Wal Mart May have trouble selling Caskets in Georgia-Your funeral Guy

What if Walmart online casket sales go up in the next year?

Walmart may have trouble selling caskets in Georgia. That state has specific regulations on registering casket and urn sellers. Wal Mart may just have to register to conduct business there.

Costco does not sell caskets in its stores for this very reason.

And, if Walmart does indeed shake the foundations of the funeral industry with its decision to sell discount caskets and urns, that may not wind up mattering to Georgians. A state law could prevent the retailer from selling or delivering discount funeral merchandise here.

On Tuesday the Georgia Secretary of State’s office sent a letter to Walmart telling the company it is required to be registered with the state to sell funeral merchandise and as of now, it may be in violation of state law if a Georgia consumer buys a casket online from its Website.

via www.ajc.com

It will be interesting to see if WalMart registers as a Casket Seller in the The State of Georgia. One thing is for sure. If Online caskets sales pickup they  Casket could be tested in their stores.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy

2009 Summary-Folks want lower costs Funerals-yourfuneralguy

There is no doubt about it. Because of the recession people have opted for lower cost funeral options. The revenue numbers for the year are down for the the major funeral corporations SCI (Service Corporation International) STEI (Stewart Enterprises) and HI(Batesville Casket  AKA) Hillenbrand, inc.)

Cremations are on the rise across the land. People are not  just shopping around for a funeral, they are opting for lower costs.

“When you can’t afford the cost of living, you certainly can’t afford the cost of dying,” says Joshua Slocum, director of the Funeral Consumers Alliance, a nonprofit funeral industry watchdog organization. “We’re hearing from funeral directors and consumers that the economy is affecting choices. People are planning ahead. They’re reconsidering long-held traditions for simpler, more personalized funerals.”

“The economy is directing people to look for less expensive alternatives for everything, including funerals,” says Luke DiMaria, owner of Abby Funeral & Cremation Service Inc. in Rocky Hill, Conn. “It’s one of the reasons cremations have become much more popular.”

via www.heraldnet.com

Funeral industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy

Yes You Can have the Funeral Home discount the Basic Service Fee-YourFuneralGuy

There is good news for the Funeral Consumer. The Federal Trade commission has clarified discounts on  the funeral homes basic service fee. This is useful to the consumer in coming in under the average cost of a funeral.

The Federal Trade Commission issued an advisory ruling on November 24th 2009. In the ruling the Federal Trade Commission stated that the consumer can receive a discount to the Funeral Directors basic service fee.

Specific alternative services were mentioned. These services are forwarding remains,  receiving remains, direct cremations and immediate burials.

Snippet from the NFDA

“…the [Funeral] Rule permits funeral providers to reduce their basic services fees for forwarding remains, receiving remains, direct cremations, and immediate burials, in order to reflect the proportionate reduction in facilities overhead and services of funeral director and staff required to provide them.”

This FTC Staff Advisory Opinion is important because it finally puts to rest the question of whether a funeral home’s prices for these four alternate services must be greater than the funeral home’s basic services fee. The answer is that it does not. When pricing the services of forwarding remains, receiving remains, immediate burial, and direct cremation, a funeral home may include only a portion of its basic services fee; it does not have to incorporate the entire amount of the fee into the price of those services.

via www.nfda.org

Many Funeral Directors will tell you that you cannot discount the basic service fee or the charges for funeral director and staff- on what is known as the general price list(GPL). Now you can simply tell the funeral director they can be discounted, to lower your funeral cost.

By using alternative services consumers across the United States have lowered the cost of their family funerals.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy

Government Allows SCI to Buy Palm Mortuary-Your Funeral Guy

The worlds largest funeral corporation will soon be in control of the Las Vegas Market

The government has allowed Service Corporation International to buy Palm  Mortuary in Las Vegas. This will allow SCI to Control the Funeral Market in Sin City.

Service Corporation International (SCI) is the worlds largest and cemetery and funeral corporation.

SCI has had poor financial reports in 2009 and terrible scandals, veterans corpse abuse in Falls.Church,VA at National Funeral Home and massive Grave Desecration at Eden Memorial park in the Los Angeles Area(500 graves).

This is sad news for the funeral consumer and the people of Las Vegas Nevada.

A Texas company has agreed to sell some of its Las Vegas funeral home operations to settle an antitrust lawsuit filed by the state over its purchase of Palm Mortuary Inc.

Service Corporation International (SCI) will sell Davis Funeral Home and Memorial Park, 6200 South Eastern Ave. (Sunset Road), the Nevada Attorney General’s office said.

SCI must also sell the pre-paid funeral business from that home and the pre-paid business from Davis Funeral Home, 2127 West Charleston Blvd. (Rancho Road); to settle a complaint filed by the state so it can proceed with the purchase of Palm Mortuary.

via www.lasvegassun.com

Both the State Attorney General of Nevada, and the FTC (Federal Trade Commission)  are  behind the legal agreement.

