Thursday, December 30, 2010

A Risky Snow Job

We've discussed "special event" insurance before, but here's a story that fits the season:

"A North Carolina jewelry store owner made a $400,000 bet against a white Christmas — and lost."

Alan Perry, the store's owner, promised to refund all his customers' purchases between Thanksgiving and a week or so before Christmas if Asheville experienced a White Christmas.

It did.

So did he "lose" that bet?

No, not really: he had the foresight to purchase one of those aforementioned "special event" policies, which paid off just under a half million dollars. So he's out the (most likely nominal) premium, but bought a sleighful of great publicity and good will.

And that's a risk well worth taking.
blog comments powered by Disqus