out there that love the performance side of the products, whether it’s manufacturers or servicing dealers, that’s the piece that I really enjoy is that service side of dialing in. That added value piece that you can run the right compounds, you get the air pressures, you do some driver training, some education stuff. And the ROI on $100,000 tire, you get people’s attention when you cut a few. And you can come in and save one tire, you could save them quite a bit of money.
Mike:
So give me an idea on the money side, you save a tire, what type of life extension are we talking? And what’s that translate?
Mason:
So some generic math is, so if you have a mine that their tire budget’s, let’s call it $4 million in tires. And you’re running an XYZ tire that’s a certain compound rubber or brand or tread design, whatever that statistic is. And you come up with a way to better that. Maybe it’s a better compound, maybe it’s a different manufacturer, maybe it’s educating operators to not cut tires. And you save 10%. Or for simple math, 25%, that’s $1 million dollars or $450,000. So the money is very quickly related in that analysis of the stuff. And miners, just like truck drivers or restaurant owners, whatever, you’re busy running your businesses, and mining is no different. They got a lot of moving puzzle pieces of maintenance, and product, and fuel, and people, and all the challenges around businesses. And what we do, and I think what we do very well, is we get in and take that burden on in tire programs. And then, because it’s such a large expense on the mine, we can dial in.
And I make this comment all the time that I’m a tire nerd. And that’s meant somewhat funny, but the reality of it is I… I’ll give you a quick story. When I was first getting into the business out of college, I went out and I was going through scrap tires. And I was doing all this analysis on air pressures, and I’m getting all these readings in and digital information. And I come back and I’m presenting to the tire guys, “Oh, well, it looks like you’re 4.8% or 4.8 pounds off.” And one of the tire guys looks at me and he goes, “Have you ever looked at a tire gauge?” And he shows me the little lines on the air pressure gauge. And he brought me back down to reality saying, “Who the heck is this nerd talking decimal points on air pressures?” But little things like that, that’s been a really fun part of the mining tire side is that piece.
Mike:
That’s cool. Well, from the service side then, you guys, obviously you’re worth your weight in a lot of dollars if you’re able to help them. I know you’re selling them tires. But you’re also trying to prove your value by saying, “Hey, you don’t need this if you do these things, or if I can help you out here.” And from the service side, you can really save them a lot of money. So your sale becomes that partner. Maybe you’re from the outside in a sense, but you’re that trusted vendor that it’s just a headache they don’t have to think about. They may have a $4 million budget but they say, “Hey, help us extend this.” Is that what you-
Mason:
Yeah. I like the word partner because that part of it is probably the best way to describe it. The piece that’s missed sometimes is, in the tire business, we obviously have to sell. We have products, and we have fuel charges, and payrolls to make, and all that kind of stuff. But what happens… And we learned this in during the COVID time and logistics challenges. That if you’re a servicing dealer and you’re spending 80% of your time working on logistics, and pricing, and inventory, and people problems, and truck problems, and all that kind of stuff, you’re really not a servicing dealer. And that’s where the mining side, that I’ve been real fortunate, is in the mining business model, it’s set up. If it’s set up correctly, we set up long-term contracts with supply, plant scheduled production, pricing models with our RMIs in them to have small reductions in shortage or increases. And if you do all that correctly in the beginning, then you can spend 80% of your time adding value.
Now, you get to do the fun stuff in the tire business. You get to go out and you do the heat studies. And you work with operators, and you go drive around mines and talk about things that could be better. And you spend your time there. And that I think is where… That’s the fun side of it. That’s the nerd side. We track the tires, obviously, the $100,000 assets, we know exactly what they did and when they did it and how they did it. So at end of life, we have a lot of data there that we can study and learn from and then come back. And we call ourselves translators in the business. The mine manager of that mining company, he doesn’t have time to understand all that data or dig through it. And it’s somewhat complex. But if we can sit in between the data and the information with the mine manager and translate it to him in a quick, simple way, then maybe he could tweak this and tweak that. And save a little money and move more dirt.
Mike:
Right. I get it.
