July 14, 2025 • 27 mins
Severe convective storms are reshaping America's insurance landscape, hitting communities harder and more frequently than ever before. What used to be a defined spring storm season has expanded into a year-round threat, leaving homeowners, businesses, and insurers scrambling to adapt.
Join hosts Amanda Knight and Scott Gordon as they dive into the growing crisis with guests Ben Tschepikow from CRC Group's Arkansas office and Rob Porter from Vave MGA. Their frontline experiences reveal how these intensifying weather patterns are creating unprecedented challenges across the country. The conversation tackles the painful reality of rising premiums and deductibles while exploring innovative solutions emerging to help property owners. Learn about deductible buyback products that can dramatically reduce out-of-pocket costs during catastrophic events.
Whether you're an insurance professional navigating these turbulent waters or a property owner seeking to understand your changing policy, this episode offers valuable insights into the future of property insurance. Education, communication, and partnership between insurers and insureds will be essential as we weather these storms together. Subscribe to the Placing You First podcast to stay ahead of the trends reshaping the insurance landscape and discover practical strategies for protecting what matters most.
Visit REDYIndex.com for critical pricing analysis and a snapshot of the marketplace.
Do you want to take your career to the next level? Join #TeamCRC to get access to best-in-class tools, data, exclusive programs, and more! Send your resume to resumes@crcgroup.com today!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Amanda Knight (00:01):
Welcome back to the Placing you First podcast,
where we explore the trends,topics and tools shaping the
insurance industry.
I'm Amanda Knight.
Scott Gordon (00:09):
And I'm Scott Gordon, and today we're talking
about the increasing frequency,intensity and cost of convective
storms and what that means forclients.
Joining us are Ben Shepakow, abroker with CRC Group's Argenia
office in Little Rock, arkansas.
Cow, a broker with CRC Group'sArgenia office in Little Rock,
arkansas.
And Rob Porter, productdirector at Vave MGA, who's
working on solutions to bettermanage this evolving risk.
(00:31):
This is the Placing you Firstpodcast from CRC Group.
This podcast features news andinsights from a vast knowledge
base of over 5,100 associateswho write more than $35 billion
in premium annually.
Amanda Knight (00:44):
Plus, we give you the latest information on
what's happening at CRC this,this, this is the Placing you
First podcast.
And now the hosts of thepodcast, Amanda Knight and Scott
.
Scott Gordon (00:55):
Gordon, it's great to have you both with us today.
Rob Porter (00:58):
Thank you, thanks for having us.
Ben Tschepikow (00:59):
It's great to be here.
And, scott, I do just want tomention one thing real quick,
just in case nobody is familiarwith Arkansas or where Arkansas
is.
We're right above Louisiana andright below Missouri and right
next to Oklahoma, just in casenobody knew where Arkansas was.
And, rob, before we get started, you actually, and first of all
(01:19):
, I do want to say it's just areal treat to have you on the
podcast with us, rob, it's areally great honor.
Rob's actually coming from, orhe's in London, england, right
now.
It's not London Arkansas, andhe was actually here in Arkansas
about a month ago.
So you know, before we jumpinto it, can Rob, do you mind to
(01:39):
just kind of tell everybody howfantastic your visit was to
Arkansas?
Rob Porter (01:44):
It was amazing.
What was the highlightsVisiting the office?
Obviously, the barbecue Amazing.
We'd heard all about it and wewere really looking forward to
it.
Ben and Bobby and the gang werekind enough to take us out to
some great barbecue places.
So yeah, it was fantastic.
Way to be a good host, ben,good job to some great barbecue
places.
Amanda Knight (02:02):
So yeah it was fantastic Way to be a good host,
Ben Good job.
Rob Porter (02:04):
Yeah, well, now you live in Arkansas barbecue.
Scott Gordon (02:10):
It's the only state where you can eat hog and
say go hogs.
In the same sentence.
In the same sentence.
Amanda Knight (02:14):
Well, ben, let's start with you.
As you mentioned, you are basedin Arkansas and, if I'm not
mistaken, arkansas is one statethat has absolutely seen the
impact of tornadoes and otherconvective storms up close in
recent history.
Can you paint us a picture ofwhat you have seen in the recent
(02:35):
months and years in Arkansasand how clients are responding?
Ben Tschepikow (02:40):
Yeah, absolutely .
And before I kind of get intoit, you know the terminology of
convective storms or severeconvective storms.
Really, what that is is whereyou've got wind and hell and
then the wind and hell isproducing tornadoes, so it's
kind of a severe thunderstormsleading toward leading towards
tornadoes.
And you know, in the insuranceindustry you've kind of got a
(03:01):
couple labeled losses or eventsthat are kind of more
attritional losses, and now it'sthe you know the popular
terminology is convective stormsand you've got your cat losses
and what's really affecting theinsurance industry now is just a
frequency of these convectivestorms that are coming through
(03:22):
year to year.
And then just specificallyArkansas yeah, if I were to
paint a picture, the canvas,unfortunately, would be really
dark.
I feel like Arkansas has kindof had a tough go at it over the
past few years.
And you know, just in my areaalone, which I'm in northwest
Arkansas, just a couple yearsago in 2023, springdale,
(03:45):
arkansas, which is about fiveminutes north of me, there was a
big tornado that came throughand really affected kind of in
the city area that's reallynever been impacted before.
And then in that same year inLittle Rock, arkansas, where Rob
just came through, there was atornado that came, a big tornado
(04:08):
that came through Little Rockand impacted a lot of areas kind
of in the city that haven'tbeen impacted before.
And then just last year, in2024, there was a tornado that
came through just about 10minutes north of me, in Rogers
and Bentonville, and I actuallythink there were a tornado that
came through just about 10minutes north of me in Rogers
and Bentonville and I actuallythink there were two tornadoes
(04:28):
that touched down there andagain really affected areas that
have never been affected before.
But as I was thinking aboutthat event, I do remember
driving around the area, youknow, after all of that happened
, and what I kind of remember,thinking to myself, is is
(04:48):
because I grew up in this areaand a lot of these areas that
got hit significantly, you know,10 years ago, 10, 12 years ago
these subdivisions, thesebuildings, these, you know,
these houses they weren't therehouses, they weren't there.
So I do think there's acorrelation between just the new
construction and the buildingand the development, you know,
(05:10):
across these areas and you knowthe impact that these storms are
having, and so it's been atough few years for Arkansas and
then also in Oklahoma that justsits to the west of Arkansas.
I think one of the largest hellevents that happened in 2024
(05:31):
was in Oklahoma.
I think it impacted maybe threeplus thousand houses in one
hell event.
So we're living in a.
