Consummate entrepreneur, inventor of ‘How’s my driving?’ stickers
Years before it became a household word, crowdsourcing was harnessed by such visionaries as George Zimmermann as a way to improve businesses while giving people something they didn’t always have — recourse.
Mr. Zimmermann came up with those “How’s my driving?” decals seen on the back of commercial vehicles, encouraging members of the public to report driver infractions.
The idea reduced traffic accidents by as much as 30% while saving his hundreds of clients — including Pepsi-Cola and Frito-Lay — millions in insurance costs, Mr. Zimmermann said in newspaper stories about his company.
Sertec Corp., the service improvement company Mr. Zimmermann founded in the late 1970s, also had a division in which customers could report complaints about fast-food restaurants and other businesses.
After retiring as CEO of the Atlanta-based company, Mr. Zimmermann relocated to Hopewell in Washington County 18 years ago, where he and his wife bought a 465acre farm.
He also continued to live at a second home in West Palm Beach, Fla., where Mr. Zimmermann, 76, died Friday after a series of recent health setbacks.
A native of New York City, Mr. Zimmermann studied business at Queens College. It was his first business, a tow truck and body shop in New York City, that gave him the idea for the decals that would become famous.
The accident-prone vehicles in his fleet were costing Mr. Zimmermann thousands of dollars in repair and maintenance costs, all of which went down almost immediately after he installed the bumper stickers, which included a toll-free number for the public to call with complaints.
Drivers, who said the stickers made them more conscientious and careful, had fewer accidents and the move cut costs by about 50%, Mr. Zimmermann said in previous news stories.
“He had a vision, and when he tried it on his own trucks, he recognized it would be a success,” said his wife, Lisa Salandra Zimmermann. “He loved to tell the story of how it started. He was proud of it.”
By the time he turned Sertec into a national service company in 1984, Mr. Zimmermann had fully developed his so-called Driver Check system, which took hundreds of calls a day about everything from trucks running red lights to speeding and reckless driving. About a quarter of the calls were actually complimentary.
“If ever there was a born entrepreneur, it was
George. Everything he saw was a possible business to him. He just couldn’t shut it off,” said Ms. Salandra Zimmermann, who met her husband when she and a group of friends went to dinner in West Palm Beach in 2000.
“We talked while we were waiting to be seated,” she recalled.
Mr. Zimmermann sealed the deal by picking up the tab for her table anonymously, but his future wife had no doubt where the romantic gesture originated.
“We instantly zeroed in on each other and everyone else was a blur,” she said.
They married later that year and moved to Hopewell to be closer to her family.
The couple bought a restaurant in Independence and opened a winery called Walnut Ridge Vineyards, named for the groves of black walnut trees on their property. They also started an heirloom tomato company that sold produce to local stores.
During the winter, Mr. Zimmermann cut, stacked and sold cord wood, and the couple recently started a custom wood-flooring business, said his wife.
“George never stopped until the last minute,” she said.
Mr. Zimmermann’s generosity was also legendary in the area, where he and his wife donated 90 Christmas presents and hosted a holiday feast for families affected by Hurricane Ivan flooding in 2004.
He also gave $5,000 to a Peters family who lost their home to a fire and paid for cataract surgery for an elderly man who couldn’t afford it.
“He really loved doing things for other people,” his wife said. “It was a natural thing for him.”
Along with his wife, Mr. Zimmermann is survived by a sister Anne Leonardo, of Woodhaven, N.Y.; sons Nicholas and Pierce, both of Hopewell, and Frederick, of Ocklawaha, Fla.; daughters Margaux, of Hopewell, and Kimberly Allegrini, of Montgomery, N.Y.; and two grandchildren.
His funeral was Thursday.