Business

The new casket merchants seek to raise funds

By Funeral Director Daily / December 2, 2021 /

The Cremation Association of North America (CANA) says the 2020 cremation rate in the United States was 56.1%.  That same reliable group says that within the next decade – in 2030 – the national cremation rate will rise to 72.8%.  Considering the fact that the vast majority of cremations in the United States do not…

The coming Unstoppable Force Paradox of Funeral Service

By Funeral Director Daily / November 30, 2021 /

The other day I came across this article from a publication called Mic.  The article was entitled, “I feel like a Survivor – inside the Funeral Industry’s 2021 National Convention”.  To say the article was interesting. . .and even somewhat eye-opening might actually be an understatement. You can read the article here. The article is…

The Seasonality of Death

By Funeral Director Daily / November 26, 2021 /

I came across this article titled, “It’s funeral homes’ busy season, here’s what to be careful for”.  Seeing that title I didn’t really know what to expect so I looked into the article.  It’s a short article with some good thoughts — one of those thoughts was entitled, “The Myth of Holiday Suicides”. Now, over…

Inflation, wages, and turkeys. Connecting the dots can help your funeral home strategy.

By Funeral Director Daily / November 19, 2021 /

Being retired has its advantages.  I spend a little time every day reading three electronically delivered economy or financial focused newsletters I subscribe to.  I then like to interpret and extrapolate the information that I get from them and use it in my personal financial decisions as well as my managerial decisions for the companies…

Digging for data to reach your client families

By Funeral Director Daily / November 18, 2021 /

There was a day back when I was growing up that young attorneys would pass the Bar exam and then were instructed to “Hang out a shingle” to let the world know they were in business.  That might have worked back in the 1970’s or 1980’s but today if that attorney is not reaching out…

My hunch: Inflation, other factors will lead to rapid acceptance of “Online Direct Cremation”

By Funeral Director Daily / November 15, 2021 /

Thursday night into Friday morning brought Minnesota’s first snowfall of the 2021-2022 winter season.  It was light, but created slippery conditions outside that forced me onto an indoor treadmill run on Friday morning.  My 2 1/2 mile daily run is punctuated by the fact that I have a lot of stamina. . . just not…

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier — The history behind this “Soul of America” Memorial

By Funeral Director Daily / November 12, 2021 /

The numbers 11-11-11 have always been significant when I think of November 11.  Yesterday was that day that we now refer to as Veteran’s Day in America or is referred to as Remembrance Day in Canada.  Those numbers, 11-11-11, refer to the day and time that the cease fire that ended World War I in…

Extending your revenue lines from a big picture point of view

By Funeral Director Daily / November 11, 2021 /

Back in about 1990 I made funeral arrangements for a 55-year old who died of a sudden heart attack.  His widowed wife eventually talked to me about an idea for our funeral home which was based on the premise of what we now call “Aftercare”.  At that time our funeral home did not have a…

Time to regulate the anatomical bequest business

By Funeral Director Daily / November 9, 2021 /

As a funeral director every so often I was asked by a person or family to help with an anatomical bequest of a person who wanted to donate their body for medical research.  I’m located between Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Grand Forks, North Dakota, where the medical schools for those respective states are located.  There was…

The Segmentation of an Industry

By Funeral Director Daily / November 8, 2021 /

I recently read this article from The Irish Catholic where Joseph Behan of Hibernian Funerals explained that Covid-19 has changed many things about death care in Ireland.  For instance, he told of the “Tell us Once” format where instead of notifying the post office, the credit union, your bank and others of your death there…