I hadn't heard of Les Schwab tire company before, it has an interesting founder and story of his getting into business

Born in 1917 in Bend, Oregon, Les Schwab came from humble beginnings.

Leslie Schwab was born on Oct. 3, 1917, in Bend, Ore., and attended grade school in a boxcar in a logging camp. Both of his parents died when he was 15. He supported himself and his siblings by delivering The Oregon Journal throughout Bend, eventually taking over all nine routes.

At 17 his hard work ethic was resulting in him making $200 a month, about $65 more than his high school principal, and he owned the only new car at school, a Chevrolet two-door sedan.

After Pearl Harbor, Les enlisted in the Air Cadets. During her husband's time in service, Dorothy worked as a maid for an officer's family in order to be near him, and Schwab baby-sat for officers to earn money.

After serving in the Army Air Corps during World War II, Mr. Schwab returned to the newspaper business as the circulation manager of The Bulletin in Bend. In 1952, he bought OK Rubber Welders, a struggling shop with no running water and no toilet, for $11,000. Within one year the company’s sales grew to $150,000 from $32,000.

 He was a self-made man, and believed in old-fashioned hard work.

He would not tolerate long hair, pierced lips or noses, or grimy hands. His employees had to wear clean white shirts and blue trousers, and fix flats for free

 Les built his business from one store to hundreds of locations across the western states, making Les Schwab one of the largest independent tire businesses in the United States.

The company has a profit-sharing program for all workers - 55% of all profits go back to employees.

His generous profit sharing plans started with a deal he offered his second employee in 1954, and are probably the most unique sharing plans ever created for employees. A staff retirement fund incentivised employees and provided the capital for the business to both support those staff and grow. It also secured retirements for thousands of employees. It's these characteristics which made the Les Schwab Company almost impossible to compete against.

In 1963, he started the "Free Beef in February" promotion to boost sales during the slow winter months and assist the Central Oregon ranching industry. Customers who buy four tires still get $15 in free beef and customers who buy two get half that.

He spent roughly $1 million a year doing it and another $1 million advertising the fact.

Every Les Schwab store rents a freezer for a month, he said.

https://www.lesschwab.com/our-story
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/business/10schwab.html
https://www.deseret.com/2007/5/20/20019823/oregon-tire-tycoon-les-schwab-89-dies
https://www.moderntiredealer.com/tiredealeroftheyear/winner/2000

Les Schwab had an exclusive, multi-state contract with Toyo Tire USA Corp. earlier this year. For 52 years, the deal effectively locked out other tire dealers, including online retailers, from selling Toyo-branded products in the northwest corner of the U.S.

Les Schwab Tire Centers is still considered the gold standard by many consumers. A recent survey of tire buyers by Consumer Reports (CR) ranked Les Schwab No. 1 among 29 regional and national tire retailers, “from big-box stores to web-based businesses,” wrote CR’s Jeff Bartlett. More than 30,000 members responded to the survey.

https://www.moderntiredealer.com/blogpost/b-o-b/735546/still-going-strong-les-schwab-is-ranked-no-1-by-cr


Since 2008 the Oregon Food Bank has seen the demand for emergency food boxes increase by 40 percent. It is for that reason agriculture students across Oregon want to help feed those that need it most.

In the spirit of the holiday season, the Oregon FFA partnered with Les Schwab Tire Centers, Wilco Coop, Capital Press and the East Oregonian newspaper to help combat hunger. The initial goal of raising 250,000 pounds of food in 2015 seemed daunting but the more than 6,000 FFA members from over 100 chapters and Les Schwab Tire Centers across Oregon made great strides to help provide the Oregon Food Bank and other local food pantries with much needed food.

This year the Drive Away Hunger Event collected over 510,150 pounds of food, double the original goal, and enough to provide more than 380,000 meals. Over the past three years, the event has raised over 1.5 million pounds of food for those suffering from food insecurity, enough food to help nearly 3500 Oregon families for more than a month.

https://www.capitalpress.com/ag_sectors/ffa4h/oregon-ffa-les-schwab-team-up-to-collect-pounds-of/article_de33d7b6-ea3d-5e85-9a1d-07d8067e6564.html

 Warren Buffet had put Les Schwab's entertaining 1986 autobiography, 'Pride in Performance: Keep It Going' on the Berkshire Hathaway 'Must Read' list. http://mastersinvest.com/newblog/2018/8/13/learning-from-les-schwab

I was going to get in depth on this, but I just discovered Joe Sherlock already did, so, head to Joe's for the rest of the story:  http://www.joesherlock.com/Schwab.html