Mason:
But it also takes a… Sorry, it takes a big investment. We have half a million dollar pieces of equipment, the big forklift tire handler units and trucks that we have to invest in to change these tires. You don’t change them with tire bars by any means.
Mike:
I’m just curious who makes that kind of equipment?
Mason:
Stellar is probably one of the leaders in the industry. IMT does it. There’s some specialty people out there that do it.
Mike:
You’d have to be, for sure. Well, the sheer scope of the industry, there’s nothing that doesn’t seem to have a lot of zeros in the mining industry. Would that be accurate?
Mason:
Yeah, yeah. And the other part in the industry that that’s interesting is they go through cycles. And we’re in the middle of a weird political world and economic world, after COVID, inflation. We got all these different things working around in our world right now that, hopefully, we can get ruddered in and move forward. But in mining, they follow the markets to their core. It’s raw material. It’s gold, metal, copper, steel, and coal, and those things. And those are commodities that follow the markets. So they go through ups and downs and those ups and downs become very critical, especially gold right now. Gold is in a market that… We watch fuel and tires and everything else, the pricing go up with inflation. But gold has kept a steady beat and hasn’t kept up with some of those other numbers. So, basically, in the mining world, these gold companies are challenged to reduce costs. Because their gold isn’t going up 40% like tires are or like fuel are.
Mike:
That’s a whole nother topic, but I do find that interesting considering that behavior of gold. Usually, it’ll correlate going up with more inflation. But that’s another topic for another time. You and I were basically getting to know each other prior to this call. I could see, we probably could talk for hours on any topic so I won’t divert there. But where do you see your industry going, for audience sake, with regards to the mining industry right now? Is it holding steady or do you feel like it’s-
Mason:
It’s steady. The good news is the world’s always going to need cobalt, and it’s always going to need copper, and it’s always going to need gold, and those things. So the mining future is actually very strong now. Just in the tire business, it seems like all the little ducks are getting bought up by the big ducks. The mining world’s a little bit like that too, where it’s turning into the big 10 mining companies, or the big 10 tire companies, and those types of things. But the unknown is how the service side separates itself from the sales side. There’s a lot of direct business models coming up through the tire industry with the internet and the Amazon. And just that generic struggle for us servicing dealers. The direct model with manufacturers is a challenge for servicing dealers that have the investments of brick and mortar, and tire trucks, and all that kind of stuff.
But just like anything, it’s an ecosystem. We’re going to have to adjust. And in the mining, there’s already some direct businesses that are created with the giant mining companies from the manufacturers. So we’ve made some adjustments in our service pricing and service values that we can add. We obviously got to pay for fuel and people and stuff like that. But I don’t see that really changing. I think whether it’s a servicing tire dealer doing the work, or if it’s a mine doing it themselves, or if it’s a manufacturer doing it in a contract, it’s a needed piece of the ecosystem. Someone has to service those tires. The question for me really comes down to is it a focused piece, if the manufacturer’s doing it, or if the mine’s doing it, or if the servicing dealer’s doing it? It’s how good are you at it and are you focused at it? Or do you have 100 other responsibilities to do?
It’s like a tire company getting into the software business. Well, you’re a tire company. You’re good at that. Sometimes it’s good to stay in your lane. Not saying you don’t expand and try new things, but we watch people around the tire business that fan off into these new and different fingers of the business. And there’s a learning curve there. But, man, when they’re in their lane, they’re awesome. Whether it’s a dealer or a manufacturer, they get really good at a certain thing. And then they’ll kind of spin off and, before you know it, they’re making golf balls or something. No offense to Bridgestone, they make a good golf ball. But things like that, you get off, and before you know it, you don’t want to be outside of your lane too far, outside of your comfort zone.
Mike:
So just to sum it up a little bit, per sale then, you’re saying your big thing in the mining industry, ultimately, is service. I know you’re providing the product, but at the end of the day, the customer needs more than just the tire. Because of the specialty, they need the TLC, per se, to manage their tire program well.
