According to CBS article a recent survey by the Funeral Consumer Alliance and Consumer Federation of America shows that funeral and cremation pricing at establishments owned by funeral giant Service Corporation International are, in general, higher than independently owned funeral establishments. It seems to us at Funeral Director Daily that we seem to see news…
Today we introduce the Funeral Director Daily “Death Care Index” or DCI of the public equity markets. The DCI will consist of six publicly traded companies that deal in the funeral, cremation, cemetery, and pre-need industries and are publicly traded. The companies, which we will describe below, include Matthews International, Service Corporation International, Carriage Services,…
A recent article by NBC News Business has highlighted the seemingly rapid trend in the funeral/cremation business. That trend, becoming somewhat popular among the baby boomer generation, is celebrating the life of the deceased with alcohol at the wake/visitation or post funeral. Funeral firms are searching for just the right way to offer this type…
An article recently published in the Wilkes-Barre Citizen’s Voice that deals with the number of cremations on the rise also reaches into the ramifications for families who have purchased cemetery burial space and now have no reason to use it. The article which lets us know of the rise in cremation services worldwide for a…
Assurant, Inc., parent company of Assurant Pre-Need, has received a rating of A (Excellent) in its Financial Strength Rating (FSR) according to a note in Business Wire of March 2, 2017. Best also affirmed the FSR rating of A- (Excellent) for the life and health subsidiaries of Assurant. According to the article Assurant’s ratings recognize…
BUSINESS
Banks report “Weaker loan demand”, Consumers pull back on credit: What does that mean for your funeral home?
During this week I read two articles and when I did I wondered how the subject of each might affect funeral homes and the funeral business going forward. The articles included this one…
Take a cue from Apple. . . Sell more services
Apple has been seeing sales of its iPhone declining. The product, which makes up about 1/2 of the company’s sales, dropped in sales revenue another 10% in the last quarter according to…
A transition in leadership at Foundation Partners Group
We learned late last week that CEO Kent Robertson was leaving cremation centered acquisition group and operating company Foundation Partners Group and also learned that the interim management of the Orlando, Florida, based…
FINANCE
Matthews works through “flat-market” quarter
Matthews International reported their 2nd Quarter financial results of 2024 last week. Their 2nd Quarter covers the period of January, February, and March 2024. You can see their results here. Revenue and even…
Carriage Services CEO Quezada on 1Q Financials: “A significant milestone for Carriage’s history”
Funeral home consolidator and operator Carriage Services reported their financial results for the 1st Quarter of 2024 last week. In the Earnings Call following the release of the financials Carriage Services CEO and…
SCI’s 1Q24 results point out some Death Care headwinds
Service Corporation International (SCI) reported their 1st Quarter 2024 financial results last week. North America’s largest death care provider did show an increase in revenue of 1.6% to about $1.045 billion for the…
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
County governments seem to have lots of problems, are human remains another one?
Funeral Director Daily recently learned through this article from Public Media for Central Pennyslvania that Centre County will be building a 160-unit columbarium in Zion, Pennsylvania, to house urns that have went…
America’s military cemeteries face financial backlog for upkeep and improvements
Kansas United States Senator Jerry Moran recently testified at a United States Senate Veterans Affairs Committee meeting that “When mourning a death the last thing a grieving family needs is some bureaucratic hurdle…
Looking outside the grave for cemetery revenue
Back almost three years ago in July 2021, Funeral Director Daily brought you this story of how a renewable energy company, Verogy, had put a 7,000 panel solar energy farm inside a…
CREMATION
Take a cue from Apple. . . Sell more services
Apple has been seeing sales of its iPhone declining. The product, which makes up about 1/2 of the company’s sales, dropped in sales revenue another 10% in the last quarter according to…
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
Banks report “Weaker loan demand”, Consumers pull back on credit: What does that mean for your funeral home?
During this week I read two articles and when I did I wondered how the subject of each might affect funeral homes and the funeral business going forward. The articles included this one…
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…
PRODUCTS
Take a cue from Apple. . . Sell more services
Apple has been seeing sales of its iPhone declining. The product, which makes up about 1/2 of the company’s sales, dropped in sales revenue another 10% in the last quarter according to…
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…
