A recent decision by the City of Beloit, Wisconsin, to offer more cremation options at city cemeteries is causing angst among some Beloit area businesses according to the Beloit Daily News.  In essence the city is allowing their owned and operated cemeteries to offer a pricing structure that will allow for consumers to have an all-inclusive price for the purchase of a grave site,  columbarium, and placement of inurnments as compared to today’s option of only allowing for the purchase of four grave sites and a constructed columbarium, purchased somewhere else, to be placed in the center of those grave sites.

Jackson Monument owner Rick Elliott has complained that this type of fee arrangement would give the cemetery an unfair business advantage as only the cemetery would be able to offer the package price.  City Cemetery Coordinator Robert Pokorney rebuts that the business of death care is changing – to one where more cremation is happening – and the city’s response is only in tune with what consumers/residents are now asking for at their city cemetery.

Pokorney also argues that today’s options of the four grave site method is just too costly for today’s consumers who are looking for something nice, but at less price.  He also states that the cremation columbarium decision will help bolster cemetery revenue and meet the challenges the cemetery is facing as cremation rates continue to rise.

The Wisconsin Association of Monument Builders, of which Elliott is a member, calls the city’s decision “highly unusual”.

Funeral Director Daily take:  This is another instance where the merits of the death care industry are clashing as a result of ever rising cremation rates.  It is not hard to see that cemeteries are losing revenue in grave lots sold and full-body interments in this environment.

The cemeteries have an obligation to continue to operate, which takes revenue, so they are looking at areas where raising revenue can be done.  I’ve served on a small city’s cemetery association board for some time and, we too, used the sale of columbariums to bolster our revenue.  Ours were group columbariums, and not individual lot marker columbariums, but they too took revenue out of the private monument business.

I’ve said it many times before, and I think Mr. Elliot needs to know, that America’s death care industry is changing and none of us are guaranteed our business anymore.  We have to keep adapting and moving in a direction that the consumer will want.  All kinds of businesses are looking to cash in on the changing norms of funeral service and we need to keep our eyes open so as not to get blind-sided by one of these businesses.

If I was a monument dealer in the Beloit area, I might go to the city cemeteries with a partnership plan such as trying to be the “monument dealer of choice” for the cemetery.[wpforms id=”436″ title=”true” description=”true”]