Funeral Director Daily

Prison for Pre-Need Theft

By Funeral Director Daily / February 9, 2018 /

In a case we have followed for the last year on Funeral Director Daily, Chad Harding, owner of the Gatens-Harding Funeral Home in West Virginia, was sentenced yesterday to up to 30 years in prison by Putnam Circuit Judge Joseph K. Reeder.  You can read more about the case and the sentencing here. Harding, a…

Looking from the Outside In

By Funeral Director Daily / February 9, 2018 /

Sometimes when you really need to know about your business, you should listen to somebody from the outside.  They see that perspective from another view — and many times it is the view that Mr. Outside can see that Mr. Inside has overlooked. So, today, I have found two articles from the people on the…

The Pricing Conundrum

By Funeral Director Daily / February 8, 2018 /

There is no doubt that in any business the pricing of the product or service must work on at least two levels.  The first level being that the price is appropriate enough to draw the customer to – or at least not drive the customer away – from the business.  This would be known as…

StoneMor Partners Reports 3rd Qtr 2017

By Funeral Director Daily / February 7, 2018 /

We’ve said before that 2017 was an unusual year for StoneMor Partners, LP in that they had some key executives leave or retire and, probably partly because of that and an accounting review, they delayed their reporting to the Security and Exchange Commission.  They have been working hard and on January 26, 2018, the company…

Presenting Pre-Need — Part 2

By Funeral Director Daily / February 6, 2018 /

Okay, so I left you yesterday reading Presenting Pre-Need — Part 1 and teasing you that I would go into more detail with today’s Presenting Pre-Need — Part 2.  Not that you were up waiting all evening for it, but here is Part 2. I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s column and today I am going…

Matthews Announces Acquisition

By Funeral Director Daily / February 5, 2018 /

Last week Matthews International Corporation announced the acquisition of Star Granite & Bronze of Elberton, Georgia, for $41.2 million.  According to the release from Globe Newswire that you can read here, Star Granite & Bronze is a family-owned business that manufactures and distributes granite and other memorialization products to customers across the United States. The…

Presenting Pre-Need — Part 1

By Funeral Director Daily / February 5, 2018 /

I did an article last Tuesday about the Krause Funeral Home and their low-key approach to Pre-Arrangement presentations with their “Pizza and Pre-Need” get-togethers.  It made me think about how I’ve presented Pre-Need in a seminar format and how my approach has been refined over the years as both the consumers and the product (death…

Hillenbrand Reports 1st Quarter, Revises Adjusted EPS Upward

By Funeral Director Daily / February 2, 2018 /

Hillenbrand Industries reported 1st Quarter 2018 earnings on January 31.  You can read the company’s press release here. President Joe Raver made the following comment, “We are off to a strong start for 2018 with continued momentum in the Process Equipment Group.  We remain closely aligned with our customers by providing applications expertise and high…

Death Care Index Slides in January

By Funeral Director Daily / February 1, 2018 /

The Funeral Director Daily Death Care Index (DCI) dropped roughly 2% for the month of January in contrast to the Dow Jones Industrial Average which recorded a 5.79% gain.  The DCI, a composite total of eight death care industry public stocks, stood at $290.78 at the close on January 31 in comparison to its mark…

The National Cemetery of the Pacific

By Funeral Director Daily / February 1, 2018 /

I’ve mentioned before in this blog that Angie and I are in our first year as empty-nesters as our youngest headed off to college this year.  It is an interesting feeling, with no children in the house everyday, but it has been a time for the two of us to do some things that we…