Here are the guidelines of the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association (ICCFA) to voluntarily foster professional standards of care. ICCFA Cremation Guidelines Statement of Purpose The following Cremation Guidelines have been published by the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association to voluntarily foster professional standards of care and consideration by our members. Definitions Authorizing agent(s):…
The FTC Funeral Rule went into effect April 30, 1934. The rule was revised in early 1994. Who must comply with the rule? All “funeral providers” must comply with the Rule. You are a funeral provider if you sell or offer to sell both funeral goods and funeral services to the public. Funeral goods are…
REVOSE, Pa., Feb. 08, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — StoneMor Partners L.P. (NYSE:STON) (“StoneMor” or the “Partnership”) today provided additional data on the ongoing restructuring of its sales force. Total salespeople within the salesforce at January 31, 2017 numbered 766, which was 81 more than the prior year comparable period. The salesperson count at January 31,…
Hillenbrand announced earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2017 (three months ended December 31, 2017). The company’s Batesville casket business had a 2% decline in revenue and a 3% decline in EBIDTA (earnings before interest depreciation and amortization). You can download the earnings slides here. You can read the Seeking Alpha earnings call…
Alva Review Courier reports that there is a shortage of funeral directors in Oklahoma. 36,000 people die annually and the number of licensed funeral directors, embalmers, student apprentices and funeral homes have declined. The Director of the State’s funeral board wants to streamline the process of certifying funeral directors. The Lacrosse Tribune says that dogs…
BUSINESS
A couple of recent economic trends. . . Will they affect funeral service?
Just the other morning I read two articles from Yahoo Finance which showed a couple of trends happening in American society. The first trend can be read about in this article titled “There…
Co-op Funeralcare increases “Funeral Plan” sales over 17% despite cyberattack
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…
Veteran Cemeteries will continue with burials. . . but what is open and closed on a government shutdown
Tomorrow is the last day of the federal government’s fiscal year. That is not necessarily a big deal except that the new federal budget year begins on Wednesday and as I write this on…
FINANCE
Propel Funeral Partners sees higher revenue, net profit in FY2025
Public funeral home operator Propel Funeral Partners released their Fiscal Year 2025 results recently and the results which cover the period of July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, show higher revenue and…
Carriage Services enters Pensacola market
According to the company website of Carriage Services they operate 23 locations in the state of Florida. It appears that as of last week when we received this press release from Carriage Services that…
Your funeral home’s cash-flow: Investment vs. Enjoyment
I read a lot of different articles. Recently I read an article about investing that contrasted “Dividend Investing” and “Growth Investing”. The article was very interesting but it also made me think about…
REGULATIONS
Veteran Cemeteries will continue with burials. . . but what is open and closed on a government shutdown
Tomorrow is the last day of the federal government’s fiscal year. That is not necessarily a big deal except that the new federal budget year begins on Wednesday and as I write this on…
Indiana Court: “Death Doula” does not need a funeral director license
According to this issue of the Indianapolis Star an Indiana court of appeals ruled in late August that the State of Indiana “violated the First Amendment rights of a Fort Wayne “death…
Funeral Directors are heroes
The beginning of a recent article on the ASD Blog, authored by Jessica Farren, had a quote without, to my knowledge, an author’s acknowledgement. I will post it here with no acknowledgement…
CEMETERY
Green Burials. . . . . .The Resistance
Minnesota funeral director Scott Mueller is a proponent of “Green Burials”. Mueller makes a comment in this recent article from the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin titled “As interest in green burials grows, so does…
Airlines, cemeteries dealing with “Wide-bodies”
Just last week according to this article from Newsweek “Southwest Airlines announced that it was ending a policy that allowed plus-size travelers to book an extra seat without extra costs. Under the new…
Cemetery put in trustee’s hands
Last month a judge in Indiana removed the obligation of taking care of a non-profit cemetery away from the cemetery corporation and placed it in the hands of the government. . . in this…
CREMATION
Green Burials. . . . . .The Resistance
Minnesota funeral director Scott Mueller is a proponent of “Green Burials”. Mueller makes a comment in this recent article from the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin titled “As interest in green burials grows, so does…
Are we nearing the “Cremation Peak”?
There are some interesting survey results out that question if the United States will soon reach the “Peak Percentage” of cremation rates as the disposition of choice. Last year at this time…
Dilemma: The affluent consumer and traditional Death Care
On Tuesday morning I had to alter my running schedule because of rain showers. So, I took to our indoor treadmill to get my daily exercise and had a nice run while watching the…
PRENEED
Co-op Funeralcare increases “Funeral Plan” sales over 17% despite cyberattack
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…
Acquiring client families — “Any Which Way You Can”
As so often happens in my world I’ve had some real life and/or businesses experiences or discussions in the last week or ten days that has made me think about Death Care. And,…
Is your funeral home “Streaming” yet?
Okay — that headline is somewhat of a trick question. I’m guessing that your funeral home is “streaming” services. . . . . but, are you “streaming” in your advertising and branding strategy?…
PRODUCTS
News for the Profession
Sunset continues to redefine their process of finding assets for families. They recently announced that they have a new website that makes the search for assets even easier. Sunset is a free service…
Titan Casket “keeps on keeping on”. . . . .and growing
Trying to be a “BTC” (Business to Consumer) casket company has been tried before and even with great effort the cause was difficult. However, the people at Titan Casket must relate to the Curtis…
Dilemma: The affluent consumer and traditional Death Care
On Tuesday morning I had to alter my running schedule because of rain showers. So, I took to our indoor treadmill to get my daily exercise and had a nice run while watching the…
