A couple of recent articles that I read give an indication of how the financial success of cemeteries can vary based on location and/or the clientele that may be using the cemetery.

I’m from the state of Minnesota and more specifically an area outside of the metropolitan Minneapolis/St. Paul demographic market.  My area of Minnesota was settled in the last half of the 19th Century by immigrants most generally from the Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden, and Finland.  These pioneers received their government allotment of land, began farming and immediately established small communities centered on the church.

Most of these churches were positioned so that they were within about 30 minutes of a horse-drawn buggy ride of the agricultural family members. That close proximity to members eventually led to hundreds, maybe thousands, of these low number of member churches dotting the countryside of Minnesota.  And, I’m guessing, that modus operandi for setting up church locations was probably followed in all rural areas as America grew westward.

Each of these churches also, because of necessity, had a cemetery that grew around that church for the next 150 years.  Today, however, especially with the advent of transportation and family farms becoming larger corporate farms the need for these country churches has waned.  My mother’s church, where my maternal grandparents are buried, closed two years ago. . . .but the cemetery is still there.  The cemetery has virtually no new graves being sold. . . but it does require some funding to be available to fund upkeep of the grounds.

Contrast that with the cemeteries which began, again because of necessity, in what have become large metropolitan areas.  They generally covered many acres and served many different churches from the metropolitan areas.  While cremation has taken its toll on grave space sales and interment fees these cemeteries have been able to continue to grow, and in many cases thrive, because of the optionality that they can offer.

By optionality, I mean mausoleums, cremation niches, crematories on site, and in many cases the availabilty of venues for services. . . . even the growing trend to host weddings.  In other words, they give these cemeteries a potential ability to raise revenue.  As a matter of fact, Service Corporation International CEO Thomas Ryan made this comment in the company’s 2nd Quarter 2024 Earnings Call, “. . we continue to see long-term strength in our premium cemetery inventory and sales production.”

Recently I’ve seen articles that focus on privately owned community area cemeteries that are trying to offer more optionality via the idea of installing their own cremation equipment. . . . equipment that would either be used as a trade service for funeral homes without their own crematory or, possibly, to enter the cremation disposition business going directly to the consumer and competing against local funeral homes.

One cemetery operator, Troy Nikola,who owns the Princeton Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Robbinsville, New Jersey, is one cemetery operator who wants to install his own crematory.  Here’s what he says according to this article from the New Jersey Monitor, “The rising cremation rate presents a serious challenge. One of my cemeteries, for example, has seen new grave sales decline by 90% from 100 grave sales per year to just 10 grave sales per year. Burial services have dropped by 50% from 120 services a year to 60. And this shift threatens the long-term financial viability of cemeteries. . . .If cemeteries are not allowed to adapt, such as by operating their own crematories within the cemeteries, they will struggle to survive.” 

Here’s another article from Decatur, Georgia, where a cemetery operator has indicated an interest in building and operating a crematory in his cemetery.  In a letter to the cemetery neighbors he makes this statement indicating that he would like more options for consumers at the cemetery, “Today, three in five Americans choose cremation, and this trend is expected to continue rising in the coming years. As a result, many of the families we serve at Washington have asked us to provide an all-in-one location where they can make cemetery, funeral, and cremation arrangements—in a place they know and trust.”

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take — “Owners want optionality for consumers, cemetery neighbors worry about the environment” —-  If you read both of those article you will notice that there does not seem to be any issues of the consumer public against having more choice in their options.  However, there is a great deal of concern by neighbors that crematories that operate near residential areas or schools need to provide a clean air environment in the neighborhood.  And, at least among neighbors, that continues to be a bigger issue than the ability of, in some cases, century old businesses to modernize their consumer selections.

And even while cemeteries were probably located in the area first I don’t see it getting any easier to build crematories in densely populated areas in the future.  Depending on the population size of the market area cemeteries may find their best money-making alternatives in the mausoleum and columbarium markets.

Related Article — “The Crematory Dilemma: Continued consumer choice vs. the NIMBY attitude”  – Funeral Director Daily

More news from the world of Death Care:

Enter your e-mail below to join the 3,120 others who receive Funeral Director Daily articles daily:

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

This article from North Country Now of New York announces the acquisition of the Green Funeral Home of Gouverneur, New York, by the Frary Funeral Home.  From the company’s website which you can access here, it appears that the Gouverneur location will be the 6th location operated by Frary.

The article from North Country Now makes the following statement, “Both businesses have deep-rooted histories as multi-generational family businesses, committed to serving the community.”