It's a pretty tough, prettytough territory right now.
And then it's kind of the secondpart of that question about how
clients are responding.
I just think that overall, moreand more people are kind of
(05:51):
understanding and realizingwhat's going on in the industry
and the impact that these stormsare really having across the
country.
And I've had countlessconversations with folks that
that are in the business andoutside the business and really
the ones that have kind of stoodout to me are the ones that are
outside the insurance industry,because they're saying things
like geez, these insurancecarriers, they're getting
(06:11):
hammered and hit hard right now.
It's got to be tough on themand I don't think in the past
you would really have commentslike that being made in favor of
the insurance carriers.
So that's just kind of been aninteresting conversation.
So that's kind kind of been aninteresting conversation.
So that's kind of what's beengoing on over the past few years
.
Scott Gordon (06:29):
Yeah, arkansas and where I live in Alabama also
always hit by storms, but theyhave been.
I mean, convective stormsaren't new, but they're clearly
getting worse.
Rob, I'm going to ask you thisfrom your perspective, what's
changed most significantly aboutthe nature of these storms, and
why are they so bad and how arethey affecting the insurance
(06:51):
industry?
Rob Porter (06:52):
Yeah, thanks, scott.
Yeah, so I mean, 2023 and 2024were really kind of historically
bad years for the insuranceindustry and I think kind of
Ben's kind of given the on theground view.
But I think over here on theother side of the pond pond, 23
and 24 were a real struggle forinsurance carriers.
Um, 25 started off slowly butit started to kind of pick up as
well.
So I think we're kind of seeingseeing potentially another kind
(07:15):
of bad year here as well.
Um, I think there are a fewthings at play.
I mean, I think one interestingthing I think is that you know,
going back kind of 10 or 20,there was really quite a defined
kind of convective storm season.
You kind of see, march to Junewas when you got your events,
and outside of that it was, youknow, fairly kind of quiet and
benign.
But certainly over the last fewyears we're really seeing that
(07:35):
kind of season stretching outand I think you know I really
kind of feel for the people onthe ground, like you guys over
in Arkansas and Alabama, becauseyou don't really get any
respite now.
Right, there's always thepotential for kind of these
storms to occur, and certainlyfrom an insurer's point of view
as well.
It used to be you kind of youget through your convective
storm season, you'd have yourhurricane season, then you kind
of relax after that.
(07:55):
But we're seeing events likekind of the central Texas hail
event from September 23occurring really outside of the
window of when we normallyexpect these events, and that's
that's kind of, I think,troubling, I guess not just for
people on the ground who don'treally get that respite, but
also for insurance companies aswell.
I think also just kind ofpicking up on one of Ben's
points as well about um, aboutthe change in population, change
(08:16):
in exposure and populationgrowth as well, and kind of
thinking about where some of themost exposed regions in the US
are, places like kind of NorthTexas also happen to be where
people are moving to and wherewhere we're getting this kind of
huge growth in exposure as well, and so obviously there's more
properties that are there thatcan be damaged by events, and I
think insurers are kind ofstruggling to get their arms
(08:38):
around that a little bit,because we're seeing this kind
of huge colossal growth in in inexposure there and insurers
have to manage their exposurebecause they don't want to, they
don't want to be too exposed toany particular one event and
they want to make sure that youknow their exposure is spread
out and I think you know we'reseeing that in terms of kind of
premium changes and deductiblechanges as a result of that as
well.
So, um, I think those are kindof kind of some of the some of
(09:00):
the key themes.
It guess remains to see whatremains to be seen what happens
to the rest of the 2025 season.
But yeah, it's definitely beena tough few years and it feels
like the kind of environment ischanging, not just in kind of
terms of the atmosphere, butalso kind of what's there on the
ground to be affected.
Amanda Knight (09:15):
Well, Rob, you just mentioned, you know,
premiums and deductibles andwe've seen, you know, sharp
rises in deductibles andpremiums over the last few years
, especially in higher riskareas.
Ben, how are retail agents andclients reacting to those higher
deductibles and premiums andwhat tools do you have as a
(09:35):
broker to help sort of softenthe blow or maybe help lower
some of those costs?
Ben Tschepikow (09:41):
Yeah, well, I'd say a couple of ways they're
reacting is one, they're justgetting out of the business and
joining real estate, and two,with the phone call screaming at
us about how high everything is.
No, I'm just kidding, you know.
I think that this change in themarket over the past couple of
(10:02):
years I kind of alluded to thefact that you know everybody's
kind of realizing, understandingthe effect that the insurance
industry is taking, I think theplaying field is kind of
leveling out a little bit withthe carriers.
I think maybe seven, eightyears ago you had some events
come through and there werestill quite a few carriers that
were still kind of had low rates, low deductibles, um, still
(10:26):
kind of coming into the market,trying to be really aggressive
with what they're doing.
Fast forward, you know, five,six, seven years to where we're
at now.
Uh, there's been a big changein that, just that
aggressiveness.
Um, a lot of carriers I know inmy territories and surrounding
States have have left the statedue to losses, you know
non-annuals, big rate increases,big deductible changes, and I
(10:48):
think it's affecting everybodythat's in the business right now
.
And so I think that agents are,you know, more and more getting
more patient with what's goingon in the market and kind of
understanding that, hey, if acustomer's coming in and they're
trying to get a quote and thedays are just going down the
road, somebody is a lot cheaper,lower deductibles.
(11:09):
I don't really think that's thecase anymore.
I think everybody's kind ofgetting into the same boat with
what they're being able to doand in a lot of ways I think
agents are thankful that thereare as many carriers that there
are, especially in some of thesehigher areas, that they are
still being able to writebusiness and things like that.
(11:29):
So and then, just as far as kindof resources and things that
agents are doing, you know, withtheir customers as these
deductibles are coming into play, higher rates is, you know.
Obviously one thing is we'reseeing a lot more increases on
AOP deductibles, that's all ofthe payroll deductibles.
So kind of that typical maybe$1,000 deductible.
(11:50):
Agents are offering and writingmore maybe $5,000, $10,000
deductibles just to kind oflower the cost a little bit.
And then, even if some winddeductibles have gone up, I've
seen quite a bit of take up andeven increasing the wind held
deductible even more, just tolower the cost and just knowing,
(12:10):
hey, we're really not going tobe filing a claim unless
something big comes through.
So those are some things thatare offsetting some costs that
we feel like are gettingutilized more frequently now.
And then you've got someproducts out there such as a
wind deductible, wind-helddeductible buyback, which is
going to be really anindustry-leading product, and
(12:32):
personal lines as we moveforward over the next couple of
years.
