I grew up in the very homogeneous community of Alexandria, Minnesota.  From this Wikipedia article you can see that the city at the time of my growing up had a population of a little over 6,000.  Today, according to the same Wikipedia article the community’s “metropolitan area” – those that live, work, and/or attend school in the area is about 39,000.

The community was first settled in 1858 by immigrants, mostly from the Nordic European countries.  My father’s side of the family arrived in 1872 from Sweden and my mother’s side arrived a few years later from Norway.  Almost all of the settlers in those days were of the Christian faith — either of Roman Catholic or Lutheran backgrounds.

I tell you those details simply to point out that I am probably not well-versed enough on Jewish customs to comment, other than to say that there may be a lot Death Care professionals can learn, about the article that follows.  I read the following opinion article (that you can access in its entirety here) that appeared in “The Times of Israel” publication.  I found it a fascinating read on one Jewish author’s perspective on their traditions, the fact that Jews are (in the author’s opinion) turning to cremation, and where Jewish values may lead them in the future.

The following are some paragraphical quotes from the article that is titled “Cremation:  It isn’t just about money“.  There is more to the article that you can access in the link above, but these paragraphs will give you a good idea on what one Jewish author is wrestling with as to Jewish Death Care customs.

“When people say they’re choosing cremation because it’s cheaper, they’re not wrong. Traditional burials can easily cost upward of $25,000 once cemetery plots, coffins, vaults, and services are included. Cremation, by comparison, averages closer to $2,000. The math speaks for itself.

But money isn’t the whole story.

In my experience, cost is only part of the decision. Many families I meet have other reasons—deeper, more existential ones. They tell me they don’t want to “take up space.” They say no one visits graves anymore, and they don’t expect their children to visit theirs. They want to be part of the earth again—not sealed away in boxes within boxes. . . . . .

 

When Jewish leaders respond to cremation, the conversation too often stops at what Judaism forbids. We repeat that cremation is not part of Jewish tradition, that it desecrates the body, that it stirs memories of the Holocaust, and that it pollutes the air. All of that is true—and yet, by focusing solely on prohibition, we may be missing the deeper question of why so many Jews are turning to it in the first place.

The truth is, cremation is no longer a fringe practice. More than half of Americans now choose it, and its acceptance is steadily growing in the Jewish community as well. Cultural taboos fade with each generation. For many liberal Jews, the visceral associations with the Holocaust no longer carry the same weight. Meanwhile, new cultural values—environmental awareness, simplicity, and freedom from institutional control—are taking their place.. . . . .

 

Many who choose cremation are doing so because, to them, the conventional cemetery feels lifeless—acres of manicured grass, sealed vaults, pesticide-soaked soil, and heavy coffins. It feels industrial rather than sacred. When faced with that landscape, cremation can seem like the more ecological, even spiritual, option. . . . . 

 

The real problem is not people’s desire for cremation; it’s that the alternatives haven’t been compelling enough. If our cemeteries were places of life—where bodies return gently to the soil, where trees grow instead of headstones, where wildflowers bloom over graves—then perhaps fewer people would feel drawn to cremation as their final act. . . . 

 

For centuries, Jewish burial practices reflected their times and places. Abraham was buried in a cave, Jacob embalmed, Joseph carried in a coffin from Egypt, Moses buried in an unmarked grave. There was never one unchanging “traditional” form. The essence was always dignity, simplicity, and the acknowledgment that death is part of creation’s fabric.

We now live in a time of flux—religious, cultural, ecological. Our communities are shrinking, our cemeteries filling, our climate warming. If we answer the rise in cremation only with moral disapproval, we will lose both the argument and the opportunity. But if we respond with imagination—if we can offer ways of dying that honor both the soul and the soil—we can reclaim something profoundly Jewish.

There is deep wisdom in our tradition’s insistence on burial: to face the earth one last time, to let the body become part of the renewal of life. When done simply and sustainably, burial is not wasteful—it is generous. It gives back to the earth that has sustained us.

So yes, cremation is cheaper. But that’s not all it’s about. The rise of cremation is a symptom of a deeper spiritual hunger—a longing to live and die in harmony with the planet. Rather than fighting that impulse, we should honor it and guide it.

Green burials, conservation cemeteries, aquamation, terramation—these are not departures from Jewish values. They are, in many ways, paths to their fulfillment.”

