Funeral Director Daily

Problems in the Portland Sky

By Funeral Director Daily / June 28, 2018 /

Today we bring you this article with multiple photos and a news video from Portland, Oregon television station KOIN.  It concerns the First Call Mortuary Services of Portland and the problems they have recently had with emissions from their crematory. According to the article the mortuary service has had at least 21 cases of dark,…

Update on Mare Island Naval Cemetery

By Funeral Director Daily / June 27, 2018 /

Last week we brought you the story of the Mare Island Naval Cemetery in Vallejo, California.  As of last week  the American Legion endorsed the idea of the City of Vallejo turning the historic cemetery over to the Department of Veteran’s Affairs and the National Cemetery Administration, the group that operates national veteran’s cemeteries. We…

The Process vs. The Product

By Funeral Director Daily / June 27, 2018 /

Within the last month a reader commented on one of our postings with the comment, “The process is always greater than the product”.  I recently went through an automobile purchase for my 20 year old and can argue that I don’t really believe that statement to be true all the time.  In this case, I…

Distance from major city forces cremation prices Higher

By Funeral Director Daily / June 26, 2018 /

Over the weekend I read an interesting article from the British publication Moneywise, which you can read here.  The article was titled, “Cremation monopoly force prices Up” and deals with, what I would call cremation prices outside of a major metro area. For the sake of this discussion, I believe that the definition of cremation…

Goatscaping Coming to a Cemetery near You

By Funeral Director Daily / June 25, 2018 /

The United States is at what some may term full capacity employment and with that comes the high price of labor.  As a matter of fact, some municipalities have instituted a $15 per hour minimum labor rule.  So, what happens if you have a cemetery to maintain and limited funds for capital equipment or just…

American Legion endorses Mare Island Naval Cemetery Transfer

By Funeral Director Daily / June 22, 2018 /

Mare Island Naval Cemetery, the oldest military cemetery on the West Coast was deeded to the City of Vallejo, California,  in 1996.  When it was done there was no mechanism included to be able to handle the financial upkeep.  Over 800 military veterans who served our country, including three Medal of Honor winners, eternally rest…

Funeral Homes expand services to find New Revenue and Brand Loyalty

By Funeral Director Daily / June 21, 2018 /

We recently came across a couple of brief articles pertaining to existing funeral homes making additions to their operation in order to add new revenue. The first of these articles is from the Hastings (Minnesota) Star Gazette and you can find it here.  It pertains to the Ellis Funeral Home of Hastings breaking ground for…

What Price is Too High?

By Funeral Director Daily / June 20, 2018 /

I was driving into a board meeting on Monday and listening to one of the business channels on Sirius Radio.  The topic that came up and was being discussed was the potential acquisition of Fox by either Disney or Comcast.  As you may know, Fox  was given an acquisition offer by Disney last December at…

California City Staff suggest denial of Crematory in City

By Funeral Director Daily / June 19, 2018 /

Later tonight the El Cajon (California) Planning Commission will have the opportunity to approve an application to approve the first crematory in that city.  According to an article in East County Magazine that you can read here, Robert Zakar, owner of El Cajon Mortuary, is seeking to add on-site cremation services to his existing funeral…

Suggestions or Coercion?

By Funeral Director Daily / June 18, 2018 /

Late last Wednesday a jury in Montana issued a verdict against a Montana funeral home for coercing a widow client into pursuing a cremation for her husband against his “final wishes” for earth burial.  You can read about the case in the Great Falls Tribune here. According to the article, Robert Yeager, age 64 died…