Simply as a member of a community I was again reminded this past week that transformation, and especially technology transformation, continues to happen at a rapid pace in the Death Care profession.  Last week I intended to go to a visitation of a deceased gentlemen who for the most part of my funeral director career volunteered as a caretaker of a small cemetery in our greater community.

The gentleman was a very nice person, humble as can be, and everytime I would see him in the community he was always friendly and would inquire as to the well-being and interests of my children and wife.  Simpy put, I wanted to make sure that I went to his visitation to pay the respect to him that he deserved and wanted to share these comments with this wife and family.

Well, I woke up Sunday morning and by habit checked the obituaries of the funeral home I used to own.  I then realized that I missed the gentleman’s visitation and funeral.  It happens . . .  But the reality of that is I did not get to visit with the family in-person as I believed I should.

At that point in time I had to look at my “next best option” to communicate my condolences and thoughts to the family.  Luckily, as most funeral homes have now, my old funeral home allows “messages” to the family on the decedent’s obituary page.

That’s what I did . . . and appreciate that the funeral home had that type of simple technology available to me.  And, I’m glad that they had kept up on that technology so I had a “next best option” to communicate with the family.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

More Realities —  It’s interesting because on Sunday at church I also saw the President of a local bank I will call ABC Bank.  ABC Bank was sold to XYZ Bank last summer and the transformation of accounts was completed in the last couple of weeks.  ABC Bank was my mom’s historical bank and I’ve been a client there since 1974 when as a 16-year old my mom brought me there to open a checking account  — so that’s a client relationship of over 50 years.

ABC Bank was not my business bank and is not my main bank today, but I have retained that personal checking account to pay monthly bills and have automatic withdrawals taken from it.  In that regard, it has been a foundation of my personal financial bill-paying system my entire adult life.   When I think of my ties to that bank — automatic withdrawals to savings accounts built my retirement and paid for my children’s college education from it.  There’s a lot of history and sentiment that I have with that bank.

However, when I saw the bank president at church my thought process was that he will soon be the president of the bank where I “used to” have a checking account.

You see here is what happened just this month. . . . I use an “external” bank transfer from my main bank to ABC Bank once per month to pay those bills and have money in the account for automatic withdrawals.  It was done overnight — i.e. I initiated the transfer on Wednesday and the money was in the account ready to pay bills on Thursday.

Well, once set up with the new XYZ Bank system I initiated the “external” transfer on a Wednesday and the money shows it is out of my regular bank account that night.  However, XYZ Bank does not acknowledge the receipt of that transfer for five days  —  making my money unavailable for five days.

That is maybe not the biggest issue in the world to worry about. . .so the money gets there 5 days later.  One answer is to initiate the transfer five days earlier and everything is fine.  Or, another thing to do is to go online and tell my automatic withdrawal accounts to take that money every month out of my main bank account instead of XYZ Bank and then simply close the XYZ Bank account.

The point is, either through a policy decision or the lack of technology to process “external” bank transfers in what I consider a timely fashion, XYZ Bank is now going to lose a customer that they have had for over 50 years.

Why that should matter to you —  Transformation, especially among technology is happening extremely fast in the Death Care world.  It’s almost so fast that there is a “dizzying” effect on all of it.  I was happy that I was able to send a condolence to a family whose visitation and funeral I missed  —  and, quite frankly, I expected to be able to do that from the funeral home website.

However, in just the last couple of months I’ve received information on technology improvements such as preneed prompts from online funerals, obituary writers for families from funeral home websites, and the ability to offer recorded services online with no fear of music license offenses.

My guess is that your families expect all of that and more.  From your website can a consumer:

• Get a mobile phone calendar reminder about attending a funeral or visitation so you don’t miss one like I did?
• Check their preneed balance?
• Pay a bill?
• Plan their services including knowing the price?
• Buy a preneed plan?