In the end, the question isn’t whether we can afford to be buried. The question is whether we can afford not to return to the earth from which we came.

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

Last week was Earnings Release week for Service Corporation International (SCI) and readers of Funeral Director Daily are getting their second consecutive article on the company’s performance in this update.  This morning’s article was headlined, “Firing on all cylinders”.

Investor information network Seeking Alpha published an article last week from Lighting Rock Research that you can access here, about SCI and it’s 2nd Quarter 2025 report titled “As steady as she goes”.  It in many ways reaffirms what Funeral Director Daily said about the 2nd Quarter and Half-Year performance of the company so far in 2025 but goes a little bit further making some projections for the future.

In a short sentence Lighting Rock Research makes this comment about the future of SCI, “The company’s stable business model, direct sales transition, and acquisition strategy position it for 5% organic revenue growth from FY26 onward.”

Included in the article is the following chart which the authors use to feature what they believe will be the financial performance of Service Corporation moving forward.  As you can see it projects Revenue, Operating Profits, Net Profits and more through the year 2034.

Projections of SCI’s Revenue, Operating Profits, Net Profits, Free Cash-Flow and more through 2034

Lighting Rock Research mentions two risk factors for SCI going forward.  Here is what they think those may be:

1. In the U.S. market, many Hispanic and Asian customers prefer cemetery services. Due to the Trump administration’s immigration policy, I think some Hispanic and Asian populations might leave the U.S.  If that occurs, the population mix change could pose some growth challenges to Service Corporation..
2. In addition, the gross margin of its cemetery business declined by 110basis points during the quarter, caused by higher sales compensations. Investors need to closely monitor the company’s gross margin in the upcoming quarters to ensure these elevated sales compensation payments do not become a persistent issue.

Funeral Director Daily take:  There has been a lot of anxiety about Death Care moving forward.  The positivity of this article was a refreshing change from some of the bleak predictions of Death Care moving into the future.  I think it shows that the glass is either half-full or half-empty in someone’s opinion.

Lighting Rock Research predicts a “5% organic revenue growth” for SCI annually for the next decade.  In a Death Care world where we see some providers dealing with a Direct Cremation induced revenue decrease that is, in my estimation, a bold prediction that if it rings true indicates a very positive future for SCI.

The projections show an even stronger company going into the future that uses the cash it generates to no only continue growing with acquisitions, but also rewards existing shareholders by reducing the number of shares outstanding through internal stock buy-backs.

As you look at the projection chart, the projections show Revenue going from $4.3 billion to 7.4 billion — a compounded 72% increase in the next ten years.  The projections also show Net Profits more than doubling from $548 million to $1.24 billion in that same time period.

If SCI truly hits those numbers it should mean business is good for Death Care in North America.

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Earlier this month the United States Postal Services issued a notice that related “effective March 1, 2025, customers will be required to use USPS Priority Mail Express Cremated Remains boxes (BOX-CRE) for all cremated remains shipments. This includes remains shipped as jewelry, blown glass or other artisan works of art.”

There is no doubt that cremation, as a choice of disposition, continues to grow.  That is reflected in the number of crematories that are in the United States.  From statistics that I was able to gather it appears that the United States had 425 working crematories in 1975, 1,468 working crematories in 1999, and 3,374 active working crematories in 2021.

However, with the number of death care establishments totalling somewhere between 16,000 and 19,000 in the United States that would mean that not every extablishment has their own crematory.  i.e. there are still many “trade crematories” operating for those funeral homes that provide cremation “services” but not on their premises.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

I operated a funeral home without a crematory for about 25 years until our funeral home built a new facility and included a crematory in the design.  Prior to that we drove our cremations about 60 miles to the nearest crematory where the deceased was cremated and the cremated remains were sent back to our funeral home via delivery service or the United States Postal Services (USPS).

As the Chief Executive and owner of the funeral home a constant worry that I always had was that the cremated remains would get lost in the transit back to the funeral home.  And, it almost happened once.  In that case it happened to be a death that occured in Florida and a trade service did the cremation for us and let us know that they had delivered the remains to the USPS to be shipped to our funeral home.  The trade service provided receipts and a tracking number.

