On Monday at about the time that the stock market was closing for the day I happened to tune in to CNBC to see what had happened during the day in those markets.  All the talk was about oil prices as the talking heads were busy informing the world, that at this point in human history, we now have too much oil.

Who would have ever thought that?  There were times not long ago where oil was priced at over $100 per barrel and drilling rigs were all over my neighboring state of North Dakota extracting out of the ground what was termed “Black Gold”.  Those where the days when we were driving our cars all over and airlines were using millions of gallons of jet fuel daily keeping our business travelers traveling.

However, the talking heads pointed out, that due to the COVID-19 pandemic going on around the world – people are driving much less, factories and their machines are idled,  and jet airplanes are traveling at rates that have been described at less than 5% of what they were just one year ago.  In essence, there is no demand for oil at this time. . .even to the point that as the crude comes out of the ground, there is no where to store the oil until demand picks up again.

“Demand”.  A business without a “demand” for their product cannot stay afloat very long.  The oil producers are going to have to quit producing oil until there is a demand again.  And, just so you can rest assured, there will be a demand for oil again, and in my opinion, having the prices be low when our economy goes back to work so that driving and flying will be less expensive, will actually be a positive for the consumer world.  But the predicament that the oil producers find themselves in today just goes to show that oil, and many other products, are sold in a world with a very elastic demand.

It made me think.  What about death care?  I would guess that you could say the demand for basic death care in the United States is inelastic.  It

does not change because of price, or storage facilities, or the state of the economy.  While we have seen during the COVID-19 pandemic that death rates can vary  to a degree, the basic “demand” is that each person will die once and will once, and only once, purchase death care services.

In America today, we know that deaths will number about 2.8 million per year and that a death care professional will be called on in each of those cases.  Yes– some will have human disposition by burial, some by cremation, and some by alkaline hydrolysis — but regardless of what we advertise to get people to our place of business, the “demand” for our basic service will be the same – it will be for those people that die.

However, a static death rate or a static demand, does not mean that marketing does not matter and that you cannot change the number of death calls that come to your place of business.  As a matter of fact, it probably means that marketing matters more than ever.  To succeed in business, you need to market your business so that your business gets a higher percentage of the market share and you need to position your business so that those consumer families who choose your place of business are willing to pay you for the services that produce a profit for your business.

And, the good point moving forward is that, while “demand” for funeral services will continue to be one deceased at a time, the number of those deceased in America will be increasing steadily between now and 2050.  The number of people aged 65 and over between now and 2050 will swell and increase the number of deaths in America.

So, the question to be answered is “How do I get additional deaths to my firm?”  The answer, in my opinion, lies in looking forward and creating the type of environment that will be conducive to the types of services that consumers will be selecting in the future.  We pretty much know that the type of service will not be like what was portrayed in the “Old West” with the undertaker and pine box burial.  However, we don’t really know what it will be in the future. . . .there are lots of possibilities. . .  but I’m guessing that the continued trends of increasing cremation and alkaline hydrolysis will continue and I’m also guessing that technology will play a larger and larger part every day.  Technology such as remote arrangements via Zoom or some other type of electronic format will be standard.

Pricing might also play a big role in drawing more consumers to your door.  If you have an ultra high overhead with a huge building and a big staff, will you be able to profitably price lower cost options such as direct cremation?

If I owned a funeral home today, I would really be looking at how technology can draw the consumer to my place of business and how technology, occupancy costs,  the right merchandise, and staffing properly can be right sized to draw the consumer preference.  I’ve seen enough in the last 30 days to realize that the consumer is ready for new advances in death care. . . even if we aren’t.

More from the world of death care:

• Local funeral home manager helping families in New York.  Port Charlotte Sun.  (FL)
• Vets Serving Vets start clearing land for new cemetery.  Cadillac News (MI)
• Pandemic spells grave times for funeral industry.  The Business Journal. (CA)
• It’s carnage:  Crematoriums run around the clock to meet demand from coronavirus.  USA Today

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