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If I may take a line from Forest Gump, “Living in Western PA is like a box of chocolates.” You never know what you are going to wake up to. This month started off with northern Minnesota weather. Snow for nine days straight made me think of the winters I remember as a child. It's funny, how watching my own son react to the ‘big snow’ brought out the very best in the ‘box’ for me. Sam and I built snow forts, snow caves, and snowball stockpiles, and if Teri had let us, we would have filled the freezer too. Just when I thought this would be the year we would have snow from December until March, the warm weather and rain soon replaced the snow with mud– a much more typical PA winter scene. Still, you never know when the next big snow or 70 degree day will come our way, which means there is nothing you can do but open yourself to all possibilities.

January is also the month many of us start thinking about the prospects for the coming year. I have to say that like the President, I too give a ‘State of the Agency’ address each January. While we have come to expect exceptional service from our team, and the real desire to build great working relationships with the brokers we do business with, this year we are poised to grow our business- in spite of the government, the economy, or the soft market. If you want to grow this year too, then partner with us!

Do you need help with a bar, tavern or restaurant risk? Has the liquor exposure or the working class clientele made your standard lines underwriter skittish? Good. These are the accounts where Tuscano will shine. Not only do we have the markets, we are responsive and work to get you the best quote available.

This is the year we are going to hit the Work Comp market extremely hard. We have staffed up to handle this business and have moved Mike Baca, formerly with the SBU team, into the lead-underwriting role for this line of business. We have markets to write the small account with a competitive rate, all the way to the difficult and hard to place risk with the high experience mod and a little ‘hair’ to boot. (Caught you thinking of that account you need to call us about, didn’t I?) Pennsylvania has over $200 million in premium placed in SWIF and I am positive we can help you move that into an independent market that pays you a decent commission and comes with R²U service from start to finish. Why not give your favorite PA wholesaler a shot when this business hits your inbox?

Of course, casualty business of all types is our type of business. And don’t forget that we are pros at professional liability. We are featuring great new markets that write Lawyers, Accountants, and Insurance Agents E&O very competitively. So give us a call.

Trucking is and always will be a specialty at Tuscano. We are now up and running with a new long haul market– Occidental Insurance, a member of the IAT Group and a sister company to Acceptance Insurance. If you have a risk coming up for renewal, or haven’t thought of Tuscano lately for your long haul business, why not give us a try? I think you will be pleasantly surprised. At the same time, don’t forget our excellent markets that target the local to intermediate truck accounts, who by the way, love dump trucks! Are you tired of fighting to get any kind of service (much less great service) from your current truck broker? Do you think they would notice if you suddenly stopped calling? Here is your chance to play the field and see if there isn’t something better out there for you. Give the transportation team at Tuscano a call. I can assure you, you will be thrilled with their knowledge and expertise and their desire to earn your business. Won’t it feel great to feel valued and appreciated again?

On a personal note, I would like to extend our deepest sympathies to Jeff DeMao, Commercial Lines Manager here at Tuscano. Jeff’s wife Lynn lost her battle with cancer last week. All of us at Tuscano are moved by Jeff’s enduring devotion and faith. Please join us by keeping Jeff and his family in your thoughts and prayers.