Regulations
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a notice last week, that you can read here, that announced that they are contemplating banning almost all non-compete agreements that are not a part of an agreement between buying and selling companies. Since non-compete agreements have been a part of the employer/employee relationship in funeral homes this…
One of the things that happened at the end of 2022 is that New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law that permits the State of New York to add Natural Organic Reduction (NOR), sometimes referred to as “human composting”, to the list of legal human remains dispositions. According to this article…
It’s inevitable that regulations by government agencies are necessary in a civilized society. Sometimes, however, when you own and operate a business it seems like you don’t want to take a step in any direction simply because you think that step may be against some type of regulation. At least, that’s the way that…
According to this article from the Los Angeles Times, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) released final death statistics for the calendar year 2021 last week. It’s interesting to note that the death rate (the percentage of Americans who die in a given year) has risen at the same time that life expectancy…
I recently read this story in the Buffalo (NY) News that is entitled, “Two men planned what would happen after their deaths. Why did they end up in unmarked graves?” The story documents the plights of two men who, by most death care experts opinion, did everything that they should have done about their future deaths…
I was a little bit flattered and humbled when death care experts Alan Creedy and Danny Jefferson picked up Funeral Director Daily’s article on the upcoming process of “retaining and modernizing” the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) “Funeral Rule” as the topic for their latest “Two Guys and a Question” podcast. You can click here to…
If you are part of the Death Care business in North America part of your goal is to move families from grief to remembrance of their loved one. And, if we are honest about it, we should never want anybody to ever be forgotten. That’s why so many are so strong in recommending a place…
The Federal Trade Commission issued the “Funeral Rule” in 1982 with an effective date of September 1984. Since that time it has operated as a consumer tool for price comparison in the funeral home market. This recent communication from the FTC asks for additional comments on several items by January 3, 2023, as the FTC…
As you may know I have lived my entire life in Minnesota. . . and this past weekend winter arrived. We had a little brush with snow and then our first Zero degree day was Saturday. It made me think of my working years with committal services out at the cemetery following a church service…
Earlier this week I was informed by a Funeral Director Daily reader that online price lists have started to appear on the websites of Service Corporation International (SCI) funeral homes. Just to be clear, I’m not sure that this is news or not — because I’ve never taken the time to check out individual SCI…
