American monument dealers have become accustomed to dealing with the rising cremation rates in the country and the dwindling sales opportunities for cemetery monuments that fact brings.

But now, according to this recent article from CNBC titled “An industry focused on death faces an existential crisis”, family-owned monument dealers have seen United States tariffs on certain imported products and countries cause havoc with their supply chain prices and choices.  Monument dealer John Dioguardi is quoted in the article saying, “I hope this all works out.  I have no idea if it will.”

A chart you can see in the article also poses the issue of how uncertainty reigns in much of the situation.  For instance, the chart shows that since January 25,2023, and up until October 27, 2025, family-owned and Cleveland-based Milano Monument’s custom duty and taxes on imported raw materials from China have fluctuated between 21% and 59% and rates in-between those two extremes.  Those duty or tariff percentages are added on to the wholesale cost of the imported material and then have to be figured into the price to charge consumers.

As you can well understand, the resulting higher retail cost of monuments then becomes a major decision for the consumer on what, or even if, they should buy a monument.  According to the article Milano Monuments’ Jim Milano states that “he and many peers are covering tariffs out of pocket” meaning that they have not passed on that cost to consumers in order to make sales.  He’s taken a pay cut as a result.

Furthermore, Milano makes this point, as quoted in the article, “If monument builders need to raise prices to account for tariffs, Milano worries it could push more consumers to opt for cremations.”

And while cremations and tariffs are a headwind for monument dealers at this time, monument company owner John Dioguardi, who we quoted earlier in this article, says the long-term fate of the business “is married in part to whether people want their loved ones to have any sort of memorialization”. 

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  While this article appears to be about tariffs and duties and the costs that they impart onto the retail sale of a monument for memorialization, I think there is a whole lot more to this article than that.

In the last few years I’ve taken the tact that “Death Care” really provides three distinct purchasable choices to the consumer for each death.  Those purchase choices are (1)Disposition, (2)Ceremony (or Celebration), and (3) Memorialization.

For the last 100 years or longer the vast majority of consumer spending on Death Care came from the “Disposition” category.  Because, if you chose “Burial” as the Disposition choice then the consumer purchased a traditional funeral the which included the professional services of the funeral director and merchandise such as a casket and vault.  The “Ceremony’ included the process to get the deceased, and purchased merchandise such as the casket and vault, from the funeral home into the ground, and in essence, was a part of the “Disposition” choice purchase.

Memorialization basically consisted of some type of monument marking the grave in the cemetery.  Some were elaborate, but most were purchased after death without much thought by the individual whose grave it marked.

Contrast that to today’s world where traditional funerals are minority of the dispositions.  Cremations are the vast majority of dispositions and, from my point of view, most consumers believe the process of cremation is a commodity.  Meaning. . that there loved one’s body goes to the crematory, they see none of the process, and they are handed a box of cremated remains.  The resulting “box of cremated remains” are the same (commodity) whether a direct cremation provider was selected or a high-priced luxury funeral home was used.

Most consumers do not expect to pay a high amount for this (cremation) disposition.

It’s also my opinion that today’s Death Care consumers will spend on the Ceremony (Celebration or Event) and a certain amount of Death Care clientele will make “Large sale” purchases of Memorialization products.  If you follow industry leader Service Corporation International (SCI) you will notice that for the past couple of years they have been much more aggressive going after what they call “Large sale cemetery sales”.  In their vernacular “Large Sales” means $80,000 or over.

And Global Growth Insights says this about “Large sale or Premium” Death Care sales:

The high-end and specialty funeral homes and services segment caters to a premium clientele that seeks exclusivity, personalization, and luxury in memorial arrangements. This niche but rapidly expanding category combines emotional value, heritage preservation, and sophisticated service design. In 2025, the luxury funeral segment accounts for nearly 7.5% of the total global funeral services market, valued at approximately USD $5.9 billion, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.8% during 2025–2033 — outpacing the broader market’s average growth of 3.39%.

High-end providers focus on creating unique, culturally tailored, and experience-driven memorials. These include private mausoleums, personalized life celebration ceremonies, high-end floral artistry, premium casket materials, and digital heritage archives. Many also integrate smart technology and sustainability — such as QR-enabled memorial stones, carbon-neutral cremations, and virtual remembrance spaces — blending tradition with innovation.

So, yes — I think consumers and what they want is going to change funeral service.  And, I can sympathisize with these monument dealers at this time with the uncertainty and cost of tariffs.  However, I also see an incredible opportunity for the high-end memorialization products.  I think that there is a void to be filled with those consumers who have the assets to spend on celebration and memorialization.

The trends show dispositions of cremation as more-than-likely without the purchase of caskets or vaults.  If that money is going to stay in “Death Care” it will probably find itself going into more elaborate “ceremonies or celebrations” and “permanent memorialization”.

