Business

Does Death Care have a “Consumer Influencer”?

By Funeral Director Daily / July 7, 2020 /

I will start today’s column with this paragraph that was in my Saturday edition of Seeking Alpha, a daily newsletter I receive about current events and the financial markets. . and sometimes how the two are intertwined. “Cosmetics maker Coty (NYSE:COTY) agreed to buy a 20% stake in Kim Kardashian West’s make-up brand KKW for…

Expansions, acquisitions, new ownership. . . all part of what makes American small business what it is

By Funeral Director Daily / July 6, 2020 /

We spend an inordinate amount of time telling our readers of what is happening in the large public companies that make up that constellation in the death care universe.  Don’t get me wrong, that information is good to have, easy to obtain as it is public by law, and much can be learned by seeing…

Are we failing our families?

By Funeral Director Daily / June 29, 2020 /

This is a really difficult topic, but one that needs to be thought about.  This article, entitled “Lack of collective mourning shows way pandemic has altered grief“, appeared in Sunday’s Minneapolis Star Tribune.  It is thought provoking and gets to the essence of why modern funeral directors exist — to care for the living. It…

Random thoughts on retail sales, funeral home restrictions, revenues, and acquisitions

By Funeral Director Daily / June 19, 2020 /

Where were you when you first realized that the coronavirus may be something serious and you changed your course of habits to manage your lifestyle more safely?  Angie and I were on a scheduled flight out of Honolulu returning to Minneapolis on February 1, the day after President Trump had instituted the flight ban from…

Supreme Court rules in “landmark” civil rights case partly stemming from funeral home employment issue

By Funeral Director Daily / June 17, 2020 /

On Monday the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in a case that was partly brought to that court from a Michigan funeral home lawsuit alleging discrimination in employment as it pertains to gay, lesbian, and transgender people. Here is what an article from Real Clear Politics (RCP) says of this decision.  “The Supreme…

The “Everday Hero”within us

By Funeral Director Daily / June 16, 2020 /

It was in church this morning – yes, I’m writing this on Sunday and I was in church attendance today for the third consecutive week – that I caught an idea for a blog article.  We live in Minnesota and church attendance, with certain rules, has been in effect for three weeks.  The spiritual realm…

Will the “re-opening” of America move the needle on funeral home revenue?

By Funeral Director Daily / June 15, 2020 /

Last week has had a lot of COVID world firsts for me.  Let’s see, I left my county for the first time since March, albeit about one block south of the county line to attend a hybrid graduation party.  I also ate inside a restaurant on Wednesday for the first time since March when one…

COVID-19 and its possible effects on the funeral profession

By Funeral Director Daily / June 11, 2020 /

As I dwell on what is going on currently – such as the market rebounding to its past level, businesses opening up across the country, and school administrators deciding on how to safely open up for classes in the Fall, I cannot help but wonder if the funeral profession will have ramifications because of the…

Goings on in the independent funeral home world

By Funeral Director Daily / June 10, 2020 /

Sometimes I can get going about a subject and give you my opinion before you have even had a chance to read the article and form an opinion on your own.  Like everybody, my experiences that I have lived slant the opinions that I profess. And, while I grew up and operated as a 4th…

Is “Old Fashioned” the new technology

By Funeral Director Daily / June 8, 2020 /

A couple of non-death care profession articles that I read this weekend really made me think of the death care profession and where we are moving.  Just to make the record straight before I get into where we might be moving, I want to point out that I think all businesses are perpetually “moving” to…