Well, after having no spring, summer has finally arrived and it’s in full force. Hot, humid, mosquitos – the summer we all know in Michigan. With July here, the first six months of 2019 of MTM loss results are now in the books. During my recent visits to MTM members, the most common question is how does it look for our next dividend. Here’s my answer on that subject with the caveats: 1) things can change good or bad. 2) we still have half of the year to complete. With that said, the first six months of 2019 were good. The results if this was the whole year would be a nice member’s dividend to distribute. 2019 losses are lower than expected both in frequency and severity. As an example on the severity side, last year, in 2018 we experienced two fatalities. So far in 2019 (knock very hard on wood) we are at zero. On this one metric, over the last six years: 3 of the years we have had one fatality per year, two years at 0, and then last year, at 2. Even with “regular” claims, frequency this year is looking good. Congratulations to our members for their Loss Control efforts and a special shout-out to the MTM Loss Control team.

My goal/hope is that the second half of 2019 is as good as the first half of 2019. This would make delivery of member dividend checks early in 2020 a lot of fun. This would be the sixth year in a row of owner dividends.

Lastly, every October we have the annual MTM members’ meeting and lunch. As in past years this lunch is held in the delightful location/facility of The Inn at St. John’s, Plymouth, Michigan. The date has been set for October 17th. A “Save the Date” notice was recently mailed out. Last year’s presenter was “active shooters”. This was a very interesting presentation and our members gave it high marks. This year the topic is “MTM is providing tools to a safe, secure, and drug-free workplace”. MTM’s own Megan Brown, Vice-President of Marketing and Sales does a great job finding outstanding speakers on hot topics. I hope you can join MTM staff and another 100 MTM members.

Until next month, enjoy the summer. — John