It’s a proven point that if you want to build a successful business and follow the American dream of making a lot of money, you need to deliver on and provide, at the right price, what the consumer public wants.  I was fortunate enough about six years ago to listen to a friend of mine who asked me to listen to his son and potentially make an investment in a “food delivery” business his son was dreaming up.  Outside of pizza being delivered, “food delivery” didn’t make much sense to me at that time.

Fortunately for me, the young man convinced me that he would not be in the food delivery business.  He would be in the business of providing “convenience and time” for busy people.  Consumers could order from their smart phone and eventually do it from anywhere in the United States.  I invested, and became only the third investor at that time, in a business that delivered “convenience and time” at the right price for people who wanted just that.   The business has become successful and people all over the country use it every day.   It still amazes me that when people are hungry, they order “convenience and time”.  Funny thought, but that is the truth of the business we are in.  On the other hand, I’m pretty sure that there are old fashioned restaurants that continue to operate today because people want to spend some conversational time over a meal.

In my position on the Board of the University of Minnesota I know that we have people who attend athletic events.  However, I also know that if we don’t provide them fast wi-fi in the stadium or the arena, debit card purchases for concessions, and, yes, craft beers, they will probably not be coming back because the “experience” was not as good as they expected.  Yes, there is a difference between the “New” consumers and the “Old” consumers like me, who in this case, would be happy to just sit back and watch a good game.

My point is that different consumers may want different products.

Death care is no different.  I started in 1980 as a funeral director.  Every funeral was embalming, visitation, funeral service, cortege to the cemetery, burial, and post service lunch.  If you wanted something different, we didn’t offer it.  In 1982 we did our first cremation.

No doubt, death care has changed.  If you want to serve the masses, and profit from it,  you have to provide what the masses want.  And in death care, the “New” consumer wants cremation and direct cremation.  Make no mistake about it, death care today, and profiting from death care today is about serving the masses and that means cremation.

In 2005 we built a new funeral home and installed a crematory in it.  I’m like everybody else. . . .I wanted a good profit so we had to provide what the masses were clamoring for.  I know that if I was to invest in a death care business today it would have to offer cremation and alkaline hydrolysis. . . because that is where I think the future of disposition is going and it seems to be what the consumers want.

I understand that. . .but I also prefer earth burial.  Maybe it is just because I grew up in the age of embalming and earth burial.  Or, do I struggle with the fact that the body does not decompose over time with cremation.  It really doesn’t matter, if you cannot provide what I want, I will look to someone who can.

My point is, that different consumers want different products, but will all death care establishments provide them?

What got me writing about this subject today?  Yesterday I read an article authored by Rabbi Yonason Goldson.  It is from the Jewish Press and is his opinion on the Jewish faith custom of earth burial and why it is important.  He talks about the reverence of the body and the relationship of an eternal cycle of creation, birth, rebirth, passage, and tradition.  We used to talk about reverence more.  You can read the article here.  I hope you do, because regardless of what you think about disposition of the human body, this is a thought provoking article.  Earth burial may not be for the masses or the future of profitability in the death care industry. . . but there is still a place for it.