Mason:
Yeah, 100%. No, I’d amen to that. It’s like you said earlier, it’s a partnership, that piece of it and that investment for both parties. For them purchasing the high dollar tires, and for us purchasing the high dollar equipment, it’s a partnership that we go in with the intent to add value and extend tire life and reduce costs. But we can’t do that alone. We can stand on a soapbox and tell people, “Hey, don’t run over rocks.” But unless the customer, our partner, is in it with us, it’s a team effort to create campaigns and programs to stop and reduce wasting money at the end of the day.
Mike:
What’s the average length of one of your contracts? Obviously, you try to make them-
Mason:
They go all over. Some of the bigger ones will go all the way out to 10 years, but most things are three to five.
Mike:
Oh, that’s nice. So the option to create some stability there.
Mason:
Yeah, it allows you to get that basic plant production schedule forecasting piece done with a pricing model. And then, once that’s in place, all your tires are showing up and being billed at a certain time. Because they’re not inventory, these giant tires are basically made to order to the mines. But then that allows you to get your focus over to, like I said, the added value piece where, now, you’re spending time with tire guys, educating operators. And trying to make sure that they don’t lose a $70,000 tire because someone wasn’t paying attention.
Mike:
Yeah, man, like I said, there’s a lot of zeroes in the mining industry. And everything seems to be painful in some way. Little mistakes can make big dollar mistakes.
Mason:
Yeah, yeah, they’re hard lessons you don’t want to learn more than once or twice, that’s for sure.
Mike:
Well, let me transition a little bit. So you were past president of TIA, how did that experience go for you? But how did you find that beneficial for the, let’s connect it to the industry you’re in now, mining?
Mason:
I think it’s good. It’s a lot like our podcast today, it’s opening the world up to a little bit of what’s out there. And TIA, obviously the tire industry, the majority of it, or a big piece of it, is retail and commercial. But there is small niches, and farm, and industrial, and obviously mining too. And it’s good to remind and let people know that, of those other industries, we could probably talk for days on the challenges of getting good people and the challenges of hiring people and stuff like that. But part of that, one of the real exciting things we got to do at the OTR conferences last year was, we built a tire tribute truck on one of our giant trucks with a 63-inch tire. Put some logos and some wording on the side, basically thanking the tire guy. Trying to promote how important and some… Maybe not credibility to that, there’s already credibility. But some honor in that position. Because we need good people in the industry, just like everybody else. And we got to respect and take care of these guys.
But part of TIA, that is one of the great things with the influence that TIA has, obviously they’re working on tire registrations and some of that stuff you talked with Roy about. But there’s also the side of the industry that they’re working on to try to promote the people. These tire guys are the foundation. I shouldn’t say tire guys, tire technicians in our industry, because we’ve got all kinds. We got to promote them, take care of them, pay them good. And show them that being the tire technician is just the ground launching point in the tire business. If you go change tires, it doesn’t mean you got to change tires your whole career. There’s a lot of people around this industry, a lot of people you’ve probably talked to, started changing tires, started pushing the broom.
Mike:
Well, they didn’t get it in a book. They got their experience from right there, their knowledge too. And they usually learn, from what I gathered, most people I interview is from a mentor of some sort. Sometimes, their father, or sometimes somebody else that just took them under their wing. And that’s where they started in college or high school, and they were in a bay and changing tires.
Mason:
Yeah. Got a taste of it. But that part with TIA is really exciting because it’s creating some opportunities. And possibly even some scholarships for tire guys that we can get some support around. And create Tire Guy of the Year, Tire Technician of the Year, Truck Guy, OTR guy, Passenger Guy or Technician.
Mike:
I love it.
Mason:
That’s all good stuff.
Mike:
It is. Well, we’re coming up on our end here. So I’m going to ask you a really tough question here because I ask it of everybody and I think it’s a fun part. But we call it our make us laugh segment. Is there anything that’s ever happened, funny, in your career that you could share? Or it can be self-deprecating, but you tell us a funny story.