It also appears from the article that Wesley McGill, a funeral director at Frary’s had been a funeral director previously at the Green Funeral Home.  It appears that Mr. McGill was born in Gouverneur and a natural fit to now be working with the Gouverneur location.

According to the newspaper article the press release also made the following comments, “With Wes’s guidance, Frary Funeral Home looks forward to continuing its tradition of excellence while offering fresh, thoughtful solutions to meet the evolving needs of our community. . . .We are committed to serving Gouverneur and the surrounding area with care and compassion, just as both Frary Funeral Home and Green Funeral Home have for generations.” 

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  A viewpoint of mine is that the anticipated sale of existing funeral homes by so many owners who are reaching retirement age is happening.  It’s been predicted for years and I now think it is upon us.

A simple suggestion to those funeral homes who want to expand is now is the time to make sure that your finances are in order and you have the resources available to do such.  I would also suggest that if you have not talked to potential acquisition site owners, now is the time for that also . . . before you miss the opportunity.

Enter your e-mail below to join the 3,120 others who receive Funeral Director Daily articles daily:

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

In October Choice Mutual, an end-of-life burial insurance company released the results of a nationwide survey of over 3,000 individuals that, among other things, asked where in their home state would they want their cremated ashes to be dispersed or scattered.

According to one article I read, the impetus for this survey was the discussion, explained here in a July Funeral Director Daily article, about a public discussion among the University of Nebraska Board of Regents.  As it turns out, the University of Nebraska is planning on improving the playing surface at their football stadium and one Regent suggested building a columbarium under the playing surface.

Turns out, that according to the Choice Mutual survey, that sporting venues carry with them a strong popularity with the public in many states for being a site of cremated remains disposition.   As it turns out historic venues such as Fenway Park in Massachusetts, Memorial Stadium at the University of Michigan, and Indianapolis Speedway in Indiana all were the top picks for their respective states.

The top state picks for each state and the survey overview can be viewed here.  Here are four items named in the overview as key takeaways from the survey as to generalizations where respondents would like their cremated remains to be dispersed:

• Areas of Natural Beauty
• Sports Arenas
• Urban and Historical Landmarks
• State-Specific Preferences

Some of the Landmarks or State Specific Preferences included the following:

• Missouri — The Gateway Arch
• Texas — The Alamo
• South Dakota — Mount Rushmore Monument

Related Article — Here is a recent article (November 14) from ESPN writer Andrea Adelson titled “Even in death college football fans want to be at their favorite stadiums”.  The provided link also has a short video interview of Ms. Adelson and ESPN show host Paul Finebaum discussing this phenomena.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  Legalities aside, the idea of placing cremated remains in a cherished place rather than in a cemetery that one has never visited seems to resonate with many people.  Whether it be the Alamo, The Gateway Arch, a state park, or an athletic venue seems to bring “connection” in death for many.

And, when you couple that with some of the amounts being spent by the consumer for what I would call “Premium Cemetery Memorialization”, you start to wonder if some of these public areas, including college campuses, should create some type of park-like area for state-of-the-art cremation memorialization.

The following is an exerpt from Service Corporation International’s (SCI) CEO Tom Ryan in response to a question about consumer behavior in the area of cemetery space sales from the SCI Earnings Call of February 13, 2024:

(Ryan:)  “So I think on consumer behavior, if you take the high end, we continue to see the high end going strong. And some of that average price and remember, these are over $80,000 sales. But to give you some perspective, we probably had about 400 of those that averaged around, call it, $200,000 sale, back in 2019, around that era. We’ve almost doubled the number of contracts. So going from 400 contracts at that level to 800, slightly up on the average too. And so that seems some pretty significant growth and continues to look strong. And again, we’ve always said that probably correlates best with housing and stock market. And I’d say if there’s anywhere we’re not seeing as robust in activities we like, it is at that lower end”. 

Outside of the idea of premium spaces at existing cemeteries, I don’t think this phenomena of the amounts of money people will spend for memorialization at their “preferred venue” is thought about much.  Maybe a company like Better Place Forests is really on to something and ahead of the game with their development of “conservation forests” for this purpose.  As noted above from the survey, “Areas of Natural Beauty” are seen as a desired dispersal area and Better Place Forests has already made the investments to be able to serve those that choose that option.

More news from the world of Death Care:

Enter your e-mail below to join the 3,117 others who receive Funeral Director Daily articles daily:

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