http://www.cleveland.com/business/news/f05prog.ssf

Y2K glitch nags Progressive employees

Wednesday, January 05, 2000

By THOMAS W. GERDEL PLAIN DEALER REPORTER

Progressive Corp. sent about 100 employees home early Monday because of problems related to Y2K computer issues.

The affected employees, who were servicing policies by telephone from the company's offices in Mayfield and in Tampa, Fla., returned to work yesterday, according to Mary Beth McDade, a spokeswoman for the auto insurer.

Typically about 4,600 Progressive employees are doing such work daily, the company said. Overall, the company employs about 7,000 people in Northeast Ohio.

McDade said the Y2K problems, which occur when the year 2000 appears in dates as "00," causing a computer to record 1900 or otherwise balk, surfaced in the older-policy services system, which about 20 percent of the company's employees use. She said the problems affected peripheral issues, including the ability of an employee to enter notes into the system, and had no direct impact on existing policies or Progressive's ability to write new ones.

Nancy Benacci, an analyst at McDonald Investments in Cleveland, called Progressive's glitches "a very minor issue, a total non-event." She said Progressive was well prepared for the changeover to the new century.

Progressive shares closed at $68.13 each, down $2.56 to a 52-week low on the New York Stock Exchange, reflecting yesterday's overall market plunge. Benacci said stocks of other insurance and financial services companies also declined.

Progressive is the nation's fourth-largest personal auto insurer. Its shares have fallen in recent months as premium cuts, advertising campaigns and other efforts to lure customers took a toll on earnings. }/Email~E-mail: tgerdel@plaind.com Phone: (216) 999-4114

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), January 05, 2000

Answers

Hey guys and gals and Pollies everywhere. I guess not everything reported on this board is bull----! Doesn't this sound like the same insurance company discussed on this board a few days ago. On Sunday night hadnt we mentioned a very LARGE insurance co in NE Ohio, that had yet to roll over the systems. I can't remember, but did the poster also mention that this insurance company also had some very large generators installed a few days before rollover? Ah, yes, silly me, the people who run Progressive Insurance, (the fastest growing insurance company in America)are stupid paranoid people like the doomers on this board, n'est pas?

-- lurking, as usual (lindagrog@aol.com), January 06, 2000.

Hey guys and gals and Pollies everywhere. I guess not everything reported on this board is bull----! Doesn't this sound like the same insurance company discussed on this board a few days ago. On Sunday night hadnt we mentioned a very LARGE insurance co in NE Ohio, that had yet to roll over the systems. I can't remember, but did the poster also mention that this insurance company also had some very large generators installed a few days before rollover? Ah, yes, silly me, the people who run Progressive Insurance, (the fastest growing insurance company in America)are stupid paranoid people like the doomers on this board, n'est pas? Lurking

-- and lurking, as usual (lindagrog@aol.com), January 06, 2000.