The Journey Group, a death care industry consolidator based out of the New Orleans area, announced last week the purchase and acquisition of two firms in the greater Birmingham, Alabama, area. Both firms are metropolitan combination firms — each with a funeral home facility on a cemetery property. According to the press release that you…
Read MoreYesterday Park Lawn Corporation announced another acquisition of a funeral home. Fresh off the announced purchase of seven cemeteries in New York and New Jersey last week for a combined price of close to $50 million, the Toronto based company announced the purchase of the Billingsley Funeral Home in Huntsville, Ontario. In a press release…
Read MoreLast week our Commander/Businessman-in-Chief, President Donald Trump, indicated that he is willing to put a 25% tariff on steel imports from foreign countries. It is interesting to note that, at this time, we don’t know if he will follow thru with such or is using the threat to get Mexico and Canada back to the…
Read MoreLast week we told you about a problem at the First Family Funeral Home of Spartanburg, South Carolina. That problem stemmed from the fact that a body that was to have been cremated three years earlier was found stored in a room at the mortuary just a couple of weeks ago. Today in an article…
Read MoreOn Friday StoneMor Partners issued a press release that you can read here. In it they announced that current CEO Paul Grady would be leaving and would be replaced by Leo Pound, who has been a director of StoneMor since 2014 and was previously their acting Chief Operating Officer. According to the release, Pound is…
Read MoreBUSINESS
Technology will be/is here for your funeral home
A pager that allowed me out of the funeral home. . . .telephone transfers that allowed death calls to be “transfered” to one’s home phones. That’s about the extent of technology when I…
Loss & Legacy: What does the “new” funeral customer want?
According to at least one survey 76 million American Baby Boomers will reach the age of “Life-Expectancy” between now and 2042. Another survey I looked at mentioned that there are “only” 71.9 million…
Titan Casket continues “edgy” journey to find their audience
On Wednesday of this week arguably the most innovative and edgy marketing tool was turned loose on the funeral buying public when Direct-to-Consumer casket company Titan Casket unveiled their new relationship with Elan…
FINANCE
Eirene receives $4 million in seed funding, expands into the United States
It was announced in this recent Pulse 2.0 article that Canada’s online-operated cremation provider Eirene has recently received over $4 million in seed funding led by Relay Ventures with participation from at least two…
C&J Financial expands in Insurance Assignment funding
It was announced in this press release from last week that C&J Financial would be expanding by “becom(ing) the exclusive insurance assignments partner for Tribute Technology, taking over operations previously managed by the Tribute…
Starmark acquires AMA Containers
It was announced earlier this week that Starmark, a leading manufacturer of innovative funeral products, has acquired AMA Containers. AMA was originally founded in 1991 as Airline Mortuary Associates. Starmark, according to the press…
REGULATIONS
Federal Trade Commission bans “Non-Compete” agreements
“This rule affects every segment of the American economy and in a simple 3-2 vote destroys billions of dollars in value that employers have spent in compensation for a covenant not to compete”. …
Dignity, care, and respect. . . bringing the fallen home
On Saturday night I was at a movie, came home and turned the television on to catch the news and learned of the missile bombardment of Israel that Iran took responsibility for. Now,…
Might the Baltimore Bridge collapse cause a “funeral tax” in Maryland?
A week ago today I woke up to the news of the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore Harbor. It wasn’t so long ago that I was in Baltimore…
CEMETERY
CREMATION
Because that’s where the money will be. . . .
Again today I’m building off some of the impressions that my friend, Rolf Gutknecht of LA Ads – A Marketing Agency had during his time at the recent ICCFA Convention in Tampa. As…
Eirene receives $4 million in seed funding, expands into the United States
It was announced in this recent Pulse 2.0 article that Canada’s online-operated cremation provider Eirene has recently received over $4 million in seed funding led by Relay Ventures with participation from at least two…
PRENEED
Take Ring Ring Marketing for a Test Drive
When it comes to technology I am a confessed “Novice”. And personally, with Social Media I am pretty quiet too. . . . or maybe my life is dull enough that none of…
Cash is King. . . .make sure that you turn your services into cash
Last week Funeral Director Daily published this article titled “Know your customer — How’s their credit”. That article delved into the American consumer credit profiles and why, before extending credit, you needed to…
Know your customer — How’s their credit?
The American economy keeps spending, yet we hear that families are getting squeezed by the combination of high prices and high interest rates. We also hear that high interest rates don’t seem to…
PRODUCTS
Technology will be/is here for your funeral home
A pager that allowed me out of the funeral home. . . .telephone transfers that allowed death calls to be “transfered” to one’s home phones. That’s about the extent of technology when I…
Because that’s where the money will be. . . .
Again today I’m building off some of the impressions that my friend, Rolf Gutknecht of LA Ads – A Marketing Agency had during his time at the recent ICCFA Convention in Tampa. As…
C&J Financial expands in Insurance Assignment funding
It was announced in this press release from last week that C&J Financial would be expanding by “becom(ing) the exclusive insurance assignments partner for Tribute Technology, taking over operations previously managed by the Tribute…