Mason:
I got plenty of self-deprecating, but I’ll give you the… You mentioned earlier you were telling a story about one of the guys with Discount Tire. I took my wife’s car, we dropped it off down the street. And when I went in there, I bought… I’m in the tire business, so I got some tires from Purcells. And we’d recently got out of the retail side of the business. So we went down to Discount down the street, and I had the tires in the back of my truck. And long story short, a nice young kid comes out and meets us. And, “How can I help you?” And we go out to the… “Let’s go look at your truck.” And we walk out and he’s looking at the tires on the side and inside the door. He’s doing all the right things, real nice kid. And he looks at me and he goes, “I don’t think we can put these tires on your truck.” And it was a little bit bigger tire than normal. I got big monster tires on my truck.
So I’m like, “No, it’s okay, they’ll be fine. They’re okay.” And he goes, “No, I don’t think we can put these on.” And here I am, TIA president, I’m some huffing and puffing in the tire business all these years, and think I know what I’m doing. He looks at me, and finally he points at the rim size. And I’d loaded 18-inch tires in the back of my trunk and I have 17-inch wheels. And the kid was trying to be nice. He’s trying to tell me, “Oh, I can’t put these on here.” And I thought I knew everything. So it was fun. And I smiled at him and said, “Yep, you know what? You’re right. I’m going to have to reschedule and come back with right size tires.” Don’t tell anybody about that story. Don’t let that word get out. I don’t want folk to hear that.
Mike:
Yeah, we won’t, we won’t. It’ll just stay among the guests here today. No, that’s great. And I think, I’m just speaking from experience, this isn’t even based on your story, it’s just a reminder of some of the things that be. But, sometimes, a little humility can go a long way. One of those times, like a checkup point. And you’re like, “Okay, maybe.” The kid’s struggling, scratching his head, trying to tell you.
Mason:
Yeah. And I’m a big guy too. The other part of, he was a littler guy and I’m 6’6, 350 pounds, with a beard. And he’s probably looking at me like, “This guy could just crush me if he wanted to.” But like I said, he was super nice.
Mike:
That’s so good.
Mason:
We giggled about it.
Mike:
That’s a great experience. Well, on another personal question, what’s your favorite hobby? What do you like to do most?
Mason:
Well, I got into long distance shooting there for a while, like you mentioned. I really enjoyed that. I like the ballistic, I’m a gun nerd type deal. But to be honest with you, the last three years or so, I bought a new house three years ago, and my hobbies have become landscaper and build a shop. So I’m a framer, and a plumber, and electrician, drywaller. So over the last two or three years, I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to get a house and a shop put together. So I haven’t spent a lot of time on the range, but that’s pretty much what I’ve been doing on the sides when I’m not chasing tires.
Mike:
So, ultimately, you’re do it yourself kind of guy then, you like those kind of projects?
Mason:
Yeah, I’m frivolous. That’s probably the right way to say it. When I look at the cost to have someone do it, and I say, “Oh, I got nails, I got a hammer. I could probably figure that out. There’s YouTube.” It’s got me in trouble a few times. I’m actually in my office right now that we built this last year, so it’s not collapsed on me yet, so all good.
Mike:
That’s awesome. Well, little shout out, the YouTube videos, we didn’t have those growing up, so they definitely are helpful. It’s fascinating. A quick three-minute video can show you a lot.
Mason:
Yeah. I’ve learned real quick. Right now, I’ve got an AC problem in my deal. And it’s like, “Oh, I’ll just change out the motor.” It’s a couple bolts and a plug. So, now, I’m living without air conditioning right now because I’ve messed it up. So it’s got me in trouble probably as much as I’ve saved it.
Mike:
That’s funny. Well, honestly, I got to tell you, that’s great. And it’s been an honor to have you on here. I’m glad we got introduced. And I hope you’ll come back sometime.
Mason:
Yeah, you bet. Mike, it was a pleasure. Nice meeting you.
Mike:
You too. So thanks again for being on the Gain Traction. To all our listeners out there, thank you for being part of the podcast today. If you would like to recommend a guest, please email me personally at [email protected]. We give every recommendation serious consideration and we look forward to them. So till next time, be safe, and have a great day.
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