We live in a day of a new consumer mindset.  I believe that if a consumer can’t find the information that they want on your website or if your reaction time is slow or late, you will risk losing that consumer forever.

It’s happening all the time. . . .Saturday night of last week I was on my own for dinner as my wife was gone.  It was a great day watching college football and college basketball for me.  I decided to order a pizza to be picked up and brought home.  I have three choices within two miles of my home — Caseys, Dominos, and Pizza Hut.  What was my deciding feature for which one I purchased Saturday night? . . . . . It was the amount of time from order to ready for pickup — not price, not flavor, but reaction time.  And, if a pizza restaurant didn’t list that on their website I just disregarded them.  Technology is transforming pizza sales, too!!!

Final Thoughts — Transformation is happening. . . and, it is happening everywhere.  The consumer mindset is different and that consumer really wants answers when they search.  And convenience really matters — it is almost hard for me to believe that I will admit to ordering my evening meal almost simply on convenience.

This past week, WalMart and Target reported 3Q2025 results.  They were strikingly different — Target’s sales declined 1.6% and WalMart’s sales increased 5.8%. . . .There might be some argument about “what type” of customers shop at each store and how the growing “K-Economy” has affected those customers.

However, WalMart CEO John David Rainey thinks it is more than just that.  Remember ten years ago when you could first make a WalMart grocery order online and have it delivered the next day? . . . .Here’s what Rainey said about that, “Walmart — by way of 4,700-plus US stores — is regularly delivering orders to people’s houses in less than 30 minutes. . . . Walmart has leveraged its mighty financial position to invest aggressively in its supply chain, allowing it to be a more trusted destination for shoppers than Target.”

My suggestion. . . . Make the investments necessary to turn that “new consumer” into your client.  And, you need somebody in your trusted corner who understands the technology as well as someone who relies on that technology to be fair, but critical and honest, in their reviews of what you are offering your community.

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In the last couple of weeks I’ve noticed articles that truly point to Death Care as being at a nexus, or intersection, of technology and tradition.  Today’s Funeral Director Daily article brings you information and links to articles that truly show that Death Care is changing.

There is one article that shows evolution of a company to be able to meet the needs of today’s consumer.  It’s an article from a company with its roots in the casket business that has changed over the years to become what they term “The Cremation Solutions Leader”.

There is also an article that shows how some investors see enormous potential in the technology of Death Care and how the business can be coupled with health care, grief, and insurance to bring big changes to how consumers might interact with those business silos with greater ease and savings.

Finally, we bring you an article where an ethnic group is partnering with their federal government to keep funerals traditional for them in what indicates a growing sense of cultural niche services in Death Care.  Cultural options, much in line with the old “Catholic vs. Protestant” funeral homes of the past, is something that may be making a comeback on the horizon.  I can also see opportunties and envision certain Death Care companies making “compacts or agreements” with these groups to operate, or manage, such facilities as was done early on in the gaming world and is being done today as senior care centers of certain sizes look for contracted management outside of their walls to reduce costs.

It’s probably a good point to note that “change” is difficult for many, however the thought process of not looking at what North American consumers seem to be wanting in future Death Care may be detrimental to your business.  These business groups seem to have made decisions, and investments, based on a future of technology, cremation, and tradition. . . . and all, based on their investments, believe that there is a market for them to succeed in today’s Death Care business environment.

Folowing are the three articles mentioned above that we have linked for your convenience:

Acquisition —  Starmark Cremation products acquires Chateau Urns.  

Additional Starmark information — Starmark website

Equity Funding —  Exclusive:  Empathy raises $72 million Series C to tackle the agonizing logistics of death.  Yahoo Finance

Additional Empathy information —  Empathy announces $72 million Series C and unveils Empathy Alliance.  BusinessWire

Additional Empathy information —  Empathy website

New Funeral Homes —  Peepeekisis Cree Nation breaks ground for new funeral home.  Government of Canada news release

Additional Peepeekisis Cree Nation information — Peepeekisis First Nation plans to open funeral home that meets cultural needs.  CBC Canada

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I read, watch, and listen about what is happening in the Death Care business.  I do that on an overall scale and I also do it with as many individual companies as possible.

