Private Label Caskets Weathers Tariff Headwinds

Private Label Caskets Weathers Tariff Headwinds

Indianapolis, IN – Indianapolis-based Private Label Casket Company is weathering the tariff rollercoaster after a record-setting 29% growth in 2024. 

If you want to hear a blow-by-blow account of the past few months, just ask Carlos Figueroa, Buchanan Group’s Private Label manager. “We started 2025 up another 29% until the big tariff shock hit us in May, then orders leveled off. Still, our clients have remained loyal and we are adding significant new ones.”

“The government has been adding and subtracting tariffs on our imported products in a way I never imagined,” said Figueroa. “It started in 2017 when a 10% tariff was first instituted. Since then, multiple back and forths have multiplied that number.” Due to the nature of publishing deadlines, the current level of tariffs cannot be predicted. For a short time it was as high as 135%.

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Private Label has raised prices only three times in its 17 years of importing and distributing caskets and urns. This makes them unique. Currently, the company adds a surcharge of 30% to cover the tariffs, even though it is paying at a higher level. Figueroa says that the surcharge will be removed once tariffs drop back down.    

“It has kept us nimble,” said the owner of Private Label and the Buchanan Group of companies, Bruce W. Buchanan. “We have kept our business stable by working with our manufacturers, keeping our staff right-sized, and being flexible with warehousing. We still have a high-quality product that costs less. Tariffs don’t change that.”   

Buchanan Group is a management services company that owns Private Label, Fewell Monument, and Flanner Buchanan Funeral Centers. The firm was started in 1881 and was a founding member of Selected Independent Funeral Homes. Private Label launched as a distributorship in 2010.

“I appreciate what the president is trying to accomplish by levying tariffs,” said Buchanan. “There are key manufacturing sectors that should come back to the U.S., but I don’t believe that caskets are one of those. Funeral homes already operate at thin margins; we need whatever help we can get with the cost of products.” 

“We work with many premier funeral home operators in the country. They appreciate our quality, pricing, and commitment to serving families. We are a funeral company that just happens to sell great caskets. I believe this tariff pain will pass.”

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Private Label Caskets, a member of the Buchanan Group of companies, serves funeral homes and distributors throughout the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. The brand is a smart, customer-centric alternative to the more expensive, big-name casket brands. Private Label’s caskets and urns include a mix of imported and domestic products, and are offered in a wide range of popular, high-quality wood and metal models. Regional warehouses, stocked with thousands of products, provide for product availability and on-time delivery of caskets and urns throughout North America. Their website is www.PrivateLabelCaskets.com.