My career in the Death Care business spans from 1980 when I attained my funeral director’s license until today where I keep my eye on what is happening in the business so that I can share with readers my opinions.  However, I’ve been out of “active management” of a funeral home for over a dozen years now so I must admit that I’m not looking at Profit and Loss statements every week like I once did

 

My time in active management coincided with the American consumer making the move from Death Care choices that included caskets, burials, church services, monuments to a choice that included cremation as the preferred disposition method.  I watched many families make the difficult choice of being the first death in the family to choose cremation and wonder about the ramifications that type of service would bring.

 

What I witnessed was once that difficult first-choice was made for a family. . . .almost universally the rest of the family became cremation families going forward.  Of course, most of these families continued to have some type of service and most of the time the cremated remains were buried in a cemetery with a monument or put in a columbarium for perpetual memorialization.

 

Cremation had an effect on the bottom line but those actions of having a service, and burial or columbarium placement softened that blow to the bottom line. . . . . and price increases of traditional funerals made up for the loss in revenue to keep pushing the funeral home’s profits upward every year. . . . . and building market share and building efficiencies through acquisitions lifted the profits skyward even more.

 

However, now traditional funeral homes across the globe are dealing with the increased financial pressures of what I call “DCNS” service selections by families.  DCNS. . . “Direct Cremation, No Services”.  And, I think that financial pressure is much more intense than what I had to deal with at the time families were discovering cremation for the first time.

 

Like many funeral homes, the funeral home I owned and operated has a white board in the funeral director offices that tracks the cases that are currently going through the Death Care process.  I’m absolutely amazed when I stop by from time to time to say hello to the staff or stop out at a visitation and find myself in the office visiting with the current directors at the number of cases marked “DCNS”.

 

Great Britain, with the advent of the business Pure Cremation, has according to some estimates now reached a DCNS percentage of services of 21% of all deaths.  Dean Lamble, CEO of Pure Cremation, has recently said that DCNS services, using current preneed choices as a barometer, will reach 50% of the British populace by 2035.

 

Since I no longer get a regular look at funeral home finances, it is difficult for me to ascertain what the effects of the DCNS popularity could do to the financial health of traditional funeral homes.  However, this recent article in Insider Media about the A.W. Lymn Funeral Services, based in Nottingham, England, gives some idea.

 

I’m under the impression that A.W. Lymn Funeral Services has been around since 1907 and now operates 27 mortuary establishments in Great Britain.  In the article, Matthew Lymn Rose, the 5th generation managing director makes this comment, “Last year was difficult again in terms of our main market, with the disruptors and direct cremation providers impacting on our core business.”

 

The article also gives some idea of the financial ramifications of the “difficult year” as there is a year-to-year comparison of financial results covering the same periods in 2024 and 2025.  Here are the two numbers we are given:

 

• 2024 Revenue:  US$  23.27 million
• 2025 Revenue:  US$  21.45 million
• That’s a drop of 7.5% of Revenue in one year

 

• 2024 Pre-Tax Profits:  US$  4.15 million
• 2025 Pre-Tax Profits:  US$  3.48 million
• That’s a drop of 16.2% of profits in one year

 

According to Help After Loss the cost difference for Cremation with Services and a cremation under my DCNS definition in Great Britain are as such:

• Average Cremation cost with Services:  US$ 5,617
• Average Direct Cremation with No Services Cost:  US$ 2,177

 

 

The numbers represent the challenges ahead for full-service traditional funeral homes.

 

I’m not necessarily a pessimist for full-service traditional funeral homes though.  Since funeral homes started appearing in America in the 1860’s they have always been challenged by laws, traditions, demographics, and customs changing.  I do believe that traditional funeral homes will change, offer more and different services, consolidate to provide more services under one facility and there will be some evolution of companies and some closures.

 

However, those businesses that figure out the financial solutions to operating their businesses in what appears to be a time of “differing” Death Care choices by consumers, will continue to prosper.

 

More news from the world of Death Care:

• Court rules comparator misled consumers over life, funeral offerings.  IncsuranceNews.com (Australia)
• Family disputes costs after mother bought prepaid plan nearly five decades ago.  Video news story and print article.  KMBC News – Kansas City
• Lincoln considers natural burial grounds on town land.  Vermont Public Radio (VT)
• At Denver’s parched Riverside Cemetery, a plan emerges to transform the landscape without water.  The Colorado Sun  (CO)
• Developer seeks to move historic Ellis Cemetery graves for billion-dollar development. Video news story and print article.  Channel 10 News – Knoxville (TN)
• Cleveland funeral home owner files state complaint over conditions at two Bradley cemeteries.  News Channel 9 – Chatanooga (TN)

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