If you own, operate, or manage a funeral home or cemetery you get lots of advice — including from Funeral Director Daily at times.  However, I’ve also learned over 40+ years of business ownership in various enterprises, that while it it good to consider all the advice you get, it is most of the time best to “trust your own instincts on business decisions”.

With most family funeral homes and cemeteries the owners “live” the business.  Even when they are at home or somewhere else, “the business” is usually top of mind.  Because of that situation, nobody should know your business better than you. . . . . and when it comes to “big decisions” nobody should be more trusted to make them than you.

I thought of that the other day while I was running on the treadmill and watching a business channel on the TV.  This information about Ford Motor Company came across the screen.  The information was that Ford was “retreating from the EV (electrical vehicle) market and taking a write-down of $19.5 billion including an $8.5 billion charge for cancelled EV models.”

This quote came from the article, “Ford said it will pivot hard into gas and hybrid models, and eventually hire thousands of workers, even though there will be some layoffs at a jointly owned Kentucky battery plant in the near term. The company expects its global mix of hybrids, extended-range EVs and pure EVs to reach 50% by 2030, from 17% today.”

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  I thought of the “instinct and decision” issue while on the treadmill because I wondered how much Ford was influenced by the “Green movement” of one presidential administration to get so heavy on the way to building EV cars and trucks.  And, on the “Fossil fuel movement” of another presidential adminsitration to now get out of it — or at least tone down the movement.

It reminded me of when I operated our funeral home and had all kinds of advice from client families, clergy, business friends, and many other people who meant very well. . . . . . However, as helpful as they wanted to be, they didn’t understand the Death Care business.  I’m guessing that if I had acted on much of the advice they gave, I would have had to pivot from those decisions as well.

So, listen to advice — that is only being respectful, but make sure that you make decisions firmly on the data you have in place and on your own instincts.

It’s very difficult to compare Ford Motor Company to our funeral businesses, but I question how much Ford listened to the correct data and consumers and followed their instincts or if they simply got caught up in a  “following the herd” mentality when the herd was going in the wrong direction.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

“I Don’t Wanna Make Toys, I Wanna Make Arrangements” Says Elf | FFFW 261

Christmas is so close! We are less than two weeks away. The timing of Christmas always feels odd, right? Like, most of the year it feels so far away- but then around September you think “it’s right around the corner” and then a couple weeks go by, and you’re like “nah, this still feels pretty far away.” And then you blink, and it’s Thanksgiving, and then you go to bed, and you wake up, and it’s Christmas. It’s always too far away, or coming too soon. Maybe that’s true of all great things.

DAYS TIL CHRISTMAS: 13
DAYS TIL NEW YEAR’S: 20
DAYS TIL THE BIG GAME: 58

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Elf Tells Santa “I Don’t Want to Make Dolls, I Want to Make Arrangements”

Earlier this week, Jibbles announced that he didn’t want to make toys anymore. Instead, he wants to be a funeral director.

“We can’t pretend that death doesn’t happen anymore,” Jibbles said, standing in the breakroom like it was an arrangement office. “I have no clue what we’ve been doing with the bodies. We have 10,000 elves here at the plant. Even though we live a long time, we don’t actually live forever. Somebody needs a plan that is not ‘just keep smiling and add more tinsel.’”

According to sources, Jibbles arrived the next morning wearing a black suit and a name badge that said “Family Care Specialist,” despite nobody giving it to him. He reportedly set up a little table outside Santa’s office with a stack of General Price Lists, a laminated merchandise catalog, and a sign that read, “Two minutes with Jibbles can save your family thirty minutes of awkward guessing later.” When asked where he got the casket book, Jibbles said, “If you can order 80,000 drones in one night, you can order one tasteful selection of oak.”

Santa attempted to shut the whole thing down by insisting, “We do celebrations of life here, not funerals,” but Jibbles countered that that was exactly his point. “We already do the visitation,” he said. “Everyone lines up. They cry. They tell stories. Somebody gets too close to the cookie tray and has to be redirected. The only difference is we call it ‘Christmas Eve’ instead of ‘Wednesday from 4 to 7.’”

Mrs. Claus, who staff confirm quietly runs the North Pole like an office manager with a candy cane in her hair, was less amused. “If he says the words ‘pre need’ one more time in my hallway, I’m locking the copier,” she said. “Also, he keeps telling people he can ‘get them on the schedule’ like he has access to my calendar. He does not.”