And, for example, how that worksis, let's just say, a
customer's got a $750,000 homegetting moved to a 2% wind-held
deductible.
That's a $15,000 home gettingmoved to a 2% wind-held
deductible.
That's a $15,000 wind-helddeductible.
You can actually take out aseparate policy and buy that
wind-held deductible from a$15,000 wind deductible down to
(12:57):
as low as $2,500 just for a fewhundred extra dollars.
So it's really a big benefit tothe customer.
You know, over the course ofthe next few years in doing that
, and so you know, I do wannakind of put a quick plug in
there to CRC is I feel like CRCis always trying to be a leader
(13:17):
in that space with these uniqueproducts and, you know, and
having products such as awind-held deductible buyback in
the residential space, that Ithink is going to just become
more and more popular over thenext couple of years.
Scott Gordon (13:32):
Yeah, I think that the Wayans brothers said it
best when they said mo' money,mo' money, mo' money, it's all
about-.
Ben Tschepikow (13:41):
And actually Scott Notorious BIG said it
really well, I think in 1996 or7, no money, no problems.
Scott Gordon (13:49):
That is also 100% true.
Wow, yes, it is Convectivestorms.
What are you going to do?
So, rob, they are looking atintroducing some products that
can help people manage thesecosts.
Can you walk us through whatthese will look like and you
know who they will benefit?
Rob Porter (14:09):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I guess, like Vave's, approachhas always been from the start
to kind of give the insured,give the consumer, options.
And so we often see that ourcompetitors of ours will kind of
be pushing deductibles to tryand kind of restrict coverage.
You know, due to kind of what'sgoing on.
And our approach has alwaysbeen well, you know, in Ben's
(14:32):
case where he talked aboutmoving from a 1k AAP deductible,
$1,000 AAP deductible, to a10,000 AAP deductible, we're
still offering 1,000 AAPdeductibles US wide to allow the
consumer choice.
We also offer them 10,000deductibles because we want to
see if the different price pointis kind of appealing to them.
Really, our kind of concept isthat we want to offer people
(14:54):
deductibles so that they can goaway and see, buy the product
which is most appealing to them,rather than just forcing them
to kind of have to go forsomething which they don't
necessarily want to do.
So that's kind of been baby'sphilosophy and that's our
philosophy on the aop side andon the wind side as well.
Um, you know, we're stilloffering two percent wind
deductibles in texas andarkansas and oklahoma.
(15:14):
We're not pushing to fivepercent in any of those areas.
We'll, we'll offer you a fivepercent deductible and you can
get a sense of kind of what that, what the differential in
prices is there.
But we really like kind of the,the sound of kind of what ben's
talking about there in terms ofkind of um, these really
innovative solutions arounddeductible buy downs and
offering them in spaces wherethey've not been offered before
and historically kind of it's.
(15:35):
It's a kind of product which hasbeen more on the commercial
side and I think being able tokind of deploy that on the
personal line sizes is, is is areally kind of powerful kind of
um move to give the insureds andthe consumers kind of powerful
kind of move to give theinsureds and the consumers kind
of different options.
And that's certainly somethingthat we're looking at as well,
alongside kind of giving theinsured choice on the Avave
products as well, because wewant people to kind of have, you
(15:58):
know, be able to kind of wedon't want insurers to have to
go away and buy loads and loadsof different products.
If they can buy one product,that's obviously much more
straightforward.
But we do know that othercarriers are kind of increasing
their deductibles and so if wecan offer a deductible buy down
as well, that we can kind offill in some of those gaps that
insureds are seeing elsewhere aswell.
So really, you know, wheneverwe see that the market is
(16:21):
starting to tighten and peopleare starting to kind of pull
capacity back, we will see thatas an opportunity to kind of
offer something which which cankind of plug some of these gaps
for the insureds ben?
Amanda Knight (16:31):
do you have anything you want to?
Ben Tschepikow (16:31):
add to that.
Yeah, I'd love to actually androb, you know, uh, as we're
looking, you know, crc lookingmore and more to partner with
such great underwriters andcarriers like they.
I do just want to mentionarkansas and oklahoma te, texas.
It's really not as bad as whatwe're making it sound and I'm
kind of I didn't mean to sayArkansas, oklahoma, texas, I was
really meaning Alaska andHawaii.
(16:52):
Those are the states that youreally need to stay away from
Other states in the SouthCentral.
They're just fantastic stateswith hardly any losses, please
note.
Amanda Knight (17:03):
Asterisk right there.
Scott Gordon (17:09):
Let's zoom out a bit, okay.
What role do education andcommunication play in preparing
insureds and even some brokersfor this changing environment?
Ben Tschepikow (17:16):
I would say education and communication are
probably two of the biggestfactors right now as we're going
through this change in themarket and it's kind of to the
point of what we're sayingearlier about just the playing
field kind of getting leveledout.
So I think that just because I'ma customer, I'm a policyholder
myself and as you see theseevents that just keep taking
(17:39):
place, and you kind of realizeit is tough out there on these
insurance carriers and just withthe inflation and just the cost
of doing business in general,the frequency, you know,
everybody talks about inflationbut you kind of forget.
Well, inflation happens ininsurance as well.
It's not just the rest of thingsthat are going on, you know, in
(17:59):
business, so it does affectinsurance.
And so I just think that Waysthat you can really kind of
flourish during this time as abroker like myself or insurance
agent, you know, is reallytaking time to educate the
customer in ways that they canmaybe have some credits or save
some costs on their policy, butalso just kind of taking time to
(18:21):
communicate with them what isgoing on in the market, why
these changes are happening, andjust kind of, you know, zooming
out a little bit and givingthem an idea of what's going on,
so that you can kind of justunderstand that, hey, we're all
kind of in the same boat here,not really a case where it's
just happening to you or to thecarriers I'm representing.
It's really a widespread changein the market right now and I
(18:45):
just think that more, if moreand more policyholders have a
good understanding of what isgoing on.
That I just think that it'sgoing to help prepare everybody
for, you know, over the next twoor three years, as the industry
just kind of continues to workthrough just another phase of
(19:05):
insurance.
Amanda Knight (19:06):
Then you know from the broker's position, from
the broker's chair, what adviceif you could give.
You know one piece of advice tothe retail agents sort of
depending on people like you andRob to help their clients.
What's that one piece of adviceyou would give them if they are
starting to see clients livingin areas with more frequent wind
(19:27):
and hail events?
Ben Tschepikow (19:30):
Yeah, that's a great question.
Is that what you?
Amanda Knight (19:32):
tell them, call Ben no.
Ben Tschepikow (19:33):
Well, actually, what I would say is I would say
go rent a forklift and go pickup your office, your agency
office and your home and justmove it to another place that
doesn't have wind and hailevents.
