Funeral Director Daily has written a lot of articles in the past year about how busy funeral homes have been with death calls.  It’s just the way it has been for funeral homes in the year of COVID.

What we have not done is find any articles on how suppliers are very busy.  We have seen some reports that fly by night “start up” suppliers have appeared and what is done is many crisis situations has happened this year also. . . .that is, these unscrupulous suppliers have tried to profit by either overpricing or over promising deliveries to those in need.  As a matter of fact, we have seen a story on this issue on CBS Television’s “60 Minutes” program.  And, these outlaws have just made tough situations worse for those that thought they could depend on them.

We have also heard that the historically responsible and reliable companies in our profession have been working hard to allow their clients the ability to have the supplies and products needed in order to operate their funeral homes in a professional fashion. For instance, we have heard of casket manufacturers going to full shifts seven days a week to keep their customers stocked.

This article from the Los Angeles Times tells the story of Laguna Hills based Salam International, a supplier of supplies and equipment to funeral homes, governments, coroners, FEMA, and others.  In business since 1992, owner Abdul Salam states that he thought he had seen it all.  His company had supplied necessary equipment following 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, major fires, and was in major preparedness mode for the potential of Y2K issues and potential major problems when Ebola was introduced into the USA.

The article tells about how Salam is busy and what he has done to make sure he has ample product for his clientele.  Business is good of course, but Salam is quoted saying that “record earnings are coming with a high emotional toll.”  He continued by saying, “In the end, you are human and you feel.”  Salam also made the comment concerning what he has realized about this pandemic, “Life is precious and we are all part of the life cycle.”

Salam is a true immigrant success story.  The article tells about how he got his start as an 18 year old immigrant from Pakistan.  He came to realize that there were not many suppliers to coroners in the United States, took a product and started pitching to coroners and it has been no where but up since then.  He has made a name for himself by delivering on what he promises. . . .that should be a lesson for all of us.

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