cremation
The Cremation Association of North America (CANA) says the 2020 cremation rate in the United States was 56.1%. That same reliable group says that within the next decade – in 2030 – the national cremation rate will rise to 72.8%. Considering the fact that the vast majority of cremations in the United States do not…
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Matthews International, the Pittsburgh based tri-partite conglomerate with the largest percentage of their sales in what they refer to as their “Memorialization Segment” saw an increase in total sales and Memorialization Segment sales for their 2021 Fiscal Year. As you can see from this 4th Quarter (July, August, September) and Year End report sales in…
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Being retired has its advantages. I spend a little time every day reading three electronically delivered economy or financial focused newsletters I subscribe to. I then like to interpret and extrapolate the information that I get from them and use it in my personal financial decisions as well as my managerial decisions for the companies…
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There was a day back when I was growing up that young attorneys would pass the Bar exam and then were instructed to “Hang out a shingle” to let the world know they were in business. That might have worked back in the 1970’s or 1980’s but today if that attorney is not reaching out…
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Writing on “Death Care” gives me very wide latitude. There’s a lot to it — and it’s not only about funerals and cremations, funeral homes and crematories, cemeteries and burials, but there is the finances of the industry, the manufacturing of the industry, the mortuary training of the profession, and all of the interesting people…
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Publicly traded funeral home and cemetery operator Park Lawn Corporation (PLC) released their 3rd Quarter 2021 results last week and CEO Brad Green said this in a prepared press release statement, “The third quarter exceeded our expectations, especially given the continued decline of COVID-19 deaths served by our businesses. Despite this, we saw an increase…
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Thursday night into Friday morning brought Minnesota’s first snowfall of the 2021-2022 winter season. It was light, but created slippery conditions outside that forced me onto an indoor treadmill run on Friday morning. My 2 1/2 mile daily run is punctuated by the fact that I have a lot of stamina. . . just not…
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Last March a public service announcement (PSA) created by the International Cemetery, Cremation, and Funeral Association (ICCFA) Education Foundation began airing. In early November the association announced that the PSA campaign has been one of the best in media history by, according to Nielsen TV research, being broadcast 7,955 times and viewed by an approximate…
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The numbers 11-11-11 have always been significant when I think of November 11. Yesterday was that day that we now refer to as Veteran’s Day in America or is referred to as Remembrance Day in Canada. Those numbers, 11-11-11, refer to the day and time that the cease fire that ended World War I in…
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Back in about 1990 I made funeral arrangements for a 55-year old who died of a sudden heart attack. His widowed wife eventually talked to me about an idea for our funeral home which was based on the premise of what we now call “Aftercare”. At that time our funeral home did not have a…
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