Message from the Claims Desk 11.22.16

Good Morning Stewart Family
Happy Thanksgiving week everyone! This Thursday the majority of us will sit down at the table to commemorate the first Thanksgiving that took place in Plymouth, MA in 1621. This inaugural feast was organized to celebrate the Pilgrims’ first successful corn harvest, but the second Thanksgiving was not until 1623, and was a religious celebration of the end of a long drought. In 1789, George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation by the national government for American’s to give thanks to the conclusion of the American Revolution. However, Thanksgiving was not a national holiday until 1863 where, at the height of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln scheduled Thanksgiving as the final Thursday in November as a day for American’s to ask God to “heal the wounds of the nation.” So regardless what you have to give thanks for let us all give thanks to what makes our industry possible.

This week I would like to give thanks for the Carmack Amendment. Now, most of you probably don’t know what this is (I didn’t when I was a driver), but this piece of legislation is what allows our business to exist. Originally enacted in 1906, this law limits us to the actual value of the loss or damage. This means that because of this law we cannot be held responsible for sentimental, consequential, or punitive damages of a loss that occurs. Think about it, if this law didn’t exist we would have to pay outrageous sums of money for sentimental damage and emotional distress a.k.a. we would not be in business.

Many customer/drivers ask me about having our insurance pay for the damages. The reality is that we have insurance almost exclusively for catastrophic losses. Think about how it relates to car insurance, the national average is 1 out of 5 interstate moves have claims, and if you got in a car accident once every 5 times you drove your car, what insurance company would cover you?
So give thanks this holiday week, and ensure that we are taking excellent care of our customers.

Cheers,
Robert Wright

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