Regulations
Arlington National Cemetery, our nation’s national cemetery, is somewhat between a rock and a hard place as they plan the future of the cemetery. I don’t think anybody disagrees with Karen Durham-Aguilera, the cemetery’s executive director when she states, “We want to be open. We want to have that opportunity for that 5-year-old who’s going…
America moves into the Labor Day weekend today which generally signals for our family that Summer is coming to an end and it is “Back to School” time. For us that historically has meant boats off the lake and put into storage for the winter and our two sons heading back to school. Well, it’s…
The United States released its annual report by the Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare Programs earlier this week. In that report, which you can see a summarized article here, we get an idea of what the federal government thinks about death rates going forward. The report concludes, as to the national death rate,…
It’s been kind of a funny week at Funeral Director Daily. Each day of the week I look for articles pertaining to the death care industry to offer up to my readers. Most deal with funeral business, new products, new ideas, financial results, cemeteries, and the preneed industry. This week, it seems like I’ve done…
It will surprise no one that in the Covid-19 pandemic year of 2020, that life expectancy for Americans dropped by the largest decline since World War II. This article from the Associated Press also indicates that the life expectancy drop for Black Americans was the largest since the Great Depression and for Hispanics it was…
It was probably ten years ago when I, as a funeral director, received a phone call from a member of a family whose father was on hospice care. The family member told me that his father “wanted his body donated to science” and had made arrangements for a private company to help them do that. …
It’s not all that common but it does happen in the death care profession from time to time. The “it” I’m talking about is regulatory infractions that can cause a funeral home or other other death care business, such as a crematory, to be shut down for some period of time. When it does happen…
In a decision that came down in early July 2021 a Canadian arbitrator has ruled against a funeral home and for its two employees in a case involving employees rights to a pierced nose and un-covered tattoos. You can read the article from Canada’s National Post on the decision here. In essence, the decision by…
I’ve operated and managed a thriving funeral home. If you’ve been there and done it. . . you know it is 24/7/365. . . .not many days go by when you don’t worry about something. And, I’ve dealt with grieving family members, regulators, and the consumer movement too. When you operate a community funeral home,…
