Cremation
Minnesota funeral director Scott Mueller is a proponent of “Green Burials”. Mueller makes a comment in this recent article from the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin titled “As interest in green burials grows, so does some opposition”. Mueller’s comment is this, “As long as people have walked this earth, we’ve had green burials. Every cemetery…
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There are some interesting survey results out that question if the United States will soon reach the “Peak Percentage” of cremation rates as the disposition of choice. Last year at this time the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) was readying some of their results on the “Changing Funeral Preferences” survey. I remember…
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On Tuesday morning I had to alter my running schedule because of rain showers. So, I took to our indoor treadmill to get my daily exercise and had a nice run while watching the Fox Business Stuart Varney morning show. One of the short business news stories that came on was that they…
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Pension funds and endowments have the responsibility of shepherding for safety, growth, and income their assets into a multitude of investments. I’ve learned that most of those types of investors invest in bonds and private debt for income and stocks for short-term growth. Some will invest up to 5% of the assets into…
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Orlando, Florida, based Foundation Partners Group (FPG) caught some by surprise when it announced in a news release on Monday, “a transformational milestone in its growth journey, including new ownership, increased investment in its people and facilities, and a strategic reorganization to strengthen field operations and support care teams.” The news release did…
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HBO’s recent documentary “The Mortician” probably gave the Death Care profession some bad publicity. However, at least in one case as evidenced by this article in The Free Press titled “My husband wants to be cremated. I’d ignore his dying wish“, it brought out a re-constituted call for the traditional visitation and funeral.…
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I don’t know what Death Care will look like ten years from now but I do know that change happens, and in some way, the logistics of it will be different than today. This recent article from Forbes titled “Tech and Deathcare: A new challenge to an old industry” ends with the…
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We noticed in this article last week that a consumer group has asked for the removal of funeral directors as “the middleman in cremations, saying it’s costing people money”. Among other things, the group says “it gives them (funeral directors) the opportunity to “hook people into a package deal” charging grieving families for…
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The percentage rate of cremation disposition for all deaths in the United States continues to rise, but the Cremation Association of North America (CANA) says in a recent press release that that rate is “decelerating” in its growth. It is, however, a common statistical occurrence for growth rates to slow once the percentage hits…
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I have a retired Lutheran clergy friend who, when we were both working, was not hesitant to tell families that “Death should be inconvenient”. That sentence usually came during an arrangement conference when families struggled to try to fit in a funeral or memorial service between grandchildren’s youth sports events, family vacations, and holidays.…
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