Still a believer

I had posted a topic about snow tires for loaders at the start of the winter season. Some had never heard of such a thing, and were intrigued by the idea, while others scoffed at the notion, and figured the expense to be too great. I agree, that wheel chains would provide great traction, for far less money. But...many towns, or cities won't allow chains. People don't appreciate chain scratches in their asphalt driveway, and I am not sure how well they hold up when driving long distances at road speed. Our company( meaning the company I work for ) Does well over a million dollars worth of plowing each winter. This is all parking lots, and private driveways. They gave up government and city contracts years ago because they felt there was no money in it. My grader sits in a snowbank waiting for the road building season to start. Anyway, the plowing is spread out over a large area. The Volvo loaders do the driving because they are fast, and the cat loaders stick to the large shopping centers. 1 L45, 2 L70s, 4 L90s, 1 L150, 1 950H, 1 972, and one Case loader all have snow tires, and 1 950G has regular rock tires. That's over 80 grand in snow tires, plus the expense of swapping them over twice a year. Like all companies, they always do the we're not making any money song and dance, but they figure the tire expense is worth it because we can get it done faster, so they can take on more plowing. We were trucking snow this week, and I was watching the 2 950s pushing snow banks back. The one with the snow tires was running circles around the one without. Now I know that in this off road situation, the G could have chained up, and problem solved, but then he would have to take them back off, and so on. Guess what I am saying, is that if you have the work, and can afford the cost, I think they are worth it.