Tom Ryan
SCI CEO

I think by being able to partner with cemeteries monument and columbarium suppliers may find a smaller number but more profitable clientele in those that are looking for luxury or psuedo-luxury memorialization products.  It might take some up-front investment and risk, but one might also find a “Build it and they will come” attitude for cremation memorialization in cemeteries.  Here’s what SCI CEO Thomas Ryan said as recently as October 30, 2025, during the company’s 3rd Quarter Earnings Call:

“We have a lot of products that I’d tell you, consumers really don’t have familiarity with. I think a lot of cremation consumers come in and don’t really understand what we have available. So we’re really focused this year with some consumer research that we’ve done about trying to tie that consumer in a better way to educate them about what we have because we found in the focus groups that almost 0 out of 10 knew what we had and about 8 out of 10 once they saw it said, I’m interested in looking.”

So, if I was a monument dealer, yes , I’d be a little discouraged about the cost of my product at this time. . . .and try to make the best of the situation.  But, I’d also find encouragement by what seems to be a growing “luxury” monument movement and the results SCI is having with their “Large sales” of cemetery products.

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While we cannot guarantee success with every idea, one of the reasons for reading Funeral Director Daily is that we endeavor to give ideas to Death Care professionals that can have a positive impact on the financial results of your funeral home, crematory, or cemetery.

And, with the continuing choice of cremation as a disposition option we all know that many families choose to permanently memorialize their loved one, if they do it at all, in a way other than a monument in a cemetery. . . . which has lead to less monument sales and less profits for funeral homes and cemeteries via those sales channels.

So, seemingly any way in which one can get someone’s remains, whole casketed body or cremated, to be buried in a cemetery would provide an opportunity for ancillary income through the sale of a monument.

That’s where our story comes in today where in this article from the Minnesota Tribune Two Rivers Monuments owner Julia Gusafson states, ““I tell people, ‘This is your story. We’re not all going to be written about in history books, but we can write your story in stone.’”

Gustafson goes on to tell potential customers that inscribing words like “Beloved”, “Devoted”, and the like are “only a small part of a person’s contributions to society, their interests, or the way they held a family together.”   Today, with improved engraving technology, much more can be put on a memorial marker. . . . . and Gustafson, and others inquire about potential clients life interests.  That’s led, believe it or not, to a small but growing movement that “a life story will inevitably reveal a favorite food.”

“Recipes” happen to be one of the growing individual choices that are being engraved on the monuments.  Candi L. Cann, a professor of Religion at Texas’ Baylor University has actually published a book on the subject titled “Dying to Eat“.  Cann states in the article, “It’s the best recipes, the signature dish that everyone brings to the community potluck or always to the family’s feasting. The ones everyone’s been waiting their whole lifetime to make.”

The article also says this of Cann and what she has witnessed,  “Cann has noticed gravestone recipes at cemeteries near her in Texas — and she’s not surprised. The tradition of honoring the deceased through food is ancient, from Roman times to Dia de los Muertos celebrations in Mexico to the Protestant communal repast.”

The article also points out that another book is in the works. . . by Rosie Grant and titled, “To Die For“.   According to the article Grant has “found 45 of them (Recipe monuments) worldwide, mostly in North America. Grant is writing a cookbook featuring headstone recipes which will be released in the fall of 2025.”

Here is the website for Two Rivers Monuments

And, here is the website for a national provider of monuments, Memorial Monuments

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:   This is seemingly unusual and certainly a small niche market for monuments.  However, I think that there is more to this story than meets the eye.

I think this type of story points out that most people do want to be remembered. . . . and funeral homes have not always spent the time to figure out what the deceased person wants to be remembered for.   That remembrance thought can probably be drawn out most easily during a pre-arrangement conference.  However, if there is no pre-arrangement conference it may be something that can be drawn out and made sense of by the family at the time of arrangements.

And, in the world of online pre-arrangements and arrangements, the growing technology of artificial intelligence (AI) may be able to help.  As a matter of fact, I saw a demonstration of a currently in use product from Prelude that is starting to use AI in pre-arrangements to allow for suggested ideas to the consumer. . . . and, I was impressed.

In a world that continues to move to simpler (and less revenue producing) human dispositions of the body such as direct cremation, I think the ability to be able to offer more products through a memorialization thought process can only be good for traditional funeral homes.

It may be a recipe for some while for others it may be college logo or Rotary Club membership logo.  Whatever it is, if you can get one to believe in permanent memorialization, the chance is there for a bevy of products to be sold.

Finally, I think that this illustration of what could happen points out that the “skill set” of your pre-arrangement counselors may make an incredible difference on sales going forward.  Visionary thinking and creativity may be much more important in the future than “sales closing” skills in raising revenue in this service that is of growing importance for death care providers.

That “skill set” of vision and creativity may make the difference between pre-arranged cremations with no services and pre-arranged cremation dispositions followed by an ever increasing spend on celebrations and memorializations.

And I think that is one area where Artificial Intelligence in pre-arrangement conferences, especially online, may make a big difference in the revenues and profits of funeral homes as we move into the next generation of death care sales culture.

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