Funeral Director Daily

Has the emergence of the woman funeral director made death care a “softer, gentler” process

By Funeral Director Daily / May 4, 2023 /

    It’s been no secret that for the past 30 years more and more women have been becoming active in the death care profession.  I saw the trend start with pre-need counselors but now according to this article from Spectrum 1, 65% of all graduates of funeral director programs in the United States are…

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“Modern Retail” tells us Titan Casket’s strategy for disrupting an industry

By Funeral Director Daily / May 3, 2023 /

    I often tell people in funeral service that with Funeral Director Daily  “I don’t break the news, I just tell those in the profession what I’ve heard, what I’m seeing, and what my opinion on the subject is.”  I’ve secured a pretty good following by doing that and giving busy death care professionals…

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Matthews 2Q 2023 Report: Memorialization sales slightly rise

By Funeral Director Daily / May 3, 2023 /

    Mathews International’s sales rose about 7.8% year over year for their 2nd Quarter of 2023 as compared to the same quarter of 2022.  Matthews is on a fiscal year so their 2nd Quarter comprises the months of January, February, and March.  Most of the sales increase occured in Matthews Industrial Technologies segment.  …

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Green Burials are here

By Funeral Director Daily / May 2, 2023 /
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    For the past 4 years of so since I’ve been putting pen to paper writing Funeral Director Daily as I do my research I invariably come across articles on Green Burials.  Green Burials by my definition are “ecology based earth burials with as simple a disposition process that can be done”.   They would…

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Parting Stone website traffic increases after Shark Tank episode

By Funeral Director Daily / May 1, 2023 /
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    Earlier in April Parting Stone and its CEO Justin Crowe appeared on an episode of Shark Tank looking for potential investors to help move the company along into the mainstream of post-cremation remains options.  And, while that happened as the company took an investment offer from well known Sharks Kevin O’Leary and Lori…

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Grief without the grave

By Funeral Director Daily / April 28, 2023 /

    There are approximately 3 million deaths in the United States each year.  As of 2023, about 40% of those deaths are interred as “Traditional Earth Burials”.  That leaves about 1.8 million deaths that are cremations, alkaline hydrolysis, green burials, or natural organic reduction forms of disposition.   In almost all of the three…

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Titan Casket appears on CBS Sunday Morning

By Funeral Director Daily / April 27, 2023 /

    I’ve been maligned and others in the profession have told me I am wrong when I say the funeral directors and funeral home owners can be “Entrepreneurial”.   Several people have dropped me notes or emails that tell me I am “dead wrong” and death care is a business that is not entrepreneurial, but…

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TPG Capital pulls InvoCare bid off the table

By Funeral Director Daily / April 26, 2023 /

    It’s been an interesting month to be watching what is happening in the South Pacific if you are a investor in the death care business.  TPG Capital, a large United States private equity company, made an unsolicited offer for InvoCare, the largest death care provider in Australia and New Zealand about one month…

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What’s new with obituaries

By Funeral Director Daily / April 25, 2023 /

    I continue to be one of the dwindling daily hard copy newspaper readers left in America.  It must be hereditary as my father subscribed to both the Minneapolis Tribune morning newspaper and the Minneapolis Star evening newspaper when I was growing up.  I can remember vividly coming home from elementary school and spreading…

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Keeping your Firm’s Families

By Funeral Director Daily / April 24, 2023 /

    By guest writer Joe Weigel. Have you ever looked in your local paper’s obituary section or checked out a competitor’s website and asked, “How did we lose that family?  We’ve served them for generations.”   The fact is – most funeral homes devote a substantial amount of effort and investment to landing new…

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