At press time, Jibbles had been assigned to “seasonal reception” as a compromise, answering calls with, “North Pole, this is Jibbles, I’m sorry for your loss, how may I help?” before transferring every caller to Santa’s personal line “because the owner should really be the one doing arrangements.” Santa was last seen staring at the phone and whispering, “We said it was quiet. We said it out loud.”

Ask the Funeral Dude!

Question:
Hey Funeral Dude,

My owner keeps telling me to “just be more approachable,” so I smiled at a family during arrangements and now they think I’m their new best friend. They’re texting me updates like I’m the grief group chat leader. How do I be kind without accidentally becoming part of the family Christmas card shoot list?

Signed,
Too Friendly, Too Fast

Answer:
Yes, this is the classic, “I’m they’re best friend- they are not my best friend” scenario. It’s a tuffy to get out of- but by following the next steps, you can make it happen.

1) Wait a LONG time to respond to messages. This starts to convey the idea.

2) Tell them you’re going to rehab. This will buy you at least six weeks of peace.
3) If those two don’t give you enough distance, accidentally call them the wrong name. This will be extremely disrespectful, but you can play it off with “Oh, I’m just close to so many families. This happens.”

That’ll make them realize you have stuff to do.

And remember- anytime you don’t know what to do- reach out to the funeral dude.

You Otter Be Proud

Here’s some good news going on in the profession.

1. This Milford nonprofit helps families with high funeral costs
2. People Magazine Covers Funeral Profession Story
3. Fifth-generation funeral director Jeff Monreal helps families grieve, celebrate loved ones

It’s Monday, October 27, and much of the Death Care universe is centered in Chicago, Illinois, attending the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) International Convention & Expo.  I had my schedule of the convention mapped out and was looking forward to attending my friend Doug Gober’s session on “Customer Loyalty” this morning”  and learning from the Glenn Gould, Jeff Smith, and Chris Farmer sessions tomorrow.

As I write this on Wednesday, October 22, however, I’ve cancelled my attendance as it just happens to be one of those years where “Life” got in my way.  I’ll miss seeing old friends and meeting new ones.  I’ll miss learning about new products and services to help those who deal on the front lines with families who have lost loved ones.

I’ve been retired now for over a decade from owning and operating a funeral home and working everyday as a funeral director.  I notified a couple of my friends, whom I make a point to see every year, that I would not be in attendance this year and, in part, received the following reply from one of those funeral directors, “I’m dragging my feet this trip a bit. Having problems getting a spring to my step. New teen suicide this morning also has me down.”

When I read that it put me back into remembering my days on the front line of funeral service and days where, I too, “got down”.  I don’t know how many days I went to work and got a call from law enforcement or a parent about an auto accident or suicide.  Those types of deaths happened with “friends” and “church members”, and “Little Leaguers”.

Like I surmise from that funeral director, I always dreaded going and seeing the families, most of whom I knew in our small community, under those circumstances.

Those arrangements and services always took an incredible amount of effort.  I was numb to anything else going on in the world for those four or five days during the time period of arrangements to burial.  The effort it took to serve those families almost always sapped me and when the services were over I needed time to decompress.  I was lucky to have an incredible wife and family that seemed to understand my situation at that time.

It eventually got to the point that I would ask myself, “Why do they always ask for me?” . . . .Because secretly I wished that these families didn’t.

However, I eventually reached a point where I said to myself, “Somebody has to take care of these people and no one will do it better than me.”  That attitude helped me see the end of the rainbow for funeral service. . . . . regardless of the effort involved, it was my duty and responsibility to see these families forward  — if it wasn’t my duty to do so, I concluded, whose duty was it?

So, in Chicago today, enjoy the Expo floor, enjoy the seminars, but most of all, give support to each other because as a funeral director you know the effort needed to help grieving families in a society where most people just don’t understand.

May God Bless your efforts.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

In early October North America’s largest purveyor of Death Care services, Service Corporation International (SCI), received an approved zoning ruling to build Funeraria del Angel, a funeral home and cemetery in San Antonio, Texas.  You can read about the development in this article from the San Antonio Report titled “Against a school district’s wishes, the South Side is getting a new cemetery“.

Service Corporation International (SCI) first submitted the request a full year ago in October 2024, causing backlash from the Southside Mission Del Lago community and a meeting with local residents.

In what is somewhat a rare instance the local school district, Southside Independent School District, had actually passed a resolution in opposition to the 80-acre site becoming a cemetery.  According to the article, it turns out that “In Texas, cemeteries are tax-exempt, meaning they don’t have to pay property taxes to the local government agencies, including the school districts they’re located in.  Property taxes are a significant revenue stream for school districts — it’s how districts pay for day-to-day costs and how they pay off bond debt used for infrastructure projects. Limited funding by the state puts more pressure on school districts’ property tax collecting measures.”