Good luck.
Oh wait a minute.
That's really nowhere in the USanymore.
Yeah, yeah, and I'm hesitant tosay the word advise, because
(19:56):
I've never been an insuranceagent before and I don't ever
want to put myself in theirshoes at all because I've never
been there and I know how justtirelessly and how hard they
work and I also know, justworking hand in hand with other
CRC offices and brokers outthere, just how great they are
at their job and how hardworkingthey are as a whole, these
(20:17):
brokers and insurance agents,and they just do such a
fantastic job overall.
But what I would kind of sayfrom my perspective just because
I do deal with a lot ofdifferent agencies and a lot of
different agent groups and in alot of different territories
just to continue to be patientwith what's going on, because
(20:38):
you're not in the in the boatalone, you know I've kind of
alluded to it several times it'sthe playing field is getting
leveled out with what's going onwith the carriers and carriers
that insurance agents areutilizing, and then again you
know, just really kind of goback to that service and that
communication and that educationof what's going on out there
(20:59):
and just kind of hang in thereand just know that you're not
alone with it.
Amanda Knight (21:04):
Good advice.
Rob Porter (21:05):
I think there's a huge role as well from just
thinking about our side of thepond as well, of kind of
communicating with you guys, thewholes wholesalers, so you can
kind of get it out there to theretailers, the insureds, about.
You know what?
What is it that we're lookingfor in a property?
To kind of get that better rateand get those credits as well.
So, um, there's definitelysomething that we want to do
more of is is kind of reach outand aware that this is a
partnership between kind ofinsured and agents and carriers
(21:28):
to make sure that ultimately, wejust want to try and minimize
and reduce the amount of damagethat's done from these events.
And so if we can get out therewhat it is that we will credit
in terms of mitigations andstuff like that, and then if the
insured is able to take thoseactions, then that's obviously a
really powerful thing, becausethe events are still going to
(21:49):
happen.
But if we can try and minimizethe actual damage and losses
from them, then that benefitseveryone, right.
It benefits us benefits, insuredbenefits carriers, the agents
as well.
So that's certainly somethingthat I think you know there's
more of a role for educationkind of piece being pushed down
the chain, I think.
Scott Gordon (22:05):
Yeah, and this is one of those areas that touches
everybody.
Everyone lives under the sky,everyone experiences storms.
Rob Porter (22:12):
Even here in London we get them sometimes.
Scott Gordon (22:14):
Right, I mean, only certain people are going to
be subject to cyber crimes, butwe're all going to be hit in
the head by a hailstone, right?
Well, this was great and, asusual, we learned a lot.
But also, as usual, we arereaching the fun portion of our
show, which Amanda and I like tocall rapid fire.
And it is just you answer rightoff the top of your head, and
(22:37):
uh, let's start with our friendfrom across the pond, rob, with
the first question.
If you were coming up onto astage, what would your entrance
song be?
Rob Porter (22:47):
wow, good question.
Um, probably, I think, wequestion.
Scott Gordon (22:51):
I think we're talking like hype, you know,
like the wrestling yeah what'syour hype song?
You can't come out to Simon andGarfunkel.
Rob Porter (22:58):
Oh, damn it.
Scott Gordon (23:01):
I mean, you could, you could.
We don't recommend it.
Rob Porter (23:05):
Do you guys know Oasis?
Do you have Oasis in the States?
Amanda Knight (23:08):
Yes, we do.
Rob Porter (23:10):
They're so huge here and they're just, they've
reformed and they're back ontour this summer, so I'd
probably go for Live Forever byOasis.
I think it just kind of getsyou going.
Amanda Knight (23:18):
Yeah, good choice , All right Ben.
Ben Tschepikow (23:20):
And the insurance industry in itself is
an Oasis, anyways.
So it's kind of embarrassingbecause I don't know that it's
really a song that's gonna getme jacked up, but I just went
and saw them in concert about amonth ago, so they're on the top
of my mind.
(23:40):
Yeah well, I'm gonna have to gowith boys to men and I'm gonna
have to go with a song one sweetday featuring mariah carey.
It's not going to get youjacked up, but it is a fantastic
song to just kind of slow theworld down, make you think a
little bit.
But gosh, they were good inconcert.
I'm going to have to admit that.
(24:01):
So that's what I'm going with.
Scott Gordon (24:03):
I remember seeing that they were getting back
together or getting ready totour and I was like can they
change their name to Men, toolder men?
Now I don't exactly exactly,but that's exciting.
I'm glad, I'm excited that yougot to see them.
Ben Tschepikow (24:17):
I bet that was awesome it was, it was, it was
great.
And they still sound the sameas they did, you know, 20 year,
30 years ago nice, all rightquestion, Rob.
Scott Gordon (24:28):
If you could bring back a fashion trend, what
would it be and why?
Rob Porter (24:35):
I think probably skinny jeans.
I'm absolutely appalled thatthey're not fashionable anymore,
because skinny jeans were allthe rage when I was at
university and at college.
Apparently, they're just notvery cool.
Amanda Knight (24:46):
Now, same Rob, same.
I'm not letting go of mine.
Let me be clear they are stillin my closet right now.
Rob Porter (24:52):
Yeah, same, yeah, yeah.
To be honest, I just don't wantto go shopping again and buy
some new jeans.
Is the thing, ben All right Ben.
Amanda Knight (24:58):
What about you?
Ben Tschepikow (25:08):
Yeah, I don't know if this is getting into
eighth and ninth grade, so ithad been, you know, I guess 14,
15 years old.
I don't know if y'all rememberAbercrombie and Fitch.
So Abercrombie and Fitch cameout at that time and just kind
of blew the doors off of the.
It seemed like there was a.
You know, we have a pretty bigmall in our area and they had a
(25:29):
huge store, but they were soexpensive.
Everything in there were soexpensive, and I just remember I
had several friends that wouldget new pants and shirts and of
course my parents couldn'tafford any of that stuff.
So we never were able to getany Abercrombie and Fitch.
You know we were going old Navy, um.
So what I'd like to bring backfor a week is just that style
(25:52):
during that time, and I justwould like to see why it was so
expensive and why it was sopopular you want to time travel,
that's what you want to timetravel?
Rob Porter (26:02):
yeah, I want to time travel, yeah, yeah hop in the
delorean.
Scott Gordon (26:07):
when you said, wow , it was really expensive, I
almost said, almost said, wereyou an old Navy boy?
And you said it, yeah, I was anold.
Ben Tschepikow (26:14):
Navy boy, absolutely.
I think the prices were a thirdthan what those were,
Absolutely they were Solid,solid bargains at the old Navy
y'all.
Scott Gordon (26:23):
We're not paid space.
We should be Well, ben and Rob,thank you so much for joining
us today.
Amanda Knight (26:26):
Well, Ben and Rob , thank you so much for joining
us today.
Ben Tschepikow (26:30):
Absolutely.
Thank you so much for having usand, rob, thank you so much for
being a part of this.
Rob Porter (26:36):
Yeah, thank you, it's been an absolute pleasure.
Really appreciate that.
No, you're welcome, my pleasure.
Amanda Knight (26:43):
And thank you to all of our listeners for joining
us today.
Be sure to subscribe to thePlacing you First podcast
wherever you get your podcasts,and we'll see you next time.
Welcome back to the Placing you First podcast,
where we explore the trends,topics and tools shaping the
insurance industry.
I'm Amanda Knight.
Scott Gordon (00:09):
And I'm Scott Gordon, and today we're talking
about the increasing frequency,intensity and cost of convective
storms and what that means forclients.
Joining us are Ben Shepakow, abroker with CRC Group's Argenia
office in Little Rock, arkansas.
Cow, a broker with CRC Group'sArgenia office in Little Rock,
arkansas.
And Rob Porter, productdirector at Vave MGA, who's
working on solutions to bettermanage this evolving risk.
(00:31):
This is the Placing you Firstpodcast from CRC Group.
This podcast features news andinsights from a vast knowledge
base of over 5,100 associateswho write more than $35 billion
in premium annually.
Amanda Knight (00:44):
Plus, we give you the latest information on
what's happening at CRC this,this, this is the Placing you
First podcast.
And now the hosts of thepodcast, Amanda Knight and Scott
.
Scott Gordon (00:55):
Gordon, it's great to have you both with us today.
Rob Porter (00:58):
Thank you, thanks for having us.
Ben Tschepikow (00:59):
It's great to be here.
And, scott, I do just want tomention one thing real quick,
just in case nobody is familiarwith Arkansas or where Arkansas
is.
We're right above Louisiana andright below Missouri and right
next to Oklahoma, just in casenobody knew where Arkansas was.
And, rob, before we get started, you actually, and first of all
(01:19):
, I do want to say it's just areal treat to have you on the
podcast with us, rob, it's areally great honor.
Rob's actually coming from, orhe's in London, england, right
now.
It's not London Arkansas, andhe was actually here in Arkansas
about a month ago.
So you know, before we jumpinto it, can Rob, do you mind to
(01:39):
just kind of tell everybody howfantastic your visit was to
Arkansas?
Rob Porter (01:44):
It was amazing.
What was the highlightsVisiting the office?
Obviously, the barbecue Amazing.
We'd heard all about it and wewere really looking forward to
it.
Ben and Bobby and the gang werekind enough to take us out to
some great barbecue places.
So yeah, it was fantastic.
Way to be a good host, ben,good job to some great barbecue
places.
Amanda Knight (02:02):
So yeah it was fantastic Way to be a good host,
Ben Good job.
Rob Porter (02:04):
Yeah, well, now you live in Arkansas barbecue.
Scott Gordon (02:10):
It's the only state where you can eat hog and
say go hogs.
In the same sentence.
In the same sentence.
Amanda Knight (02:14):
Well, ben, let's start with you.
As you mentioned, you are basedin Arkansas and, if I'm not
mistaken, arkansas is one statethat has absolutely seen the
impact of tornadoes and otherconvective storms up close in
recent history.
Can you paint us a picture ofwhat you have seen in the recent
(02:35):
months and years in Arkansasand how clients are responding?
Ben Tschepikow (02:40):
Yeah, absolutely .
And before I kind of get intoit, you know the terminology of
convective storms or severeconvective storms.
Really, what that is is whereyou've got wind and hell and
then the wind and hell isproducing tornadoes, so it's
kind of a severe thunderstormsleading toward leading towards
tornadoes.
And you know, in the insuranceindustry you've kind of got a
(03:01):
couple labeled losses or eventsthat are kind of more
attritional losses, and now it'sthe you know the popular
terminology is convective stormsand you've got your cat losses
and what's really affecting theinsurance industry now is just a
frequency of these convectivestorms that are coming through
(03:22):
year to year.
And then just specificallyArkansas yeah, if I were to
paint a picture, the canvas,unfortunately, would be really
dark.
I feel like Arkansas has kindof had a tough go at it over the
past few years.
And you know, just in my areaalone, which I'm in northwest
Arkansas, just a couple yearsago in 2023, springdale,
(03:45):
arkansas, which is about fiveminutes north of me, there was a
big tornado that came throughand really affected kind of in
the city area that's reallynever been impacted before.
And then in that same year inLittle Rock, arkansas, where Rob
just came through, there was atornado that came, a big tornado
(04:08):
that came through Little Rockand impacted a lot of areas kind
of in the city that haven'tbeen impacted before.
And then just last year, in2024, there was a tornado that
came through just about 10minutes north of me, in Rogers
and Bentonville, and I actuallythink there were a tornado that
came through just about 10minutes north of me in Rogers
and Bentonville and I actuallythink there were two tornadoes
(04:28):
that touched down there andagain really affected areas that
have never been affected before.
But as I was thinking aboutthat event, I do remember
driving around the area, youknow, after all of that happened
, and what I kind of remember,thinking to myself, is is
(04:48):
because I grew up in this areaand a lot of these areas that
got hit significantly, you know,10 years ago, 10, 12 years ago
these subdivisions, thesebuildings, these, you know,
these houses they weren't therehouses, they weren't there.
So I do think there's acorrelation between just the new
construction and the buildingand the development, you know,
(05:10):
across these areas and you knowthe impact that these storms are
having, and so it's been atough few years for Arkansas and
then also in Oklahoma that justsits to the west of Arkansas.
I think one of the largest hellevents that happened in 2024
(05:31):
was in Oklahoma.
I think it impacted maybe threeplus thousand houses in one
hell event.
So we're living in a.
It's a pretty tough, prettytough territory right now.
And then it's kind of the secondpart of that question about how
clients are responding.
I just think that overall, moreand more people are kind of
(05:51):
understanding and realizingwhat's going on in the industry
and the impact that these stormsare really having across the
country.
And I've had countlessconversations with folks that
that are in the business andoutside the business and really
the ones that have kind of stoodout to me are the ones that are
outside the insurance industry,because they're saying things
like geez, these insurancecarriers, they're getting
(06:11):
hammered and hit hard right now.
It's got to be tough on themand I don't think in the past
you would really have commentslike that being made in favor of
the insurance carriers.
So that's just kind of been aninteresting conversation.
So that's kind kind of been aninteresting conversation.