Over the last couple of years as I have read, watched, and listened to items concerning funeral home and cemetery consolidator and operator Carriage Services I get a sense that management is positioning the company to move forward.  I get that sense because it appears to me that Carriage Services is getting their debt in line, is getting their rooftops in line, and positioning their company with the vendors they want to be doing business with in the future.

For instance in the recent report on the company’s 1st Quarter of 2025, which you can access here, they mentioned that they lowered their debt by $17.0 million and they announced that they had divested of assets which returned proceeds of $18.7 million to the company coffers. . . . . And, the impressive thing is that while working on those strategic situations they brought in more funeral services and revenue than they did in the comparative 1st Quarter of 2024.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

The company reported Total Revenue of $ 107.1 million for 1Q2025 as compared to Total Revenue of $ 103.5 million in 1Q2024 — that’s an increase of about 3.5%.  The company’s quarterly funeral contracts were listed at 12,055 as compared to last year’s First Quarter contracts of 11,773 — that’s an increase of 2.4% and I believe it was done without any large acquisitions.

It was also interesting to me to note that Carriage Services and Service Corporation International both reported 1st Quarter 2025 results last week and in many areas had common results.  One that I noticed was a category which they call “Comparable Funeral Home Results”.  Here is a small table I put together which gives, in percentages, the increases for Revenue, Services Volume, and Revenue per Service for that category.  The percentages indicate the increase over the same three-month period of 2024.

Comparable Funeral Home category results
1st QTR 2025

While Carriage Services and SCI both operate on national scales, this comparison does give you something to compare your locations to.  Both companies combined to increase services coupled with a Revenue per Service increase to increase the Total Revenue.  I believe that is an approach that needs to be met in higher than normal inflationary times.

As far as Carriage Services’ performance for the quarter, here’s what CEO Carlos Quezada had to say in prepared statements in the 1Q25 press release last week, “. . . .Our solid financial performance, highlighted by a 4.6% increase in comparable funeral home revenue was primarily driven by a 2.4% increase in funeral home at-need volume and a 2.2% increase in average revenue per at-need contract. . . . .Through continued investments in innovation, the expansion of key partnerships, and the empowerment of our people, we are building the Carriage of the future.”

Here’s a couple other metrics from Carriage Services’ quarterly report:

• Cremation Rate:  Jumped to 60.5% as compared to 59.3% in 1Q2024

• Average Revenue per Funeral Contract:  Jumped to $ 5,731 as compared to $ 5,610 in 1Q2024.  (As a comparison, SCI reported “Average Revenue per Service” in 1Q2025 as $ 5,743)

• Preneed Interment Property Rights Sold:  This category declined for Carriage Services to 3,100 in 1Q2025 as compared to 3,244 in 1Q2025 — a decline of 4.5% on the year.

Finally, I think a statement by CEO Quezada gives a mindset of where Carriage Services wants to go.  He finishes his prepared statement with this sentence, “As we become a premier experience company, we are proving that passion, operational excellence, and financial discipline turns vision into value for our shareholders”.

My take on that statement is that the management of Carriage Services is focused on providing an “experience” to their clientele that over time creates a greater value to their shareholders.  That is a great aspiration to have. . . . . and it will take strategy and execution to get there.  However, I see Carriage Services continuing that march forward at this time.

Disclaimer — The author of this article for Funeral Director Daily is a shareholder of Carriage Services and of Service Corporation International.