Luckily, a service was scheduled for a month out and when we did not recieve the remains in a few days we inquired of the trade service.  To make a long story short after about two weeks of apprehension and anxiety the remains were found on a shelf in a post office between the Florida post office and the final desitination.  There was never an explanation of why the remains’ journey was stopped at this particular post office and, needless to say, we were happy they got moving again and arrived at our funeral home before the expected services.

That experience has made me very wary of the idea of sending human cremated remains through a delivery service including the USPS.  While I am not an attorney and cannot tell you of the legal ramifications I can tell you the damage a non-delivery of cremated human remains could do to your brand if a family did not receive the remains.

My suggestion is that if you are a cremation provider without an onsite crematory you need to be personally picking up these remains at your provider and hand delivering them to your funeral home and/or the families you serve.  That’s the only way that you can virtually guarantee delivery of these cherised remains to their families.

Let’s say that our funeral home still brought these deceased people to a trade crematory 60 miles away.  I would be putting an additional $75 charge on cremations to cover the cost of a driver at $20 per hour plus our gas expense to drive to the crematory and pick these remains up in person.

My guess is that $75 additional charge, even in a price sensitive market, would be a small price in comparison to a lost remains and an irate client family.

Insurance might cover potential legal losses and the costs of litigation if this ever happened to you, but the negative publicity on your brand would take a big hit if the issue hit the press.  Why risk that?

Related — “Lost ashes in Fort Myers:  USPS employee speaks out”.  Video news story and print article.  WINK News – Fort Myers (FL)

Related — “New USPS Shipping Requirement for Shipping Cremated Remains.”  Effective March 1, 2025.  From a NFDA news release.

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

I’ve heard from people over the years that thought Matthews International was “too complicated” of a company.  The company that started in 1850 and and produced its first-ever bronze memorial in 1927, according to this article on Matthews history, continued with ever-increasing products for Death Care but also entered other business segments over the years.

One of those business segments came to the company in 2014 with the acquisition of SGK, Inc.  Again, according to the article on Matthews history, that acquisition was the largest acquisition in the company’s history and was responsible for making that  division of the company, the Brand Solutions division, the largest unit via a revenue calculation at that time.

Only one year later, Matthews International completed the acquisition of Aurora Casket Company greatly enlarging their Death Care business which was now know as Matthews Aurora Funeral Solutions.

Additional acquisitions came and the company also was innovative and became involved in the electric vehicle (EV) energy solutions business in a third division known as the Industrial Technologies segment of Matthews International.   By the end of the company’s 2024 Fiscal Year the company was doing over $1.795 billion in business via the three segments.

Of that $1.795 billion of business for FY2024, the Memorialization segment contributed 46.2% of the revenue, the SGK Brand Solutions segment contributed 29.6% of the revenue, and the Industrial Technology segment contributed 24.1% of the revenue.

However, according to this article from Barrington Capital, an investment firm that say they own 1.9% of Matthews International stock, the SGK Business Solutions segment was “a poorly performing business that has resulted in a write down of more than $266.2 million under the Company’s ownership”.

So, it was on January 8, of this year that Matthews International issued this press release that made known that they would be selling their SGK business unit to a new entity of which Matthews International would have some ownership interest.

Related — Here is a recent article from Seeking Alpha contributor Valkyrie Trading Society titled “Matthews Internationa:  The SGK disposal is great news”.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  As was pointed out, the history of Matthews International goes back 175 years.  As funeral home owners with long-established funeral homes know very well, changes of course in a long business history are very standard.  Many existing funeral homes in America started as coffin builders or furniture merchants. . . . as time changes, so did their business operations — in most cases for the better.

I think owning and operating a business is a little like growing a vineyard. There is a constant “growth and prune” to allow for the greatest opportunity available for the future.  I would argue that “pruning” is in many cases more important than “growing”.  If a business does not “prune” their underperforming units once in a while they get to the point where there is more energy going into “trying to redeem the poor performers” than there is in building and replicating the dynamic growth among the other company units  —  in other words, all the energy is going to the losers and not being focused on raising the score of the winners.

Multiple funeral home operators many times fall into this category instead of looking at ways to off-load some of their underperforming units to others who may be in better positions to make them winners.

I’m guessing, even if they needed to be prompted by Barrington Capital to do so, that “pruning” is part of the Matthews thinking in this transaction.