Again, according to the article, “Financial pressures and growing enrollment in the area are in large part why the (school) district’s board of trustees adopted a resolution against SCI’s rezoning request with a 5-1-1 vote.”  You can see a copy of that resolution here.

Instead of a cemetery located on potential prime commercial property on the 80 acres in question many community members suggested that the vacant acreage could be used for residential housing or commercial uses such as grocery stores, restaurants, retail stores, and medical clinics– all uses that would carry with them a tax assesed value for the school district.

Residents against the SCI proposal also pointed out that District 3 already had 21 cemeteries — most of which have been around for a hundred years before zoning regulations.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  As America continues having changing views on Death Care I think “zoning issues” will become more and more top of mind in the construction of new funeral homes, cemeteries, and crematories.  The interesection of urban planning, resident wishes, and Death Care businesses is simply becoming more and more difficult to manage and reach amenable solutions for all parties.

In another view of this situation, I was interested in how people in cemetery’s don’t pay taxes, but my father always joked that they could vote.  Back in the 1960 Presidential election the claim is that Vice-President Richard Nixon would have won that election had he captured the electoral votes of Illinois. . . .a state in which he lost by fewer than 9,000 votes.

My dad used to always say that he would like to be buried in Illinois. . . .”because at least he could still vote there”.  So, if you think a debate over election vote totals is something new, you didn’t know about the accusations of the 1960 vote in Illinois.  According to some people, names on cemetery tombstones were scoured to get voter registrations for them and absentee votes from those “cemetery people” carried the Illinois election for John F. Kennedy. . . and put him in the White House!!!

Just for fun, here’s an article from Block Club Chicago titled “Chicago and rigged elections?  The history is even crazier than you have heard.”

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

“Funeral of the Year” is the Industry Award We Probably Don’t Need

Although deathcare practices and traditions may differ across the globe, the dedication of the professionals in charge remains constant. And every so often, these men and women are recognized for their body of work, earning awards for overall excellence, leadership, or innovation. This year, South African funeral directors had the opportunity to earn similar honors at the inaugural National Funeral Business Awards — plus a few awards that could make for interesting competition (and some unwanted attention) here in the States.

Best of the best

High-profile funerals in the US — those held for celebrities, sports legends, and politicians, among others — usually get plenty of press for their opulence or expense, or even for the notable people in attendance. That’s inevitable, no matter where the funeral takes place — even South Africa. So it wasn’t a surprise that the 2023 funeral of superstar SA rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes was a spectacular and well-documented event. 

Forbes’ family selected Broodie Funeral Parlour of Pretoria to conduct both a public memorial service and a private funeral and burial. Both were described as “extravagant,” “five-star,” and “elaborate,” and included a BMW motorcade that transported AKA’s casket in a transparent trailer to an “elegant” church and graveside setup.

For its efforts, Broodie Funeral Parlour earned the “top prize” award for “Best Funeral Service of the Year” at the National Funeral Business Awards in April. They also snagged the honor of “Best Service Funeral Company of the Year.”

They responded to the recognition on Instagram, humbly stating, “It’s an incredible honor to be recognised this way. When you put your heart into something, you don’t always expect applause – you simply hope it makes a difference.”

Interesting accolades

Another big winner at the NFBAs was Matjokane Funeral Services, also of Pretoria, which won the “Most Stylish Funeral Award” for its interesting approach to life celebrations.

“We came up with the idea of giving mocktails at the funeral,” says Sylvester Hlongwane, Matjokane’s marketing manager. “You’re hot, you’re tired and sad; you get a mocktail that looks so beautiful and you just sip and it fills your heart.”

Hlongwane adds that Matjokane provides couches at the graveside rather than chairs, and offers a “six-piece orchestra with violins, cellos, and trumpets.”

In addition to these awards, the NFBAs also featured the following categories:

• Most Impressive Fleet
• Best Branding
• Best Decor
• Best Grave Setup

Providers were also recognized for more traditional achievements, including professionalism and community involvement.

Living in the comments section

As one might expect, the awards — as well as the actual concept of providing recognition to funeral professionals — garnered instant criticism from the community.

The comments were even more interesting on The Times LIVE’s Facebook page:

• “That’s sick.”
• “What’s next? The cutest corpses?”
• “So this is a thing now? Funerals have become a competition. This entire notion is diabolical.”
• “If we are not careful, next funeral accolades will be like: who buried the most beautiful dead person. What these undertakers have started now must not/should not be encouraged.”
• “Why are yall shocked?? Yall did this paying big money for big funerals. You got so invested in the decor and cars that you forgot about the actual funeral so obviously there will be funeral awards.”

