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When I began my career as a catastrophe adjuster, my Father told me the two best moments regarding a catastrophe deployment for him are: when you get the call and when you are released from the assignment.

When you get the call- you know you are embarking on an opportunity to assist folks who possibly have lost everything, then obviously, when you are released from the assignment, you are headed back home to your family. My Father was a catastrophe adjuster for 25 years.  He would travel to various assignments, all over the country, and assist in property and casualty claims handling after disaster strikes in a given area of the United States.

I decided to follow in his footsteps and worked on cat teams for 6 years. The life as a traveling Property and Casualty Adjuster is filled with many highs and lows. The long hours working from a hotel room, months on end, can be exceedingly difficult. On the flip side, the reward of helping people back to their normal state after disaster strikes is very fulfilling. Also, the income while being deployed is exhilarating, and well worth the arduous task in which you find yourself immersed.

He also would tell me of his excitement of the challenge, of going to a new town and overcoming the workload bestowed upon him as being gratifying and building character. As I would progress through the stages of an assignment, throughout my many assignments, his words would reverberate in my mind over and over. My feelings were the same as his. In today’s world adjusters are considered essential employees and rightfully so. I have helped hundreds of hardworking Americans restore their property after losing everything, in some cases.

When you are able to take someone from losing their most valuable asset (their home), bring them back to normalcy by adjusting someone’s loss in a disastrous situation, you can see and feel the relief of someone getting through a terrible time in their life. You can also know that you played a pivotal part in this process; in which, brings a sense of pride to yourself as a professional.

When addressing the crucial role a Catastrophe Adjuster plays in society, during the trend of today’s discussions of what job functions are indispensable, obsolete, or no longer necessary; the first aspect, hanging in the balance, is how necessary is the job function in question?  Adjusters will always be necessary to provide the analysis of a property loss by way of human investigation. Any of the professions, that include investigation, will be the last phased out by technology. Advances in our digital world, are and will replace human workers at an increasing pace in the coming years and decades.

Claim Representatives hired to analyze a loss to a risk location provide a unique service to claims departments for many insurance carriers across the world. This is the product that the insurance company is ultimately selling (a contract policy that can be used, by a policyholder, when appropriate and needed). Fast sharp response is essential for an insurance carrier to survive; not to mention accurate reporting, detailed fact finding, and case building, to cover or not cover, and what to cover or not cover, is the important role filled by thousands of insurance professionals, every day.

When deciding whether to use a Claims Adjuster or not on a file, one must ask, do we want to call a homeowner and ask him to do the work, by measuring and scoping a loss? Or do we want to rely on a photograph taken by an object, instead of physically examining the damaged material, with the human eye or touch? This becomes even more cumbersome, in a disaster situation, when most people want to see and speak to someone, not only for comfort from another person, that everything is going to be ok, but for peace of mind knowing that the information submitted is being recorded. This piece of mind that a person is obtaining through human contact is not going to be replaced by technology, acceptingly by today’s generations, who are still living and thriving in a world filled with human contact.

As the future progresses with more functions, serviced by computers, certainly the generations in front of us, will be more accepting of services that require investigation, reassurance, and feedback being replaced by sophisticated technology. Until this time comes, professional Claim Handlers can continue (generation after generation, like my Father and me), having rewarding careers, helping individuals through possibly the worst time of their lives.

Ryan Stubblefield is an Independent Adjuster with more than 10 years’ experience in both Catastrophe Teams and Daily claims handling. Ryan graduated from the University of New Orleans with a B.A. in Business Administration.

He is also a licensed Insurance Producer of all lines.  

He can be reached at rhstubbl@outlook.com

Any view and knowledge expressed in this article belong to Ryan Stubblefield alone and do not represent any other organization or person.

Edited and published by Lonce Lamonte and adjustercom.  All rights reserved.  lonce@adjustercom.com.