Business

The World Around Us. . . Gathering information for 2026 planning

By Funeral Director Daily / December 4, 2025 /

    We’ve now moved a few days into the month of December.  It’s hard to believe that the plans you put into place for the 2025 Business Year are now coming into the stretch run.  Hopefully, your profit numbers are exceeding what you expected them to be with, not only your wise planning, but…

Families falling short of funeral funds

By Funeral Director Daily / December 2, 2025 /

  It is not surprising that at the same time we are seeing consumer confidence erode in the U.S.A. that we are also finding some statistical data to tell us that funeral client families are more often coming up short with funding to pay their Death Care obligations.  Statistics are somewhat difficult to find on…

Matthews International reports Fiscal Year ’25 and 4th Quarter ’25 results

By Funeral Director Daily / December 1, 2025 /

    Matthews International is a company that in 2025 received over 50% of its revenue from what they call their “Memorialization” segment.  That segment consists of Aurora Casket, Matthews cremation products, and a complete line of cemetery products and markers.  During the past calendar year Matthews International also acquired Death-care oriented Dodge Company to…

Happy Thanksgiving — Enjoy, food, family, and football!!!

By Funeral Director Daily / November 27, 2025 /

  This year for my evening devotions I am using a book of daily notes by Billy Graham titled, “Wisdom for Each Day“.  It was in the back of my mind to write something for Thanksgiving for Funeral Director Daily.  Then, I read the November 24 entry from “Wisdom for Each Day” and decided Billy…

62 Years ago this week. . . . the story of the Kennedy casket

By Funeral Director Daily / November 26, 2025 /

  Imagine it is lunch time at the funeral home you work at when you get a call from the hospital two miles away that you need to immediately bring the best casket you have to the hospital.  And, by the way, it is for the President of the United States.   That’s the call…

Transformation continues — You can’t afford to be left behind

By Funeral Director Daily / November 25, 2025 /

  Simply as a member of a community I was again reminded this past week that transformation, and especially technology transformation, continues to happen at a rapid pace in the Death Care profession.  Last week I intended to go to a visitation of a deceased gentlemen who for the most part of my funeral director…

Does KFC have a template for Death Care?

By Funeral Director Daily / November 24, 2025 /

  Alex Fasciano, an analyst for CFRA Research suggests that quick service restaurant player KFC’s (formerly Kentucky Fried Chicken) strategy is “. .centered on driving growth through brand relevance, marketing innovation, (and) operational excellence. . . .”   It turns out that the iconic brand was losing customer count and sales to other competitors in…

What about your debt? . . . .and other strategic year-end plans

By Funeral Director Daily / November 21, 2025 /

  I’ve told you before that I sometimes get ideas for Funeral Director Daily articles from the strangest of sources.  Today’s thought process in thinking about year-end planning came to my mind on Wednesday afternoon when I was on the treadmill — it was 41 degrees, cold and cloudy in Minnesota — so I was…

Finding staff is still a challenge

By Funeral Director Daily / November 18, 2025 /

  I recently came across this article from late October that was published in the Pine Knot News of northeastern Minnesota.  The article is headlined “Director-less funeral home trims services“.   I’m from Minnesota and know a little about northeastern Minnesota which is a large lumber and iron ore producing area.  Generally, the communities are…

Wealth generation, private equity, funeral homes — Will this period last forever?

By Funeral Director Daily / November 17, 2025 /

  The Wall Street Journal in this recent article (you may find a paywall here) estimates that over the past 5 years Americans have gained a total of $63 trillion in personal wealth.  And, this article from Yahoo Finance states “. . . the top 20% — the high-earning American households — are thriving because…