Funeral Director Daily

Passing the torch

By Funeral Director Daily / February 8, 2023 /

    Trust me.  This will not be a political article but I got the thought for it when I read this article in the Sunday Minneapolis Star Tribune entitled, “The Grayest Generation – the torch has been passed to the oldest pair of presidential front-runners ever.  Is it time for a younger generation?”  …

Living paycheck to paycheck, de-influencers. . . will they affect the death care market

By Funeral Director Daily / February 7, 2023 /

    This morning’s article related to the changing face of religion and how that has affected the funeral/memorial/tribute portion of the death care business over the past couple of decades.  Over the weekend I noticed a couple of items that signaled current trends and put out the question as to whether or not these…

Re-evaluating the Funeral . . moving away from religion

By Funeral Director Daily / February 7, 2023 /

    There is not only a lot of talk lately about the funeral, memorial service, and celebrations that families are contemplating  in the future for themselves and their loved ones, but there is also a lot of investment money being spent on companies who want to be on the upside swing of what these…

Treating customers honestly and ethically is essential to build your brand

By Funeral Director Daily / February 6, 2023 /

    It’s probably happened to all of us at one time or another.  You thought the answer you received in a buying decision was the final answer, but, at the end of the day, it turned out to be a partial answer and you became a disappointed purchaser of that good or service.  …

LongRange Capital announces completion of Batesville acquisition. . . . retains Trainor as CEO

By Funeral Director Daily / February 3, 2023 /

    Earlier this week we received notice that LongRange Capital has completed the acquisition of Batesville.  The transaction of purchasing the Batesville Company from public company Hillenbrand Industries was announced late in 2022 and apparently now has been completed.   In addition, the private equity firm announced in this press release that Batesville CEO…

Victoriaville & Co. expands to Ohio. . . .our casket math

By Funeral Director Daily / February 3, 2023 /

    Victoriaville & Co., the Canadian based company that provides death care merchandise on three continents, announced in this press release a 67,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Cleveland, Ohio.  According to Alain Dumont, President and CEO of Victoriaville & Co., “This manufacturing addition to our existing capacity has become necessary in order to…

Ohio funeral home expands by purchasing a neighbor

By Funeral Director Daily / February 2, 2023 /

    This article from the Canton Repository announced last week the purchase of Canton, Ohio, based funeral home Kreighbaum-Sanders Funeral Homes by Alliance, Ohio, based Cassaday-Turkle-Christian Funeral Home.   Cassaday-Turkle-Christian’s Adam Christian made the following comment, according to the linked article, “We are honored that the Sanders family has given us the opportunity to…

Matthews International reports Fiscal Year Q1 . . . increases total revenue, but Memorialization sales fall

By Funeral Director Daily / February 1, 2023 /

  Public company Matthews International, with a stake in the death care business, reported their Fiscal Year 2023 First Quarter last week and in doing so reported a company-wide quarter over quarter sales revenue increase of about 2.4%.  The entire revenue increase, however, comes from their much heralded investment in the energy storage solutions business.…

How’s your “Focus”?

By Funeral Director Daily / January 31, 2023 /

    “Focus” is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “the center of interest or activity”.  We hear the word a lot.  For instance if you want to improve your golf game you might be told, depending on your present strengths, to “focus” on your weakness. . . and improve it, whether that is driving…

Merchandising your Service Charge

By Funeral Director Daily / January 30, 2023 /

    Alan Creedy and Danny Jefferson are two veterans in the death care business.  They have not only managed and owned funeral homes but have advised hundreds of death care operators.  The two of them put out a podcast entitled “Two Guys and a Question“.  I recently listened to one of their podcasts that…