So that's kind of what's beengoing on over the past few years
.
Scott Gordon (06:29):
Yeah, arkansas and where I live in Alabama also
always hit by storms, but theyhave been.
I mean, convective stormsaren't new, but they're clearly
getting worse.
Rob, I'm going to ask you thisfrom your perspective, what's
changed most significantly aboutthe nature of these storms, and
why are they so bad and how arethey affecting the insurance
(06:51):
industry?
Rob Porter (06:52):
Yeah, thanks, scott.
Yeah, so I mean, 2023 and 2024were really kind of historically
bad years for the insuranceindustry and I think kind of
Ben's kind of given the on theground view.
But I think over here on theother side of the pond pond, 23
and 24 were a real struggle forinsurance carriers.
Um, 25 started off slowly butit started to kind of pick up as
well.
So I think we're kind of seeingseeing potentially another kind
(07:15):
of bad year here as well.
Um, I think there are a fewthings at play.
I mean, I think one interestingthing I think is that you know,
going back kind of 10 or 20,there was really quite a defined
kind of convective storm season.
You kind of see, march to Junewas when you got your events,
and outside of that it was, youknow, fairly kind of quiet and
benign.
But certainly over the last fewyears we're really seeing that
(07:35):
kind of season stretching outand I think you know I really
kind of feel for the people onthe ground, like you guys over
in Arkansas and Alabama, becauseyou don't really get any
respite now.
Right, there's always thepotential for kind of these
storms to occur, and certainlyfrom an insurer's point of view
as well.
It used to be you kind of youget through your convective
storm season, you'd have yourhurricane season, then you kind
of relax after that.
(07:55):
But we're seeing events likekind of the central Texas hail
event from September 23occurring really outside of the
window of when we normallyexpect these events, and that's
that's kind of, I think,troubling, I guess not just for
people on the ground who don'treally get that respite, but
also for insurance companies aswell.
I think also just kind ofpicking up on one of Ben's
points as well about um, aboutthe change in population, change
(08:16):
in exposure and populationgrowth as well, and kind of
thinking about where some of themost exposed regions in the US
are, places like kind of NorthTexas also happen to be where
people are moving to and wherewhere we're getting this kind of
huge growth in exposure as well, and so obviously there's more
properties that are there thatcan be damaged by events, and I
think insurers are kind ofstruggling to get their arms
(08:38):
around that a little bit,because we're seeing this kind
of huge colossal growth in in inexposure there and insurers
have to manage their exposurebecause they don't want to, they
don't want to be too exposed toany particular one event and
they want to make sure that youknow their exposure is spread
out and I think you know we'reseeing that in terms of kind of
premium changes and deductiblechanges as a result of that as
well.
So, um, I think those are kindof kind of some of the some of
(09:00):
the key themes.
It guess remains to see whatremains to be seen what happens
to the rest of the 2025 season.
But yeah, it's definitely beena tough few years and it feels
like the kind of environment ischanging, not just in kind of
terms of the atmosphere, butalso kind of what's there on the
ground to be affected.
Amanda Knight (09:15):
Well, Rob, you just mentioned, you know,
premiums and deductibles andwe've seen, you know, sharp
rises in deductibles andpremiums over the last few years
, especially in higher riskareas.
Ben, how are retail agents andclients reacting to those higher
deductibles and premiums andwhat tools do you have as a
(09:35):
broker to help sort of softenthe blow or maybe help lower
some of those costs?
Ben Tschepikow (09:41):
Yeah, well, I'd say a couple of ways they're
reacting is one, they're justgetting out of the business and
joining real estate, and two,with the phone call screaming at
us about how high everything is.
No, I'm just kidding, you know.
I think that this change in themarket over the past couple of
(10:02):
years I kind of alluded to thefact that you know everybody's
kind of realizing, understandingthe effect that the insurance
industry is taking, I think theplaying field is kind of
leveling out a little bit withthe carriers.
I think maybe seven, eightyears ago you had some events
come through and there werestill quite a few carriers that
were still kind of had low rates, low deductibles, um, still
(10:26):
kind of coming into the market,trying to be really aggressive
with what they're doing.
Fast forward, you know, five,six, seven years to where we're
at now.
Uh, there's been a big changein that, just that
aggressiveness.
Um, a lot of carriers I know inmy territories and surrounding
States have have left the statedue to losses, you know
non-annuals, big rate increases,big deductible changes, and I
(10:48):
think it's affecting everybodythat's in the business right now
.
And so I think that agents are,you know, more and more getting
more patient with what's goingon in the market and kind of
understanding that, hey, if acustomer's coming in and they're
trying to get a quote and thedays are just going down the
road, somebody is a lot cheaper,lower deductibles.
(11:09):
I don't really think that's thecase anymore.
I think everybody's kind ofgetting into the same boat with
what they're being able to doand in a lot of ways I think
agents are thankful that thereare as many carriers that there
are, especially in some of thesehigher areas, that they are
still being able to writebusiness and things like that.
(11:29):
So and then, just as far as kindof resources and things that
agents are doing, you know, withtheir customers as these
deductibles are coming into play, higher rates is, you know.
Obviously one thing is we'reseeing a lot more increases on
AOP deductibles, that's all ofthe payroll deductibles.
So kind of that typical maybe$1,000 deductible.
(11:50):
Agents are offering and writingmore maybe $5,000, $10,000
deductibles just to kind oflower the cost a little bit.
And then, even if some winddeductibles have gone up, I've
seen quite a bit of take up andeven increasing the wind held
deductible even more, just tolower the cost and just knowing,
(12:10):
hey, we're really not going tobe filing a claim unless
something big comes through.
So those are some things thatare offsetting some costs that
we feel like are gettingutilized more frequently now.
And then you've got someproducts out there such as a
wind deductible, wind-helddeductible buyback, which is
going to be really anindustry-leading product, and
(12:32):
personal lines as we moveforward over the next couple of
years.
And, for example, how that worksis, let's just say, a
customer's got a $750,000 homegetting moved to a 2% wind-held
deductible.
That's a $15,000 home gettingmoved to a 2% wind-held
deductible.
That's a $15,000 wind-helddeductible.
You can actually take out aseparate policy and buy that
wind-held deductible from a$15,000 wind deductible down to
(12:57):
as low as $2,500 just for a fewhundred extra dollars.
So it's really a big benefit tothe customer.
You know, over the course ofthe next few years in doing that
, and so you know, I do wannakind of put a quick plug in
there to CRC is I feel like CRCis always trying to be a leader
(13:17):
in that space with these uniqueproducts and, you know, and
having products such as awind-held deductible buyback in
the residential space, that Ithink is going to just become
more and more popular over thenext couple of years.