Nevertheless, the organizers of the NFBA event defended the awards and the deathcare profession’s right to earn honors for their work. 

“We tend to want to give the best send-off to the deceased. It’s not a matter of showing off, but a matter of respect and celebration of the lives of the ones that passed on,” says Muzi Hlengwa, CEO of the National Funeral Business Awards. 

“As undertakers, we are not only burying people, but we are also dealing with the pain of families that have lost their loved ones. We want to give South African undertakers exposure. We want to applaud the hard and good work that they do for the members of the public,” Hlengwa told another outlet. 

“We may be viewed as a deathcare industry but we are a business like any other business.”

It doesn’t matter what type of Death Care business your are in. . . funeral home, crematory, casket supplier, vault company, chemical company. . . . the odds are that you have seen your costs of business go up in the past four years — since inflation started creeping up sometime in 2021.

You probably have your thoughts on your sales prices of your products pretty well set for 2025, but what might near future inflation do to change that outlook?  Depending on which indicator you look at, “cumulative inflation” has increased prices over the past four years from 17-22%. . . . however, that number could continue to rise in the future if history is an indication.

What that “cumulative inflation” means, is if your input costs have went up on that same average, a funeral service that you charged $10,000 for in 2021 would have to be sold at $11,700 to $12,200 today simply to stay at the same profit levels.

This current wave of inflation hit its peak when in June 2022 prices were listed at 9.1% higher than at the same time in June of 2021  (See article and table).  Since that time we have seen a reduction in year over year inflation reaching down to a 2.7% level in November of 2024 as compared to November of 2023.  The goal is to reach a “healthy inflation” figure of around slightly over 2.0%.

Will we get there soon?  That remains to be seen, but I think the last miles of inflation reduction can be sticky. . . especially if this episode is anything like the last big episode in my life — which happened from about 1975 to about 1983.  And, there are a couple of things in common with that time period.  . such as a new Presidential administration promising tax cuts to Americans.

While we have made progress so far in the fight against inflation, please take a look at this graph from the 1975 episode which shows that after making progress for a while, inflation took off again.  That’s something that I hope we can avoid.

I think it is somewhat hard to get inflation to continue its downward trend when there are certain “late business increases” by government entities that may raise prices going forward.  In my opinion, government, being as big as it is and as methodical as it is, is sometimes behind the curves that happen in finances. . . . and that is a worrysome situation in my book.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

For instance, I just recieved notice that my local municipal utility will be increasing monthly facility charges at an 8.3% annual clip, and utility demand rates from 7.5% to 8.6% depending on useage amounts.  And, I’m guessing that I’ll have a property tax increase coming on board to help the city, county, and school district catch up to their inflationary costs also.

That’s about 4 times what experts say “healthy” inflation is. . . .and I think it is indicative of government finally catching up in raising income to meet already risen inflationary costs.  In my book, I believe that businesses have been adjusting price increases much faster and may be almost done doing so, but I also think that government increases are still to come.

So, my point is, while I think business, that can act quicker than government, is getting caught up to the recent past inflation, don’t be surprised if you see some inflationary increases that might surprise you coming from public sector entities. . ..

The great thing about being a small, independent business is that you have the ability to turn and manuever like you are riding a jet-ski rather than piloting an aircraft carrier.  It may be that in 2025 that pivoting skill will be necessary. . . .

Related Article — “Amid trade tensions and sticky inflation, Bryant expert shares U.S., global economic predictions for 2025.”  Bryant University – Bryant News  (RI)

Related Article — “Inflation slightly accelerated last month — here are the prices rising most.”  Bankrate.com

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

The teaser for this webinar states, “Fifty percent of funeral businesses are expected to change hands as the next generation leaves the business”.  

A webinar conducted by Johnson Consulting Group’s President and CEO Jake Johnson will take center stage tomorrow, April 4, from 3:00 to 4:30 pm Eastern Time. (2 pm to 3:30 pm Central Time)

Jake Johnson

If you are thinking of growing your business or thinking of exiting your business this should be a must watch for you to help you undertand what the variables will be in moving in your desired direction.  According to the registration information, Johnson will set the table by discussing the following:

1.  Getting your “house” in order in preparation for growth.
2.  Determine what are the steps needed for acquisition.
3.  Learn how to successfully onboard a new acquisition.

To learn more and/or register click here.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”