When is the right age to establish a preneed account? . . . Maybe on your wedding day

By Funeral Director Daily February 16, 2023

  We’ve touched on the subject in this forum before — when is the proper age, as a consumer, to look into getting a preneed funeral/cremation account?  I’ve opined that our funeral home used to look at Social Security age and then lowered that to age 55 and over.  Lately, according to all that I…

Another acquisition story . . . except this one’s going the other way

By Funeral Director Daily February 15, 2023

    It’s pretty common place to read in Funeral Director Daily and other Death Care publications about the national and regional funeral home and cemetery consolidators announcing another acquisition.  However, when we were catching up with our reading a few days ago we noticed an acquisition. . . .that was “going the other way”.…

Suicide rates rise in 2021. . . Is the lack of funerals part of the reason?

By Funeral Director Daily February 15, 2023

    Sometimes I just come across ideas for Funeral Director Daily articles by accident.  On Saturday I was going out for my weekly “reward” of a time at a coffee shop and stopped to buy a newspaper to read while there.  Since the local Naples Times-Herald was out, I had a choice of the…

Is your business Transactional or is it Transformational?

By Funeral Director Daily February 14, 2023

    Most businesses that I know of are transactional in nature.  They take a fee and give their customer a product or service in return for that fee.  Funeral homes tend to be transactional — we charge a family for the services and merchandise we render and then we provide those products and/or services…

DCI shines. . .outgains some composite indexes year to date

By Funeral Director Daily February 13, 2023

    Funeral Director Daily’s Death Care Index (DCI), which is reflective of Death Care public companies public stock prices, has grown at a pace of about 9.7% for the first six weeks of calendar year 2023.  That rate of increase surpasses both the Dow Jones Industrials and the S&P 500 indexes during the same…

BUSINESS

The election is over, Congress has changed. If I ran NFDA here’s what I would do.

By Funeral Director Daily | November 10, 2026

    Now that the television advertising has stopped, I know that the United States recent election cycle is over.  And, whether your favorites won or lost it is time, or it will be come…

Chptr wins NFDA Innovation Award, launches ChptrOne

By Funeral Director Daily | November 5, 2026

  Includes an NFDA Convention Highlight   Let’s begin with an announcement that came from last week’s National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Here’s that announcement:   Chptr, creator of the…

Another suburban Chicago funeral home sold

By Funeral Director Daily | November 4, 2026

  It was only ten days ago that Funeral Director Daily brought you this article about Park Lawn Corporation adding to its Illinois cluster by purchasing two funeral homes northwest of Chicago.   We now…

FINANCE

Security National CEO on the 3rd Quarter 2026: “We had a rugged 3rd Quarter”

By Funeral Director Daily | November 13, 2026

    Security National Financial Corporation’s Chairman, President, and CEO Scott Quist made this comment in the opening remarks of the company’s 3rd Quarter Earnings Report earlier this week, “From the Income Statement point of…

Funeral homes in Kentucky, Indiana purchased by Landmark Funeral Group

By Funeral Director Daily | November 12, 2026

    We were notified in late October by this press release that Landmark Funeral Group had acquired the Funeral Excellence Group (FEG) that consisted of nine locations.  All of the locations are located in…

Carriage Services 3Q26 Earnings Call: CEO explains comparable revenue drop

By Funeral Director Daily | November 11, 2026

    Carriage Services, one of three public funeral home and cemetery companies that are required to release finanical information to the public did so for their 3rd Quarter of 2026 last week.  They also…

REGULATIONS

The election is over, Congress has changed. If I ran NFDA here’s what I would do.

By Funeral Director Daily | November 10, 2026

    Now that the television advertising has stopped, I know that the United States recent election cycle is over.  And, whether your favorites won or lost it is time, or it will be come…

The Mid-term elections are a week away. Where do Death Care voters stand?

By Funeral Director Daily | October 27, 2026

    An NFDA Convention Discussion Topic The mid-term congressional and senatorial elections are right around the corner taking place one week from today.  The direction and results of those elections will help America chart…

Can cemeteries be part of the “Battery Storage solution” and profit from it at the same time?

By Funeral Director Daily | October 26, 2026

  An NFDA Convention Discussion Issue   One of the issues that we have in America right now is that utility companies need to “store electricity” to help meet peak demand periods.  Here’s how a…

CEMETERY

Can cemeteries be part of the “Battery Storage solution” and profit from it at the same time?

By Funeral Director Daily | October 26, 2026

  An NFDA Convention Discussion Issue   One of the issues that we have in America right now is that utility companies need to “store electricity” to help meet peak demand periods.  Here’s how a…

The Start of Something Good

By Funeral Director Daily | October 13, 2026

    I learned of the advent of the upcoming first annual National Cremation Remembrance (or Placement) Day earlier this year from my friends at Crowne Vault.  The company was one of the first to…

Will the dispersion of Natural Organic Reduction soil be an issue?

By Funeral Director Daily | October 1, 2026

  Back in August the Worcester (Maryland) County Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) approved Natural Organic Reduction (NOR) firm Earth Burial’s request to spread NOR soil on a 14-acre property in the county.  According to…

CREMATION

The Start of Something Good

By Funeral Director Daily | October 13, 2026

    I learned of the advent of the upcoming first annual National Cremation Remembrance (or Placement) Day earlier this year from my friends at Crowne Vault.  The company was one of the first to…

Not a Good Look: “Dysfunctional Death Care System” becoming an issue in Chicago mayor’s race

By Funeral Director Daily | October 9, 2026

    In August of this past summer (2026) 56 decomposed bodies were found improperly stored in a funeral home in Chicago.  It’s not the first time or the first place something like this has…

Will the dispersion of Natural Organic Reduction soil be an issue?

By Funeral Director Daily | October 1, 2026

  Back in August the Worcester (Maryland) County Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) approved Natural Organic Reduction (NOR) firm Earth Burial’s request to spread NOR soil on a 14-acre property in the county.  According to…

PRENEED

The election is over, Congress has changed. If I ran NFDA here’s what I would do.

By Funeral Director Daily | November 10, 2026

    Now that the television advertising has stopped, I know that the United States recent election cycle is over.  And, whether your favorites won or lost it is time, or it will be come…

Wages, credit, inflation. . . . How are those factors coming together to influence revenue per case

By Funeral Director Daily | October 20, 2026

    “Revenue per Case” (RpC) is a very important metric in your funeral home to illustrate how much money comes into the your funeral home for every death call you care for.  The goal,…

Preneed: Your funeral home’s reputation may be tied to your preneed provider

By Funeral Director Daily | October 2, 2026

    I came across an interesting article the other day that reminded me of the unease that I always had in selecting our funeral home’s preneed insurance partner.  My unease had nothing to do…

PRODUCTS

Chptr wins NFDA Innovation Award, launches ChptrOne

By Funeral Director Daily | November 5, 2026

  Includes an NFDA Convention Highlight   Let’s begin with an announcement that came from last week’s National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Here’s that announcement:   Chptr, creator of the…

Can cemeteries be part of the “Battery Storage solution” and profit from it at the same time?

By Funeral Director Daily | October 26, 2026

  An NFDA Convention Discussion Issue   One of the issues that we have in America right now is that utility companies need to “store electricity” to help meet peak demand periods.  Here’s how a…

ASD named one of America’s Most Innovative Companies

By Funeral Director Daily | October 23, 2026

Today’s Article includes an NFDA Convention Preview       Who says Death Care is not “innovative”?   Just this week I learned that ASD – Answering Service for Directors was named to Fortune‘s 2026…