Scott Gordon (13:32):
Yeah, I think that the Wayans brothers said it
best when they said mo' money,mo' money, mo' money, it's all
about-.
Ben Tschepikow (13:41):
And actually Scott Notorious BIG said it
really well, I think in 1996 or7, no money, no problems.
Scott Gordon (13:49):
That is also 100% true.
Wow, yes, it is Convectivestorms.
What are you going to do?
So, rob, they are looking atintroducing some products that
can help people manage thesecosts.
Can you walk us through whatthese will look like and you
know who they will benefit?
Rob Porter (14:09):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I guess, like Vave's, approachhas always been from the start
to kind of give the insured,give the consumer, options.
And so we often see that ourcompetitors of ours will kind of
be pushing deductibles to tryand kind of restrict coverage.
You know, due to kind of what'sgoing on.
And our approach has alwaysbeen well, you know, in Ben's
(14:32):
case where he talked aboutmoving from a 1k AAP deductible,
$1,000 AAP deductible, to a10,000 AAP deductible, we're
still offering 1,000 AAPdeductibles US wide to allow the
consumer choice.
We also offer them 10,000deductibles because we want to
see if the different price pointis kind of appealing to them.
Really, our kind of concept isthat we want to offer people
(14:54):
deductibles so that they can goaway and see, buy the product
which is most appealing to them,rather than just forcing them
to kind of have to go forsomething which they don't
necessarily want to do.
So that's kind of been baby'sphilosophy and that's our
philosophy on the aop side andon the wind side as well.
Um, you know, we're stilloffering two percent wind
deductibles in texas andarkansas and oklahoma.
(15:14):
We're not pushing to fivepercent in any of those areas.
We'll, we'll offer you a fivepercent deductible and you can
get a sense of kind of what that, what the differential in
prices is there.
But we really like kind of the,the sound of kind of what ben's
talking about there in terms ofkind of um, these really
innovative solutions arounddeductible buy downs and
offering them in spaces wherethey've not been offered before
and historically kind of it's.
(15:35):
It's a kind of product which hasbeen more on the commercial
side and I think being able tokind of deploy that on the
personal line sizes is, is is areally kind of powerful kind of
um move to give the insureds andthe consumers kind of powerful
kind of move to give theinsureds and the consumers kind
of different options.
And that's certainly somethingthat we're looking at as well,
alongside kind of giving theinsured choice on the Avave
products as well, because wewant people to kind of have, you
(15:58):
know, be able to kind of wedon't want insurers to have to
go away and buy loads and loadsof different products.
If they can buy one product,that's obviously much more
straightforward.
But we do know that othercarriers are kind of increasing
their deductibles and so if wecan offer a deductible buy down
as well, that we can kind offill in some of those gaps that
insureds are seeing elsewhere aswell.
So really, you know, wheneverwe see that the market is
(16:21):
starting to tighten and peopleare starting to kind of pull
capacity back, we will see thatas an opportunity to kind of
offer something which which cankind of plug some of these gaps
for the insureds ben?
Amanda Knight (16:31):
do you have anything you want to?
Ben Tschepikow (16:31):
add to that.
Yeah, I'd love to actually androb, you know, uh, as we're
looking, you know, crc lookingmore and more to partner with
such great underwriters andcarriers like they.
I do just want to mentionarkansas and oklahoma te, texas.
It's really not as bad as whatwe're making it sound and I'm
kind of I didn't mean to sayArkansas, oklahoma, texas, I was
really meaning Alaska andHawaii.
(16:52):
Those are the states that youreally need to stay away from
Other states in the SouthCentral.
They're just fantastic stateswith hardly any losses, please
note.
Amanda Knight (17:03):
Asterisk right there.
Scott Gordon (17:09):
Let's zoom out a bit, okay.
What role do education andcommunication play in preparing
insureds and even some brokersfor this changing environment?
Ben Tschepikow (17:16):
I would say education and communication are
probably two of the biggestfactors right now as we're going
through this change in themarket and it's kind of to the
point of what we're sayingearlier about just the playing
field kind of getting leveledout.
So I think that just because I'ma customer, I'm a policyholder
myself and as you see theseevents that just keep taking
(17:39):
place, and you kind of realizeit is tough out there on these
insurance carriers and just withthe inflation and just the cost
of doing business in general,the frequency, you know,
everybody talks about inflationbut you kind of forget.
Well, inflation happens ininsurance as well.
It's not just the rest of thingsthat are going on, you know, in
(17:59):
business, so it does affectinsurance.
And so I just think that Waysthat you can really kind of
flourish during this time as abroker like myself or insurance
agent, you know, is reallytaking time to educate the
customer in ways that they canmaybe have some credits or save
some costs on their policy, butalso just kind of taking time to
(18:21):
communicate with them what isgoing on in the market, why
these changes are happening, andjust kind of, you know, zooming
out a little bit and givingthem an idea of what's going on,
so that you can kind of justunderstand that, hey, we're all
kind of in the same boat here,not really a case where it's
just happening to you or to thecarriers I'm representing.
It's really a widespread changein the market right now and I
(18:45):
just think that more, if moreand more policyholders have a
good understanding of what isgoing on.
That I just think that it'sgoing to help prepare everybody
for, you know, over the next twoor three years, as the industry
just kind of continues to workthrough just another phase of
(19:05):
insurance.
Amanda Knight (19:06):
Then you know from the broker's position, from
the broker's chair, what adviceif you could give.
You know one piece of advice tothe retail agents sort of
depending on people like you andRob to help their clients.
What's that one piece of adviceyou would give them if they are
starting to see clients livingin areas with more frequent wind
(19:27):
and hail events?
Ben Tschepikow (19:30):
Yeah, that's a great question.
Is that what you?
Amanda Knight (19:32):
tell them, call Ben no.
Ben Tschepikow (19:33):
Well, actually, what I would say is I would say
go rent a forklift and go pickup your office, your agency
office and your home and justmove it to another place that
doesn't have wind and hailevents.
Good luck.
Oh wait a minute.
That's really nowhere in the USanymore.
Yeah, yeah, and I'm hesitant tosay the word advise, because
(19:56):
I've never been an insuranceagent before and I don't ever
want to put myself in theirshoes at all because I've never
been there and I know how justtirelessly and how hard they
work and I also know, justworking hand in hand with other
CRC offices and brokers outthere, just how great they are
at their job and how hardworkingthey are as a whole, these
(20:17):
brokers and insurance agents,and they just do such a
fantastic job overall.