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Batesville Prevails in Patent Infringement Case Filed by Vandor; Continues Innovating with New Cremation Products

BATESVILLE, Ind., February 24, 2025 – Following a nearly two-year legal process, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana awarded summary judgment in favor of Batesville Casket Company, LLC and Batesville Services, LLC and against Vandor Group, Inc., rejecting Vandor’s claims that Batesville’s cardboard rental insert, which the company launched in 2011, infringed four of Vandor’s patents. Batesville vigorously disputed Vandor’s allegations of patent infringement and filed its own counterclaims requesting a declaration from the Court that Vandor’s patents were invalid. In its summary judgment decision, the Court agreed with Batesville that all four patents asserted by Vandor were invalid and dismissed Vandor’s infringement claims against Batesville in their entirety. Batesville’s motion for attorney’s fees is now pending before the Court.

“At Batesville, we take pride in bringing innovative and original solutions to market,” said Jenn Parvin, SVP and Chief Marketing Officer for Batesville. “The Court’s ruling allows us to put these  accusations behind us and continue designing and delivering the high-quality products that funeral professionals need and that families deserve.”

A trusted resource for cremation offerings for more than three decades, Batesville has an expansive assortment of products – from cremation urns and keepsakes to caskets and alternative containers, remembrance jewelry, and memorialization products. The company is continuously expanding and refining its product line to improve quality or performance, enhance functionality or deliver greater value.

“Our goal is not just to provide more products, but to provide the right products at the right price points that meet the functional needs of funeral directors and that deliver value to families,” said Parvin. “We have a lot of exciting things in development as we head into 2025.”

Since late 2023, Batesville has added more than 100 new cremation products, touching all categories, including a growing line of cremation containers, rental caskets and inserts. The company recently launched several products in this line.

• Fairview^™ 27 – the first rental casket offering personalization through the company’s patented LifeView^® panel
• Sureview^™ – a competitively priced rental insert that is stronger and easier to use
• NewPointe^® – entry-level cardboard cremation container

ABOUT BATESVILLE SERVICES, LLC

Batesville (www.Batesville.com) is a recognized leader in the death care industry in North America, offering a comprehensive portfolio of burial and cremation products, memorialization options and innovative technology solutions. For more than 125 years, Batesville has supported licensed funeral professionals in helping families honor the lives of those they love.^® A history of manufacturing excellence, product innovation, superior customer service, and reliable delivery helped Batesville become – and remain – a market leader.

On Monday of this week Park Lawn Corporation announced that they had continued their Texas acquisition growth with the purchase of the Callaway-Jones businesses located in and around Bryan, Texas.

According to the press release which you can read here, Park Lawn Corporation acquired  “substantially all the assets of Callaway-Jones Funeral Home and Crematory located in Bryan, Texas; Callaway-Jones College Station Funeral Planning Office located in College Station, Texas; Rest-Ever Memorial Park located in Bryan, Texas; and Cozart Funeral Home in Normangee, Texas.” 

Here’s what J. Bradley Green, CEO of Park Lawn Corporation, said in prepared remarks included in the press release, “We are excited to announce our partnership with a highly respected family that is deeply rooted in the Bryan-College Station community. This collaboration not only strengthens our presence in Texas but also enhances our ability to serve our families with the quality and care they expect from us.”

Here is the website for the Callaway Funeral and Cremation Centers.

Here is the website for the Cozart Funeral Home.

Here is the website for the Restever Memorial Park Cemetery.

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The American stock market closed on Thursday, March 28, 2024, for the last time in the calendar of the 2024 First Quarter.  If you look at the results so far for the overall market for these first 3 months you would have to say that the results of the 1st Quarter as to the growth has been very good —  the Dow Jones Industrials have gained at a 5.6% clip, NASDAQ at an 8.0% rate, and the S&P 500 has increased right at 10%.  It would be probably pretty correct to say that anybody who has had investments in equities has had a pretty good quarter.

As per the graphic shown below it has been almost all segments of the economy that has shown equity growth.  Communication and Technology sectors, buoyed by the emergence of the future potential of Artificial Intelligence in our world, have seen incredible 15.6% and 12.5% increases respectively and even “old-world” economics of Energy and Industrials have grown at an over 10% rate.

