Funeral Director Daily

Michigan bill seeks to expand licensing requirements for funeral directors

By Funeral Director Daily / May 19, 2020 /

According to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy a bill has been introduced in the Michigan Legislature that would expand licensing requirements for funeral home directors.  The bill, House Bill 4437, is sponsored by Rep. Rodney Wakeman R-Saginaw Township and would require anyone practicing mortuary science to get a bachelor’s degree from select universities and…

Propel Funeral Partners reports 9 months of 2020

By Funeral Director Daily / May 18, 2020 /

Propel Funeral Partners, the Australian and New Zealand based operator of funeral homes and crematoria, reported last week that their revenue for the latest 9 month period had been AUS $ 85.0 million ($55.25 m in U.S. $) as compared to AUS $69.9 million (US$ 45.24 m) for the prior year.  That is a 22%…

Investors seem wary of death care stocks

By Funeral Director Daily / May 18, 2020 /

We last brought our readers an update on the Funeral Director Daily Death Care Index (DCI) on April 6, 2020, which represented values as of the close of business on Friday, April 3.  As we tell national publications that call us about our DCI, it is not a scientific weighting of public companies in the…

Plaintiff in funeral home discrimination suit dies this week

By Funeral Director Daily / May 15, 2020 /

We learned earlier this week and it was reported in this USA Today article that states in part, “Aimee Stephens, a transgender Michigan woman whose case questioning whether federal law protected transgender individuals from job discrimination became the first of its kind to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court died Tuesday.  She was 59.”…

The abstract memorialization trend

By Funeral Director Daily / May 15, 2020 /

Today’s article may take a little thinking outside the box, but I think that there is some justification to thinking in the model that I will relate.  As a funeral director during the time period of 1980 and 2015 I, arguably served in the period that cremation made its upswing in American death culture. And,…

News funeral professionals can use

By Funeral Director Daily / May 14, 2020 /

In our continuing effort to bring our readers and their friends and colleagues information that is not only timely, but practical, we bring you the following information on webinars and other information. Please note that one of our webinars that is highlighted is live TODAY at 3:00 pm Eastern Time and 2:00 pm Central time. …

Park Lawn Corporation 1Q 2020: Revenues increase 47.5%

By Funeral Director Daily / May 14, 2020 /

Park Lawn Corporation (PLC), the Toronto based funeral and cemetery operator, issued a press release, that you can read here, on its First Quarter 2020 operations earlier this week.  Highlights from that press release seem to be that the company increased its revenues from CAN $50.15 million ( US$35.6 million) in 2019 to CAN $73.98…

Streaming and the new mourning

By Funeral Director Daily / May 13, 2020 /

There is no doubt since the advent of COVID-19 that the funeral profession has had to become more technologically advanced.  And, in the practice of the “no large gathering” prohibition across the country we have turned to technology, such as funeral streaming, to allow more people to mourn the services of a loved one. The…

The world post-COVID

By Funeral Director Daily / May 12, 2020 /

Shortly after the New Year’s bell rang my wife, Angie, and I headed out for one of the joys of retirement. . . extended time in a warm weather location that serves the purpose of shortening what can be fierce Minnesota winters for us.  One of our favorite locations is Hawaii and we left for…

Citizens preneed division sales decline slightly

By Funeral Director Daily / May 11, 2020 /

Citizens Inc., the Austin, Texas, based public company that delves in the preneed funeral insurance market among other products announced a slight earnings per share improvement for the entire company with their 1st Quarter 2020 results over their results for Q1 2019. The company has a Life Insurance segment that primarily issues ordinary whole life…