But what I would kind of sayfrom my perspective just because
I do deal with a lot ofdifferent agencies and a lot of
different agent groups and in alot of different territories
just to continue to be patientwith what's going on, because
(20:38):
you're not in the in the boatalone, you know I've kind of
alluded to it several times it'sthe playing field is getting
leveled out with what's going onwith the carriers and carriers
that insurance agents areutilizing, and then again you
know, just really kind of goback to that service and that
communication and that educationof what's going on out there
(20:59):
and just kind of hang in thereand just know that you're not
alone with it.
Amanda Knight (21:04):
Good advice.
Rob Porter (21:05):
I think there's a huge role as well from just
thinking about our side of thepond as well, of kind of
communicating with you guys, thewholes wholesalers, so you can
kind of get it out there to theretailers, the insureds, about.
You know what?
What is it that we're lookingfor in a property?
To kind of get that better rateand get those credits as well.
So, um, there's definitelysomething that we want to do
more of is is kind of reach outand aware that this is a
partnership between kind ofinsured and agents and carriers
(21:28):
to make sure that ultimately, wejust want to try and minimize
and reduce the amount of damagethat's done from these events.
And so if we can get out therewhat it is that we will credit
in terms of mitigations andstuff like that, and then if the
insured is able to take thoseactions, then that's obviously a
really powerful thing, becausethe events are still going to
(21:49):
happen.
But if we can try and minimizethe actual damage and losses
from them, then that benefitseveryone, right.
It benefits us benefits, insuredbenefits carriers, the agents
as well.
So that's certainly somethingthat I think you know there's
more of a role for educationkind of piece being pushed down
the chain, I think.
Scott Gordon (22:05):
Yeah, and this is one of those areas that touches
everybody.
Everyone lives under the sky,everyone experiences storms.
Rob Porter (22:12):
Even here in London we get them sometimes.
Scott Gordon (22:14):
Right, I mean, only certain people are going to
be subject to cyber crimes, butwe're all going to be hit in
the head by a hailstone, right?
Well, this was great and, asusual, we learned a lot.
But also, as usual, we arereaching the fun portion of our
show, which Amanda and I like tocall rapid fire.
And it is just you answer rightoff the top of your head, and
(22:37):
uh, let's start with our friendfrom across the pond, rob, with
the first question.
If you were coming up onto astage, what would your entrance
song be?
Rob Porter (22:47):
wow, good question.
Um, probably, I think, wequestion.
Scott Gordon (22:51):
I think we're talking like hype, you know,
like the wrestling yeah what'syour hype song?
You can't come out to Simon andGarfunkel.
Rob Porter (22:58):
Oh, damn it.
Scott Gordon (23:01):
I mean, you could, you could.
We don't recommend it.
Rob Porter (23:05):
Do you guys know Oasis?
Do you have Oasis in the States?
Amanda Knight (23:08):
Yes, we do.
Rob Porter (23:10):
They're so huge here and they're just, they've
reformed and they're back ontour this summer, so I'd
probably go for Live Forever byOasis.
I think it just kind of getsyou going.
Amanda Knight (23:18):
Yeah, good choice , All right Ben.
Ben Tschepikow (23:20):
And the insurance industry in itself is
an Oasis, anyways.
So it's kind of embarrassingbecause I don't know that it's
really a song that's gonna getme jacked up, but I just went
and saw them in concert about amonth ago, so they're on the top
of my mind.
(23:40):
Yeah well, I'm gonna have to gowith boys to men and I'm gonna
have to go with a song one sweetday featuring mariah carey.
It's not going to get youjacked up, but it is a fantastic
song to just kind of slow theworld down, make you think a
little bit.
But gosh, they were good inconcert.
I'm going to have to admit that.
(24:01):
So that's what I'm going with.
Scott Gordon (24:03):
I remember seeing that they were getting back
together or getting ready totour and I was like can they
change their name to Men, toolder men?
Now I don't exactly exactly,but that's exciting.
I'm glad, I'm excited that yougot to see them.
Ben Tschepikow (24:17):
I bet that was awesome it was, it was, it was
great.
And they still sound the sameas they did, you know, 20 year,
30 years ago nice, all rightquestion, Rob.
Scott Gordon (24:28):
If you could bring back a fashion trend, what
would it be and why?
Rob Porter (24:35):
I think probably skinny jeans.
I'm absolutely appalled thatthey're not fashionable anymore,
because skinny jeans were allthe rage when I was at
university and at college.
Apparently, they're just notvery cool.
Amanda Knight (24:46):
Now, same Rob, same.
I'm not letting go of mine.
Let me be clear they are stillin my closet right now.
Rob Porter (24:52):
Yeah, same, yeah, yeah.
To be honest, I just don't wantto go shopping again and buy
some new jeans.
Is the thing, ben All right Ben.
Amanda Knight (24:58):
What about you?
Ben Tschepikow (25:08):
Yeah, I don't know if this is getting into
eighth and ninth grade, so ithad been, you know, I guess 14,
15 years old.
I don't know if y'all rememberAbercrombie and Fitch.
So Abercrombie and Fitch cameout at that time and just kind
of blew the doors off of the.
It seemed like there was a.
You know, we have a pretty bigmall in our area and they had a
(25:29):
huge store, but they were soexpensive.
Everything in there were soexpensive, and I just remember I
had several friends that wouldget new pants and shirts and of
course my parents couldn'tafford any of that stuff.
So we never were able to getany Abercrombie and Fitch.
You know we were going old Navy, um.
So what I'd like to bring backfor a week is just that style
(25:52):
during that time, and I justwould like to see why it was so
expensive and why it was sopopular you want to time travel,
that's what you want to timetravel?
Rob Porter (26:02):
yeah, I want to time travel, yeah, yeah hop in the
delorean.
Scott Gordon (26:07):
when you said, wow , it was really expensive, I
almost said, almost said, wereyou an old Navy boy?
And you said it, yeah, I was anold.
Ben Tschepikow (26:14):
Navy boy, absolutely.
I think the prices were a thirdthan what those were,
Absolutely they were Solid,solid bargains at the old Navy
y'all.
Scott Gordon (26:23):
We're not paid space.
We should be Well, ben and Rob,thank you so much for joining
us today.
Amanda Knight (26:26):
Well, Ben and Rob , thank you so much for joining
us today.
Ben Tschepikow (26:30):
Absolutely.
Thank you so much for having usand, rob, thank you so much for
being a part of this.
Rob Porter (26:36):
Yeah, thank you, it's been an absolute pleasure.
Really appreciate that.
No, you're welcome, my pleasure.
Amanda Knight (26:43):
And thank you to all of our listeners for joining
us today.
Be sure to subscribe to thePlacing you First podcast
wherever you get your podcasts,and we'll see you next time.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.