SCI press release on 4th Quarter 2023 results

By Funeral Director Daily February 13, 2024

  Click here to access the company press release from Service Corporation International (SCI) pertaining to their 2023 4th Quarter financial results and 2023 Full Year Summary.   Funeral Director Daily will publish a complete article on the press release and upcoming Earnings Call in the near future.   Enter your e-mail below to join…

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CX: “Customer Experience” — How good is yours?

By Funeral Director Daily February 13, 2024

    “Customer Experience”, or “CX” for short.  It’s an extremely important part of your business operation —  whether you know it or not.   Customer Experience is a subjective thought process of how your clients and others — such as shoppers and people who may simply look to your website for obituaries or to…

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Matthews International First Quarter 2024 Earnings Call highlights

By Funeral Director Daily February 12, 2024

  On February 1, 2024, Matthews International reported its 1st Quarter 2024 results.  We reported on that on February 5 with this article.  A day later they had an earnings call with investment advisors and today we bring you some quotes from that call.  You can access the entire transcript of the 1Q 2024 Earnings…

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The Super Bowl, Taylor Swift, and funeral home “Influencers”

By Funeral Director Daily February 9, 2024

  It’s Super Bowl Weekend and you are probably going to hear a lot about what is happening in Las Vegas over the course of the next 72 hours.  And, you would have had to be hiding under a rock to not know that superstar entertainer Taylor Swift is bringing her “influence” to the big…

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The practice of “Experimental Decedent Model” donations is increasing

By Funeral Director Daily February 8, 2024

    Every funeral director has had that call from a non-profit life donation organization that the recently deceased Mr. Doe will be unable for removal for 24 hours or so while his organs are harvested.  Funeral directors are also keenly aware of of those families or individuals who have been in to the funeral…

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BUSINESS

“It is the Night of our Dear Savior’s Birth”

By Funeral Director Daily | December 25, 2025

      O, Holy night! The stars are brightly shining It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth O night divine, O night when Christ was born O night, O Holy night, O night…

This Christmas: “Count Your Blessings”

By Funeral Director Daily | December 24, 2025

    We all worry — probably too much.  We worry about finances, we worry about weather, we worry about our children.  Trust me, I think everybody worries a lot — like I said, probably…

Everstory Partner’s Cedar Hill Funeral Home completes renovations

By Funeral Director Daily | December 23, 2025

  Everstory Partners, who may be the nation’s 2nd largest Death Care provider by serving over 65,000 families per year, recently announced completed renovations at their Cedar Hill Funeral Home just outside Washington, DC.  This…

FINANCE

Everstory Partner’s Cedar Hill Funeral Home completes renovations

By Funeral Director Daily | December 23, 2025

  Everstory Partners, who may be the nation’s 2nd largest Death Care provider by serving over 65,000 families per year, recently announced completed renovations at their Cedar Hill Funeral Home just outside Washington, DC.  This…

Pinnacle Funeral Service makes Green Bay acquisition

By Funeral Director Daily | December 18, 2025

  We learned earlier this week that Pinnacle Funeral Service, a funeral home owner and operator based in St. Petersburg, Florida, has acquired the Malcore Funeral Home & Crematory as well as Simply Cremation in…

Hillenbrand sale progressing, but some questions remain

By Funeral Director Daily | December 17, 2025

I had almost forgot that Hillenbrand Inc., the former parent company of Batesville, had itself agreed to be sold to Lone Star Funds last August (2025).  I was reminded of that transaction from this recent…

REGULATIONS

New York audit of state funeral industry finds “Red flags”

By Funeral Director Daily | December 19, 2025

    A recent report (November 2025) from the State of New York Department of Health with the results of an audit “which covered April 2019 through November 2023, concluded that the state Department of…

Missing body causing problems between family and cemetery

By Funeral Director Daily | December 3, 2025

    According to details in this article from CBC Canada Royal Air Force glider pilot veteran Gordon Patrick was buried at the Green Acres Cemetery outside of Winnipeg, Manitoba, following his death in 1973. …

Subject of iconic “Homecoming” photo died on Veterans Day

By Funeral Director Daily | November 28, 2025

  This is Thanksgiving weekend — a time to reflect and give thanks for the lives we are living.  Those of you who are old enough will remember back in 1973 a time when our…

CEMETERY

Cremations, and now tariffs creating headwinds for monument dealers

By Funeral Director Daily | December 16, 2025

  American monument dealers have become accustomed to dealing with the rising cremation rates in the country and the dwindling sales opportunities for cemetery monuments that fact brings.   But now, according to this recent…

The Green Funeral movement is alive in New York City

By Funeral Director Daily | December 11, 2025

  Amy Cunningham is a friend of mine.  She was a writer/editor who has become a funeral director and she has teased me that I was a funeral director who has became a writer/editor with…

Opinion: The Jewish Faith and Cremation

By Funeral Director Daily | December 10, 2025

  I grew up in the very homogeneous community of Alexandria, Minnesota.  From this Wikipedia article you can see that the city at the time of my growing up had a population of a little…

CREMATION

Cremations, and now tariffs creating headwinds for monument dealers

By Funeral Director Daily | December 16, 2025

  American monument dealers have become accustomed to dealing with the rising cremation rates in the country and the dwindling sales opportunities for cemetery monuments that fact brings.   But now, according to this recent…

Opinion: The Jewish Faith and Cremation

By Funeral Director Daily | December 10, 2025

  I grew up in the very homogeneous community of Alexandria, Minnesota.  From this Wikipedia article you can see that the city at the time of my growing up had a population of a little…

Does KFC have a template for Death Care?

By Funeral Director Daily | November 24, 2025

  Alex Fasciano, an analyst for CFRA Research suggests that quick service restaurant player KFC’s (formerly Kentucky Fried Chicken) strategy is “. .centered on driving growth through brand relevance, marketing innovation, (and) operational excellence. .…

PRENEED

More Americans take on debt to cover funerals

By Funeral Director Daily | December 12, 2025

  I came across this recent article from USA Today titled “Americans are going into debt over death.  Here are affordability tips.”  Reading that article led me to a survey and results from Debt.com and…

Preneed companies emerge as funeral home lending sources

By Funeral Director Daily | October 3, 2025

    Morgan Stanley, a global financial services firm that provides a wide range of products and services, including investment banking, wealth management, consumer banking, and brokerage services, recently made this comment in an article, “Life…

Co-op Funeralcare increases “Funeral Plan” sales over 17% despite cyberattack

By Funeral Director Daily | October 1, 2025

  An April cyberattack which you can read about here probably cost the parent company of Great Britain’s largest funeral home operator, Co-op Funeralcare, about a US$ 107 million profit swing but didn’t seem to…

PRODUCTS

Cremations, and now tariffs creating headwinds for monument dealers

By Funeral Director Daily | December 16, 2025

  American monument dealers have become accustomed to dealing with the rising cremation rates in the country and the dwindling sales opportunities for cemetery monuments that fact brings.   But now, according to this recent…

The Green Funeral movement is alive in New York City

By Funeral Director Daily | December 11, 2025

  Amy Cunningham is a friend of mine.  She was a writer/editor who has become a funeral director and she has teased me that I was a funeral director who has became a writer/editor with…

More breakthrough technologies from OneRoom available

By Funeral Director Daily | December 5, 2025

  The streaming, recording, and re-watching of Death Care memorial events is becoming more and more a staple of what consumers are now expecting from their Death Care event professional.  And much like any new…