The laggard of the market has been Real Estate as it is the only “major” sector to be in negative growth territory.

What about Death Care services?  Where do they land?

In these lists of “Major” sectors I am guessing that Deth Care would be a subset of Healthcare, Consumer staples, or Consumer diecretionary purchases.  And, those sectors are among the smallest gainers — although growth at 4.8% of higher for a single quarter is still pretty good.

However, when you look at the public death care stocks by themselves as a unit, you will find that they actually had a loss of 1.1% for the quarter.  The Funeral Director Daily Death Care Index (DCI) which consists of one share of stock for each of the five public companies in the Death Care realm — Matthews International, Security National Financial Corporation, Service Corporation International, Carriage Services, and Park Lawn Corporation — slid from a combined price of $154.10 on December 31, 2023, to $152.52 on March 28, 2024. . . . a quarterly loss of 1.1%.

Here’s the individual companies and their stock prices on those dates:

Why is Death Care trailing other sectors? —  That’s a really good question but I think there are some reasons why investors have overlooked Death Care as an investible growth vehicle.  Some reasons may be valid and some may not be, but here’s what I think.

Small Sample Sizes —  There are only five companies that comprise the Funeral Director Daily Death Care Index.  There are literally hundreds of companies that comprise the other asset sectors listed above.  That makes a great deal of difference. I believe that the DCI sector is not so much a sector. . as it is the “additive summation” of a few “individual” public companies involved in Death Care.  I also believe that these companies are looked at “individually” for their promise rather than the DCI looked at as a “sector” for its promise.

Differing companies — The public Death Care companies are different from each other and really don’t fit into a “box” of sameness.  For instance, Matthews International, in my opinion is much more like an industrial company being a manufacturer and supplier to, not only the funeral home and cemetery markets, but to other markets as well.  Security National Financial Corporation, while owning and operating funeral homes, is also in the finance,  mortgage, and insurance businesses.

And, while SCI, Carriage Services, and Park Lawn Corporation are all in the funeral, cremation, and cemetery businesses, they have different structures, sizes, acquisition strategies, ambitions, and balance sheets which are somewhat a blueprint of how they operate.  So, while they “do” the same thing, the companies are all different.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Challenges investors see in Death Care —  I owned and operated a funeral home and know that there are daily challenges in operations.  Efficiency was the “big key” for me and I always was working to improve the margins between what I could sell services for and what they cost me to provide. . . . and we didn’t have an increasingly expensive overhead.

From my point of view, I think potential investors see funeral homes as being challenged right now with exploding overhead expenses — everything from costs of labor, to costs of loans, to costs of utilities.  And, on the other end of the spectrum they see a growth in lower cost services such as Direct Cremation with no services challenging the ability to grow revenues being brought in.

Furthermore, when you look at the corporate funeral home operations they also have the challenge of containing overhead expenses at the corporate level.

Finally, at the end of the day, it is about profits.  My dad has been gone for 47 years but he used to tell me as a teenager, “Stock prices are eventually all a function of profits or profit potential.”   When I look a the Seeking Alpha Income Statements from the funeral home/cemetery operators — SCI, Carriage Services, and Park Lawn Corporation — all of them show less “Earnings from Continuing Operations” for the year 2023 than they did in 2022.  That also presents some challenges.

There are some positives, however.  First of all, Death Care is relatively stable in an environment where many investors are looking for stability.  And, while margins are lessening there is still the anticipation of a higher number of death calls coming from the aging of the Baby Bomer population.

So, some of the Death Care stocks have had a positive 1st Quarter and some have had a negative 1st Quarter in companies that virtually do the same thing.  Why?   I believe, in those cases, the stock price is about history and potential of the individual company more so than the industry or profession as a whole.

Related article — How the U.S. stock market rocketed through the First Quarter.  Reuters

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