There is no doubt that the pandemic ushered in a new “work from home” mentality for many American workers. Death care may be a little different in that embalming and cremation cannot be done in a “work from home” environment. However, many aspects of the death care world, such as arrangers, preneed advising, and many death care supplier positions can be. So, it turns out that, more than likely, this new phenomena will also usher in new “work-from-home” rules and […]
This press release issued last week by Park Lawn Corporation (PLC) will tell you of their acquisition of Farris Funeral Service, Inc. and Affiliated Service Group, Inc. (collectively known as “Farris”). The businesses acquired include one stand-alone funeral home and one on-site funeral home and cemetery located in Abingdon, Virginia. Here’s what Park Lawn Corporation CEO J. Bradley Green said of the transaction, “We are excited to continue our strategic growth in the southeast by entering into the Virginia market […]
Arlington National Cemetery is known as “hallowed ground”. On May 13, 1864, the first burial of military personnel was completed there when Private William Christman was interred. Just over a month later Arlington officially became a national cemetery on June 15, 1864, by order of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. In the 158 years since that first interment about over 400,000 of America’s finest and their eligible dependents have found their eternal resting place in Arlington National Cemetery — including […]
Bare, the Australian death care start-up that was founded in 2019 and already has a staff of 42 and has served over 15,000 Australians to date announced in June that it had raised AUS $10 million (US $6.82 million) in a round of Series A funding to advance their growth journey. This article from Smart Company indicates that Perennial Partners and Ord Minnett Private Capital have joined the group of funders which includes former NBA basketball star Andrew Bogut. Bare […]
According to a press release from the company, Premier Preneed Marketing, a preneed marketing company that offers funeral homes throughout the United States a comprehensive product portfolio to meet both their financial objectives and marketing needs, has announced that the company has recently developed a series of training videos on the topic of preneed. These videos are currently found within the Premier Preneed 360 CRM platform. The videos were created by Craig Stewart, a licensed funeral director and funeral sales […]
Over the holiday weekend Fox Business published the article referred to in our headline here. It’s an article that is actually positive to the funeral industry but does tell of the fact that eventually, as costs rise, funeral costs to consumers will have to rise also. The article points out that even though the United States Labor Department showed that inflation rose 8.6% in May 2022, the cost of funeral services went up only 2.7%. It compares that number to […]
I recently received an e-mail from the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) informing me of the NFDA International Convention and Expo that will be taking place in Baltimore, Maryland, from October 9-12, 2022. After two years of having to worry about Covid, I figured it is time to get it on my calendar and be taking part again. . . . . .I don’t know what the attendance for last fall’s expo was, but I’m pretty sure that with the […]
Our funeral home is celebrating its 150th year of business in 2022. I thought the 4th of July weekend was a great time to tell you of our history and also that history of another American immigrant whose life has intersected with our family on numerous occasions. And, that immigrant’s life has had a major impact on hundreds of thousands of Americans. I hope you enjoy the story. Legal immigration is the American story. From the time when the Pilgrims […]
If you don’t live in “flyover land” like I do, you are probably not even aware of the small rural churches that have been closed. Churches built by the pioneer throngs when they settled in rural America seem to have have run their course as it is now easier for rural families to commute to larger churches in nearby cities. However, not many of those closed rural churches, like the one featured in this story, have an AR-15 in the […]
There’s a lot that America has been divided about lately. . . politics, Supreme Court rulings, reasons for inflation — the list can go on and on. The podcast Big Brains from the University of Chicago, which has the podcast transcript available on the link also, has an interview with anthropologist Shannon Lee Dawdy that questions if our emerging death care culture is predictor of this division. It’s an excellent podcast and/or read that I believe can help funeral directors […]