I also think that Matthews International may find this sale to be a smart decision.  They can use proceeds from the sale of SGK to solidify the other business interests.  They now are operating a very solid Memorialization segment which has deep roots in monuments & markers, cremation, and caskets.  They also are holding on to an innovative technology process which I’m sure that they believe has great potential profits in  moving the EV market forward.

If you look at the sales numbers without the SGK Brand Solutions segment, you will find that the Memorialization segment now will account for about 2/3 of the revenue of Matthews.  It is my opinion that concentration will allow the company to concentrate more on that “winning” segment and that will be good for Death Care overall.

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

The “Funeral Rule” came into effect in April 1984.  That’s 40 years ago.

Don’t get me wrong. . . . I’m an advocate for consumer protections.  The “Funeral Rule” was supposed to offer those protections back in 1984. But in my opinion, the actual reality of the rule ever since it was implemented, has never seriously helped consumers in search of information on how to compare and purchase funeral and memorialization services.

Without going into too much detail, it has been my opinion that since the implementation, the format of the rule and the requirements for notifying the public of it have been too complicated and burdensome for the consumers it was meant to protect.  From my point of view, the rule seemed to stress the charges involved with what was a “traditional casketed burial with services”.  Since the time of implementation, death care and how and what consumers choose for their death services have changed . . . and changed dramatically.

Again, without going into too much detail, I think it is time for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to look at exactly how consumers of today look at their death care purchase options.  No longer do they simply defer to the traditions and mores of the church they worship at, but they look at all the growing options that are available — which is many more and many different options than those options available in 1984.

I’m in somewhat of a unique position to look at today’s consumers and their interactions and choices of death care options.  I’ve owned and operated a funeral home, I have been a front-line funeral home arranger for 33 years, I study and write on the changes and other business interests of death care professionals, and I’m a retired member of communities and churches who hears a lot of what my fellow retirees are looking for in death care.

For what it is worth, here are what I see as the major decisions of every death care consumer.

1. Choice of Disposition
2. Choice of Celebration
3. Choice of Memorialization

Those choices differ from what was available in 1984.  In 1984 consumers basically chose from earth burial and cremation.  There were some variables of such, but in general if a family told the funeral director that they wanted earth burial, the funeral director knew, dependent on the church traditions, how that funeral would be carried out and the charges that would be incurred by the family, including cemetery items.  The same was true, in most cases, for cremation memorial services.

Forty years later however, the “choice matrix” of consumers has drastically changed and the FTC should understand  that and not implement changes to a rule that does not reflect that growing choice matrix complexity.  Here are some of my thoughts on today’s consumer choices:

Disposition:  Disposition of the dead human body is the only requirement that needs to be purchased because of legal reasons.  Something has to be done and a family has to choose which disposition method to be used for their loved one.  Choices might include earth burial with embalming, earth burial without embalming, cremation, alkaline hydrolysis, natural organic reduction, or body donation (followed by the institution’s final choice of disposition).

It is also quite possible that a going-concern business may operate dealing in only the disposition of the human remains and not offer services such as celebrations and memorialization.  Businesses that feature “disposition” only that come to mind are some online cremation providers and some natural organic reduction providers.

Celebrations/Services/Tributes:  The 2nd death care choice of those I talk to is an optional choice that I term the Celebration/Service/Tribute.  This is something that is not required and even when a consumer family chooses a gathering, there is no guarantee that they will use a traditional funeral home for the logistic planning and/or venue.

Here’s some examples of Celebration/Service/Tribute companies that compete with traditional funeral venues for this business.  It’s my belief that over time more and more families will opt for the services and venues that these companies, and others like them, provide.

As we move forward and the off-funeral home site venues become more practical, I believe that wedding venues, that are traditionally used during the weekends, may be re-branded as “Tribute Venues”.   It’s my opinion that you will see more and more death care memorial-type events held at these venues on weekdays.

Here’s a venue near me that one would think is perfect for this type of business during the week days.  I found it quite by accident, but it offers facilities for services and for hospitality such as meals.  I think the evolutionary future for this type of venue will be as a Tribute/Conference center that will include gathering and meal services for Death Care in its options.

Memorialization: The third leg of the stool that I see in death care consumer choices is what I will term “Memorialization”.  This is the purchase choice of how families decide to “Memorialize” their loved-one for the long term.  Again, this can be an optional choice and it can be a choice that does not have to be decided immediately at the time of death.

