Business
Great funeral homes and cemeteries don’t just pop up and start making lots of money overnight. Matter of fact, it is very rare that a death care business can open in a new locale served by others and make a profit within the first couple of years. New operations have to be ready to spill…
Read MoreOne of the things that I find interesting about the death care industry is the continuing consolidation and spin-offs that seem to always occur. Get a few funeral directors together and they are always talking about who is acquiring who. I’ve been around long enough to see upstart Prime Succession grow fast and then be…
Read MoreIt was back in April 1977 that I remember losing my father to a sudden heart attack while he was serving at a funeral. As a teenager you remember where you were when you were first told and then the rest of the visitation, funeral, and following time is somewhat forgot except for a few…
Read MoreIn a press release that you can read here it was announced that Service Corporation International will, for the 11th consecutive year, be a major sponsor of the “Donate Life” float at the 130th Tournament of Roses Parade on January 1, 2019, in Pasadena, California. SCI and its brand, Dignity Memorial, will be the sponsor…
Read MoreIf everything goes as expected today, most people are looking for a 0.25% rise in the Federal Funds interest rate as set by the Federal Reserve Board. There has been a lot of talk that the rate, which if raised today for a 4th time this year, has had something to do with the volatility…
Read MoreMost funeral homes have some type of Holiday Remembrance service for those who have lost loved ones in the past year. Most of these establishments also give out something to take home after the service. . . it may be a plant, a flower, some other type of memento, of even, as is very common,…
Read MoreSubscription services have been around a long time. As a junior high student I can remember how Columbia House Records got their claws into you to be a customer. Remember, pick 10 albums for $2 and then subscribe to buy one per month – at the regular price – for the next 24 months? Columbia…
Read MoreMuch like our funeral home, most funeral homes have an aftercare project where they help those widowed people in the community blend back into life in what I call a “new normal”. Part of that service is helping these people socialize and might entail, something like we do many times annually, loading onto a bus…
Read MoreI’ve mentioned it before but when I graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Mortuary Science in 1980 I believe that there was one woman in our graduating class of about 40 people (2.5%). I’m not amazed at the progress that women in the industry have made since that time because the…
Read More
