No end in sight

October 14, 2026/Business/

I talk to a lot of funeral directors. Most understand the ramifications of raising their prices. However, sometimes it just needs to be done to stay profitable. . . . but in an inelastic market for different options of service, sometimes raising pricing reduces revenue coming in. It’s pretty simple to figure that out — if you raise traditional funeral prices too much, it may cause families with deaths to chose a lesser revenue service such as cremation. . . which actually results in lower revenues coming in.

That dilemma very often puts funeral home owners in tough decision situations. And, this recent article from Yahoo Finance titled ” A lot of sticker shock”: Home heating oil soars for millions amid oil crises” is not good news for the upcoming winter season.

While the United States is very diverse in geography and climate the article will be especially bad news for those that operate funeral homes in the northeast area of the country where much of the older commercial buildings, including funeral homes, are heated with with heating oil.

The article makes this comment, “Heating oil costs are expected to jump 50% this winter, according to one estimate from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, adding nearly $900 to the average home’s heating bill.” Here’s what Chris Herb, president of the Connecticut Eneegy Marketers Association said in relation to that situation, “There’s a lot of sticker shock.”

Historic Home Heating Oil Prices in the Northeast to expected November 2026 prices

Continued Inflationary Trends: This morning, October 14, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is going to tell us what direction inflation is taking in the United States. According to this prediction from Investing Live the BLS is expected to tell us that inflation continues to increase. The expected announcement according to that article says that Headline CPI will have increased at a 3.6% year over year rate as compared to a 3.4% previous rate and that Core CPI will have increased 2.5% year over year as compared to the previous reading of 2.4%.

Headline Inflation is defined by “Total inflation rate in an economy”

Core Inflation strips out food and energy to remove short-term supply-shock noise and temporary price swings.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

The “Inelasticity” effect: Because funeral home consumers cannot “wait out” the market or “delay a death”, inflation of funeral services generally is driven by the inflationary pressures around our businesses — We raise prices to cover increased costs. Lately, those costs have increased without a let-up for some time. . .costs such as labor, property taxes, supplies, and now for those in the Northeast, much higher heating costs., There may also be something to be said that the purportedly high number of recent acquisitions is leading to “funeral home price inflation” as well because with higher interest rates on loans operating costs of acquired businesses go up because of those interest payments.

All of that is now happening in a rapidly changing Death Care market where the American consumer has not been convinced that the traditional funeral with cemetery burial is necessary for positive grief relief. That situation is leading to compressed margins and difficult business decisions. As a matter of fact, in my opinion, lower cost Death Care services outside the realm of traditional funeral homes are probably growing at a faster clip than ever before in North America making a funeral home’s pricing decisions and operating decisions more important than ever.

Related Article — “Big Funeral exploits consumers under guise of inflation”. The American Prospect (2024 article)

Related Information — Funeral Expenses Inflation 1986 – 2026. Official Data Foundation

Related Information — Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for 2027 expected to be 3.5%. Compared to last year’s (2026) COLA of 2.8%. Yahoo Finance

More news from the world of Death Care: