death care
My own historical family businesses are a perfect example of the evolution of a business to fit the consumer and stay relevant. Back in 1872 my great-grandfather arrived in the New World with a skill as a cabinet maker. He set up shop and when people died family members approached him about building a coffin…
Read MoreI served as a funeral director in a small town and when somebody died, the news got out. There can be a difference between a death notice and an obituary or an obituary can serve as both. In America we have closed over 2,000 newspapers since the year 2000 and many communities no longer have…
Read MoreI’m writing this post on Saturday morning shortly after returning from my Summer Saturday morning bike ride. I couldn’t help but think that many independent funeral home operators live in small towns and really get to know their community. . . . I don’t think I’m much different. Today’s column is a small-town Chamber of…
Read MoreFuneral directors have always liked conventions. I have great memories of Minnesota Funeral Directors Association (MFDA) conventions going back to the 1960’s. My dad always attended for a day and for his family it was an opportunity to get to the big city (Minneapolis) stay at the downtown Radisson Hotel, and probably get to take…
Read MoreI’ve said all along that as death care moves forward there will continue to be full service funeral homes, but there will also be a growing niche of death care disposition options available to the consumer public. Just last week Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed a bill into law that will make Colorado the second…
Read MoreLife insurance rates, at least for the time being, are holding stable regardless of the excess deaths due to Covid-19 in 2020. A recent press release from Policygenius, that you can access here, says that “The May index shows life insurance pricing stability, despite an increase in the U.S. death rate evident in data recently…
Read MoreCovid-19 and the ramifications it brought with social distancing was tough on funeral and memorial services. It was even more devastating to the wedding and wedding reception business. However, during the calendar year of 2020 most brides and grooms continued to take the plunge into matrimony. . . . they just did so without that…
Read MorePark Lawn’s CEO Brad Green comments on the labor market, acquisitions, preneed, and revenue per case
Park Lawn Corporation (PLC), the Toronto based funeral home and cemetery operator released First Quarter 2021 results last week. As expected the results were very strong as deaths from the pandemic in those months, especially January, continued to be high. Park Lawn Corporation’s net revenue grew about 26% to over $89 million for the quarter.…
Read MoreSeveral years ago progressive funeral homes opened their own hospitality rooms to be able to serve post-funeral meals and refreshments on their own premises. Many of those funeral homes that have promoted that concept and have consumer friendly facilities for that purpose, not only have seen their rooms used and profitable, but they have been…
Read MoreBatesville, a division of Hillenbrand Industries, reported their Fiscal Year 2nd Quarter during the first week of May. While the entire company revenue increased 11% year over year, Batesville, the funeral service side of the business, increased their revenue by over 20% to a quarterly volume of $166 million. Here’s what was said in the…
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