Business
We noticed a number of items in the litigation section of the Service Corporation International 2016 Annual Report. Our purpose in listing the claims is not to point fingers. SCI has had several of the claims dismissed and we are in no position to evaluate the validity of the claims. We’ve decided to…
Read More
Ever wonder what the future of the small-town 30 call firm is. When I started in the funeral business in 1980 in a regional center type of community – 30,000 population – we served an area about 15 miles around us. Outside of that 15 mile radius there were several small communities that each had…
Read MoreThe Huffington Post has an outstanding post by funeral director Shannon Burberry titled “What Working With Death Can Teach You About Living.” Burberry is a Funeral Home Manager at Arbor Memorial in Ontario, Canada. Simple lessons but true: Our goodbyes are just as important as hellos. One size doesn’t fit all. Technology connects the disconnected.…
Read MoreAfter operating the Brenneman Funeral Home and Cremation Services in Liberal, Kansas, for 17 years, Rick and Mellissa Brenneman sold the business to employee Mike Hornung and his wife Kelly effective January 31. Mike, who formerly worked with the Archdiocese of Denver Mortuary, graduated from Arapahoe Community College Mortuary Arts program and has worked at…
Read More
The US Census surveys the funeral industry every five years. The next census will take place later this year. Here is the data on US revenues and employment in the Cemetary, Crematory and Funeral Home industries for 1997-2012. Funeral Director Daily take: The drop in cemetery and crematory staff of almost 46% in fifteen years…
Read More
The National Directory of Morticians Redbook reports that the number of of US funeral homes declined by one tenth of one percent during 2017 as you can see from the following table. The number of US funeral homes has declined by approximately 1%/year since 2004. 86% or 16,617 of the 19,322 funeral homes in the…
Read MoreNJ.com and patch.com report that a licensed funeral director Justin Wild has sued his former employer Feeney Funeral Home in Ridgewood NJ after he was fired for using medicinal marijuana to remediate cancer symptoms. After the funeral home learned that Wild has a prescription for using medicinal marijuana after he got in a car…
Read MoreBonney-Watson funeral home, Seattle’s oldest continuously operating business has announced it is listing its 14,000 square foot property and 20,000 square foot parking lot on Broadway Avenue for sale for $7.8 million. The site represents one of the few key development properties available in Seattle. Leader and Times reports that Mike and Kelly Hornung have…
Read More
WWMT.com, the Telegraph and the Daily Star report that funeral directors are telling people not to take selfies at funerals. The most famous abuse of this practice was when Prime Minister Cameron, Barack Obama and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidts took a selfie at Nelson Mandala’s memorial service. NPR reports that funeral prices aren’t transparent despite the…
Read More
Alva Review Courier reports that there is a shortage of funeral directors in Oklahoma. 36,000 people die annually and the number of licensed funeral directors, embalmers, student apprentices and funeral homes have declined. The Director of the State’s funeral board wants to streamline the process of certifying funeral directors. The Lacrosse Tribune says that dogs…
Read More
