Business
My own historical family businesses are a perfect example of the evolution of a business to fit the consumer and stay relevant. Back in 1872 my great-grandfather arrived in the New World with a skill as a cabinet maker. He set up shop and when people died family members approached him about building a coffin…
Read MoreI served as a funeral director in a small town and when somebody died, the news got out. There can be a difference between a death notice and an obituary or an obituary can serve as both. In America we have closed over 2,000 newspapers since the year 2000 and many communities no longer have…
Read MoreFuneral directors have always liked conventions. I have great memories of Minnesota Funeral Directors Association (MFDA) conventions going back to the 1960’s. My dad always attended for a day and for his family it was an opportunity to get to the big city (Minneapolis) stay at the downtown Radisson Hotel, and probably get to take…
Read MoreI’ve said all along that as death care moves forward there will continue to be full service funeral homes, but there will also be a growing niche of death care disposition options available to the consumer public. Just last week Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed a bill into law that will make Colorado the second…
Read MoreCovid-19 and the ramifications it brought with social distancing was tough on funeral and memorial services. It was even more devastating to the wedding and wedding reception business. However, during the calendar year of 2020 most brides and grooms continued to take the plunge into matrimony. . . . they just did so without that…
Read MoreWhen I last wrote an article pertaining to inflation one of Funeral Director Daily’s readers contacted me to tell me that his studies indicated that funeral pricing increases did not always correspond with inflationary rates or the rise of the Consumer Price Index. Sometimes funeral pricing was higher and sometimes it was lower than the…
Read MoreThe other day I read an article from “The Hustle” concerning product or brand placement in movies and television shows. It was a pretty fascinating read of product placement, not something I was totally unfamiliar with. However, I was somewhat amazed at the amount of dollars that companies were willing to spend for product placement…
Read MoreI saw that quote in Microsoft’s 1st Quarter 2021 report last week and wondered how that will affect the death care industry. That’s not a unique thought for me because if you’ve followed my writing for any length of time you know that I like to look at other industries and then take what they…
Read More