Obviously, if the Disposition choice is some type of earth burial then this choice involves a decision regarding a cemetery and monument and at least the cemetery lot decision needs to be done at the time of death.  However, if the family would choose a Disposition method such as cremation, alkaline hydrolysis, or natural organic reduction, this choice can be delayed and it may not involve the funeral home or other company used for the Disposition.

This memorialization process of the family can be as simple as an obituary placed on Legacy.com or it might be with such memorialization processes such as Better Place Forests or in a scattering garden.  It may be solidified remains such as Parting Stone.  There are any number of choices available to families including urns kept at home and scattering of remains.

The fact is that some of these options can be purchased through a funeral home, but many don’t need to be.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

The Final Thought:  The death care thought process of the American consumer has changed much since the inception of the FTC Funeral Rule in 1984.  There is nothing inherently wrong with the rule, but I believe that simply re-writing a rule that places so much emphasis on the General Price List and costs such as embalming, costs for use of vehicles, and  use of facilities costs misses the mark when the options that the American consumer now chooses for death care disposition, celebrations, and memorialization has changed so drastically.

It’s my opinion that if the rule is to protect the American consumer and explain the decisions necessary to them about their choices, then a whole-new perspective on global choices possible and available by the American consumer should be part of the discussion.  If they are not we end up with a rule based on 1984 consumer thought processes that does little to protect, or educate, the American consumer on death care purchase options.  . . . . . . The “same old, same old” thought process in formulating this rule is a lazy and ineffective way for the Federal Trade Commission to proceed.

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

As my first post of the New Year I find it imperative that I look into the world of Death Care, Funeral, and Cremation business with a perspective of change that is happening all around us.  And, when I look at that change, I think in our Death Care world, as well as the rapid changes in our nation and world in general, the implications are passing the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and their review of the “Funeral Rule” by.

The “Funeral Rule” was put into law in April 1984 as a mandate for consumers to be able to compare and look at prices of funeral and cremation services without having to commit to those services by a funeral home for a deceased loved one.  It was seen as a much needed tool for consumers in their selection of a funeral/cremation service provider.  The FTC was the regulatory agency that was selected to handle the implementation and enforcement of the rule.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

In my opinion, almost since the very inception of “The Rule” in 1984 it has not done what it was intended to do.  That’s partly because it was complicated in nature and used a Death Care vocabulary of services that the public was not well versed in.  And secondly, almost since its inception, America started turning from a world of funerals to a world of cremations.  I’m not so sure that the FTC saw that coming.

For the record, I’m not against regulation and consumer protection.  But, I’m afraid if the FTC comes up with a final revision of the rule going forward in the near future, they will be in the exact same position  — authors of a rule which is already behind the times.

I say that because consumers purchase things in different ways today. . . .a process that is continually evolving.  And while, at least to me, the FTC has concentrated their review partially on the availability of consumers to see prices on the internet — internet purchasing is only one of the ways that things are changing in the Death Care business.   From what I understand, so much of the FTC’s vision has been focused on website and internet purchasing that they may be missing part of how consumers are buying Death Care services.  (More on that in an upcoming column).

Another reason I suggest a slow-down of any FTC decision is the recent (June 2024) decision by the United States Supreme Court known as the “Chevron” decision.  The ruling “struck-down” an old precedent that gave the FTC much more power in these types of regulations.  That 2024 decision which is defined like this —  “The Chevron doctrine was a 40-year-old Supreme Court precedent that required courts to defer to regulatory agencies when interpreting ambiguous laws” —  probably means that one might question what can the FTC do as to funeral home regulations when there is no clear-cut Congressionally passed law to back their regulations.

Finally, come January 20, 2025, there will be a new Presidential administration in Washington, DC.  If you believe what you read, this administration will be more open to less regulations in business and industry.  Here’s a recent article from Reuters about that titled, “Trump names Andrew Ferguson to head the Federal Trade Commission”.

Again, I’m all for consumer protections. . . . but, with what we now know about the changes in consumer behavior, the Supreme Court “Chevron” ruling, and the change of administration in Washington, DC, I think it would be a mistake for the current FTC to move “full-speed ahead” without acknowledging that if they do, their rule will more than likely be “obsolete” in reality the minute it is printed.

