Last week I had a two hour drive and set my radio to a station on Sirius that featured a news talk show.  What was highly unusual was that the group of well-known broadcasters started talking about death care and then started talking about what their wishes would be for their own demise and eventual funeral.

 

First of all, what was really interesting to me was the fact that all five of the participants talked of being traditionally buried and not cremated.  I found that unusual for a group of five that I would guess to be in the 30 to 65 age bracket.  Then they started talking of the caskets they would use and the talk morphed to wondering if they could get “custom” caskets that could mirror their life interests.

 

So, when I got home I started looking around on the internet about the ability to create one’s own casket in reality and get price points and the ability to get such a casket.  I love creativity but back in my youth it was generally confined to “Tinker Toys” and then as a parent my children were incredibly creative with “Lego’s”.  Now, I was wondering if I could be creative with a casket.

 

My search led me right to one of the sponsors of Funeral Director Daily — Titan Caskets.  You can tinker around with creating custom caskets through this link.  I think it might be a great way to work into the amount necessary for a Preneed account. . .by letting a prospective preneed customer see the creativity available in their casket selection process.  And, Titan has a pathway for your funeral home to be able to buy caskets from them at a wholesale price. . . .you can see that information here.

 

The day after I did this casket creativity search Funeral Director Daily published an article on the potential for cemeteries to rebound with proper inventory and marketing.  Just to show how casket “individuality” might pay dividends at your funeral home, Funeral Director Daily received this reader comment to that article:

 

“The most damaging trend for cemeteries was/is memorial gardens offering only flat bronzes. The baby boomer generation spent (money)  standing out from the crowd. They want monuments that express their personality.”

 

At least the sender of that comment feels that the lack of “creativity” has caused some of the problems with cemeteries.  Maybe it is time that we offer our potential clients a little “creativity” on casket selection that goes farther than the changing of corners or panel inserts.

 

We know that there is a continuing movement away from casketed funerals. . . . are we somewhat to blame by not giving more “individualized” choice than the 15 or 20 caskets in our selection room?  Maybe like the commenter from above says, Baby Boomers want to express their personality. . . shouldn’t we try to let them?

 

More news from the world of Death Care:

• A wave of start-ups are disrupting the $2 billion (Canadian) funeral industry. Canadian Business  (Canada)
• Funeral director’s petition to teach children about grief reaches signature milestone.  Express & Star (Great Britain)
• What to do with cremation ashes.  Idaho Senior Independent (ID)
• Could cremation go green in Texas?  Print article.  KSST Radio.  (TX)

 

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