Funeral Director Daily

SCI reports 1st Qtr. . . Comparable Unit funeral sales drop 5.5%

By Funeral Director Daily / April 30, 2019 /

North America’s largest funeral home and cemetery operator, Service Corporation International, reported 1st Quarter 2019 results last week and you can see their press release on those results here. The company’s CEO, Tom Ryan, issued the following statement in the report.  “We are encouraged as we start of 2019 on par with prior year earnings…

Cemetery volunteers file lawsuit against billboard company

By Funeral Director Daily / April 29, 2019 /

Washington Park Cemetery sits in suburban St. Louis, Missouri.  It is a cemetery that opened in 1920 and has not accepted new burials for almost three decades according to this article in the San Francisco Chronicle. Wanda Brandon is among a group of volunteers who tend to the cemetery.  She has filed a lawsuit against…

TGI. . . . .Friday!!

By Funeral Director Daily / April 26, 2019 /

Over the last week I’ve read several articles from around the world that describe different aspects of funeral directing, working as a mortician, or operating a funeral home and the people that do those tasks.  Without much editorializing on my part I am just going to present the articles for you to read. This article…

An unsung hero in the funeral trade

By Funeral Director Daily / April 25, 2019 /

One of the great things about being retired and not working everyday is the time that I have to do things.  One of the things I do is mentor young business people — some where I have an investment in the company. . . and some where I just give advice when I am asked.…

A new idea for urns — Planturns

By Funeral Director Daily / April 24, 2019 /

From time to time at Funeral Director Daily we come across articles on products for the death care industry that we believe are new, innovative, and have promise. Today we are introducing you to “Planturns” – urns that double as planters.  They have been created by Los Angeles based designer and woodworker C.C. Boyce. According…

Facebook group challenges StoneMor on cemetery operations

By Funeral Director Daily / April 24, 2019 /

A television news report and story from WSET out of Lynchburg, West Virginia, can be seen here and tells of a Facebook group that has garnered more than 600 followers that says that there is a problem with the way StoneMor Partners operates their cemeteries. Melissa Cash, whose father is buried at the Fort Hill…

Are you prepared to enter a new era of funeral service

By Funeral Director Daily / April 23, 2019 /

Options are great for the consumer.  And, according to this article from Governing.com, those people that live in the state of Washington are about to have another option for death care. Last Friday the House and Senate in that state approved a bill that will allow for “Natural Organic Reduction” of human remains, or a…

Church membership. . . and funeral ceremony

By Funeral Director Daily / April 23, 2019 /

The Gallup Poll recently released its findings on church membership last week and I found an article on it written by the Associated Press that you can read here.  One of the interesting items was that, contrary to anecdotal thought, Hispanic Americans church membership has dropped, since 2000, from 68% to 45%.  That is a…

Grief on Campus

By Funeral Director Daily / April 22, 2019 /

Mental health issues on college campuses are real and are growing at a pace that is hard to reason.  This article from the University of Minnesota Daily, a student newspaper, deals with a mental health issue that is not uncommon, but many times goes unnoticed by college officials.  That is the issue of student grief…

What is your company’s culture

By Funeral Director Daily / April 19, 2019 /

Each individual has their own personality that is known to those that know them.  Some people are gruff, some people are social, some people are always happy, some people are tight fisted with money, some people are gracious, and on and on, but all of us have traits that we are known for.  Acquaintances know…