How to read a tyre DOT code and track the age of unsold stock

Look at the sidewall. The letters DOT start the code, then come a plant code, a size code, an optional batch code from the maker, and last of all the date.

Only one sidewall carries the full code, while the other shows a shorter version that stops before the date, so a counter assistant can wrongly decide there is none. Always check both sides.

Four digits mean the tyre was made in the year 2000 or later, while older stock carries three digits and a small triangle. You may still meet some.

Rubber ages even when a tyre never touches a road, because heat, sunlight, ozone from electric motors and the weight of a tall stack all work on the sidewall. Storage is not neutral.

Careful buyers read the date before they pay. Fleet managers ordering commercial tyres often write a maximum age into the purchase order, so a tyre that looks new but carries an old date becomes a refused delivery. Or an argument at the fitting bay.

Tyre and vehicle makers publish their own advice on age, and it differs, so quote the maker’s wording, not a rule of thumb from the counter.

At goods in, you hold the tyre. Read the date there, key it into the receiving line and move on, because once a tyre is racked, nobody looks at it again until a customer does.

One delivery of one size often holds more than one week, so split the receiving line by date code instead of typing a single date for the whole pallet. Compare each line with the delivery note. Photograph the sidewall of any tyre you reject.

Agree a limit with your suppliers in writing, such as no tyre older than a stated number of weeks at delivery, or the dock has nothing to reject against. Keep that agreement beside the purchase order, where goods in staff can find it.

Sort pick lists by manufacture date. Two deliveries of one size can carry very different weeks. A late delivery can hold older tyres than the one before it, and receipt order would send the wrong ones out first.

Show age in months on the stock screen in three bands, where green is fresh, amber is nearing your limit and red is past it. Set the limits yourself, one per category.

Amber stock goes into promotions and fitting bundles, while red stock goes to clearance or back to the supplier where your terms allow. On the web listing, print the manufacture week so the buyer reads it before checkout. No surprises at the door.

Take the ageing list to the racks. Pick ten tyres at random, read the date on each and compare it with the screen, because any mismatch tells you which step is leaking.

Mismatches usually come from three places: a rushed goods in, a transfer between branches that dropped the date, and a return restocked without a fresh read. Fix the step, not the person.

Begin with the ten oldest sizes. Read their dates, enter them against each rack line and see what the red band holds before the first buyer asks. Repeat the walk next Friday.