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

You can access the report on Service Corporation International’s (SCI) 3rd Quarter of 2024 here.  When you do, I’m of the opinion that you will see it looks pretty much like the 3rd Quarter of 2023.

Here’s a couple of Top-Line highlights as presented early in the report by SCI:

• Revenue grew $12.1 million over the third quarter of 2023
• Earnings per share was $0.81 compared to $0.80 in the third quarter of 2023
• Adjusted earnings per share was $0.79 compared to $0.78 in the third quarter of 2023

And, here is what Tom Ryan, SCI’s Chairman and CEO said in prepared remarks in the presentation, “. . .  We are excited to see the positive impact in funeral revenue from our new marketing agreement with our new preferred preneed insurance provider, which launched during the quarter. Additionally, we are pleased both funeral and cemetery gross profit were relatively stable versus the prior year third quarter with modest revenue growth reflecting our continued focus on managing fixed costs.”

CEO Ryan also made mention of some impressive activity in the acquisition market for SCI when he made these prepared comments, “We also had a very active quarter on the acquisition front including premier locations in major metropolitan markets. We invested $123 million adding 10 funeral homes and 2 cemeteries, including one combination location.” 

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  In doing some of the math, the $12.1 million improvement in top-line revenue on top of 2023’s 3Q revenue amounts to a 1.2% increase in revenue.

Operating Income came in for 3Q24 at $212.4 million in comparison to a number of $223.0 million in 3Q23 (one year ago).  That’s an approximate additional 1.26% of margin loss to revenue for this quarter as compared to last year – and in raw numbers about $10.5 million.  So, from my point of view, the slight increase in revenue for the quarter was virtually offset by slightly lower margins  — most likely caused by continuing inflationary issues.

Looking at another metric to somewhat strenghen this point, the company’s “Cost of Revenue” line item increased to $761 million for 3Q 2024 as compared to $748 million in 3Q 2023.  That’s a $13 million difference and virtually even to the increase in revenue ($12.1 million) for the quarter.

Again, from my point of view, that issue of “inflationary costs” seems to be the issue that is troubling traditional funeral homes at this time. . . . They are getting some increases in top-line revenue — SCI’s “Consolidated Funeral Segment Revenue per Service” jumped to $5,669 in 3Q24 as compared to $5,605 in 3Q23, but that increase is virtually taken up by higher costs of doing business.

On that same point, SCI’s 9-month numbers for “Consolidated Funeral Segment” ending September 30, 2024, show that their “Gross Profit Percentage was at 19.6% of Revenue”.  That’s a 2% decrease over the same period of 2023 which is listed as 21.7% of Revenue. . . . . and basically tells a person that for every $100 brought in in Revenue that it is costing the company $2 more dollars to provide service on that revenue this year over last year.

Putting that number into perspective for the family funeral home owner.  If your experience with inflationary costs is the same as SCI is realizing, then a funeral home that does $1 million in revenue annually will have approximately $20,000 in additional inflationary costs to service that revenue than they did the year before. . . . That’s $20,000 that could have been paid in wages, or given out in profit-sharing, or reducing debt principal. . . In essence, inflationary costs are reducing one’s options of how they (owners) can use that revenue resource.

There’s always more numbers that we could discuss and disect, but I think what individual funeral home operators need to take from this report is that controlling costs are difficult for everybody at this time. . . .even those companies that go around with efficiency experts looking at operations.  And, until this inflationary spiral is brought under control traditional funeral home profits may be depressed unless they can find a way to add death calls or market share.

Two final things to watch for the future:  In the part of the report that SCI calls “Comparable Funeral Services Performed”, the only type of service that increased in death call numbers was what they call “Non-funeral home”.  The company defines “Non-Funeral Home” as “Non-funeral home revenue represents services sold on a preneed or atneed contract through one of our non-funeral home sales channels (e.g. SCI Direct) and performed once death has occurred.”

The number of “Core Funerals Performed” dropped by 1.1%.  Here’s how SCI defines “Core Funerals”  —  “Core revenue represents the sum of merchandise and services sold on an atneed contract or preneed contract, which were delivered or performed once death has occurred through our core funeral homes.

Finally, SCI reports that its Total Comparable Cremation rate has increased to 63.7% of services for 3Q2024 as compared to 63.3% for the same period one year ago.

Disclaimer — The author of this article for Funeral Director Daily holds a stock position in Service Corporation International.

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