There is more information on this here

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy

Massachusetts Funeral Homes found to Violate the Rules-Your Funeral Guy

In in a sting operation by the the Division of Public Licensure in the State of Massachusetts, funeral homes in the Bay state were found to be violating the rule of law concerning funerals.

In August, 46 of the 175 Bay State funeral parlors checked at random failed an undercover sting, according to the state Division of Public Licensure. As a result, those funeral homes potentially face thousands of dollars in fines.

via www.metrowestdailynews.com

Contrast this to the State of Illinois where the Head of the Licensing Board is under investigation in the IFDA Preneed Ponzi Scheme.

In Massachusetts, it is the usual- Funeral Homes failed to hand over the general price list as required by the FTC, Funeral Rule.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

 

Batesville Casket another pointer of Funeral Industry Decline-Your Funeral Guy

Batesville, the company that made Michael Jackson Golden Casket lost over 29 million in revenue this year compared to last

Batesville Casket(Hillenbrand)(HI) 4th quarter results are in and according to the Business Courier of Cincininati. “Hillenbrand sees lower sales in 4Q, stock drops“

Although profits are up for the year, the stock fell Tuesday on 4th quarter announcement. This is bad news for the funeral industry.It is the Business Courier’s Judgement that  Investors are losing faith in Hillenbrand. The company is also the maker of The Michael Jackson Golden Casket. It is the authors opinion that Batesville has shown dismal numbers all year.

Snippet from the Business Courier of Cincininati.

For fiscal 2009, Hillenbrand posted net income of $102.3 million, or $1.66 per share, versus $93.2 million, or $1.49 per share in fiscal 2008. Revenues declined to $649.1 million from $678.1 million.

IT IS MY OPINION THAT A 29 million dollar decline from the World’s Largest Casket Maker is a sure indication of traditional funeral industry decline and the rise of cremation.

Funeral Industry|Funeral blog by Your Funeral Guy

Michael Jackson Golden Casket Pic From Flickr under the creative commons license from

DianthusMoon’s photostream

Working in the Funeral Industry Causes Cancer-yourfuneralguy

Close up of cancer Cell

The National Cancer Institute(NCI)has issued a report on the Funeral Industry and Cancer. Those who are exposed to Formaldehyde continually in the business show high risk for brain cancer. The report appeared  in the Oxford Journal.

A summary of the article can be viewed here.

Those in the Funeral industry are well aware of their high risk  to cancer through exposure to Formaldehyde

Funeral industry\ funeral blog by Your Funeral Blog

Brits to increase Casket Production because of Swine Flu?-yourfuneralguy

Swine flu pandemic headlines

It seems that the Brits are considering increasing casket production because of swine flu, H1N1 Virus, This is a little absurd considering there  has been only 142 deaths in the UK so far.

It causes one to wonder whether they are aware of something we are not. Speculation and conspiracy this is not There are reports of the H1N1 virus mutating  the latest being from Norway.

From the UK.

The funeral industry believes the number of coffins being made could be increased by 150 per cent were more Britons to fall victim to the pandemic.

Most recent figures show there have been 142 deaths linked to the H1N1 virus in England, with an estimated 53,000 new cases in the past week week and 783 people in hospital suffering severe symptoms.

via www.telegraph.co.uk

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

 

Burr Oak Cemetery Opened on a limited basis|YourFuneralGuy

Burr Oak Cemetery partially reopened on November 19th 2009

Burr Oak Cemetery is being opened on Thursday to specific families that have a loved one buried there.

The tickets are being issued by a Perpetua,  Inc at a website at http://www.burroakalsip.com/

Anyone who has a ticket can get in on their assigned day. If You have a loved one at Burr Oak, you can find the information at the website.

Here are some of the details on the Cemetery Reopining listed at the Perpetua Website.

Burr Oak Cemetery will re-open to the public on a limited, section by section basis beginning on Thursday, November 19, 2009 through Wednesday, November 25, 2009. The Cemetery will be open from 8 am to 4 pm on week-days and 8 am to 3:30 pm on week-ends.

We anticipate that there will be large numbers of people coming to Burr Oak, some of whom may require assistance. To avoid the crowd, we suggest that you make your visit at least two weeks after the Cemetery opens.

We have a very limited staff, so we appreciate your patience. We will do our best to accommodate your needs. Because of the limited staff, the Cemetery will be opened up on a section by section basis, with a new section being opened each day until all 45 sections have been opened. Burr Oak staff will be stationed only in the areas being opened on that specific day to provide assistance in locating a loved one’s grave.

via www.burroakalsip.com

In order to visit the site one should get on a bus at a specific location-Burr Oak Cemetery Transportation Center at 12250 S Cicero Ave, Suite 109, Alsip, IL 60803. there is parking.

On Friday November 27th Burr Oak cemetery will reopen to the Public.

In July 2009 it was discovered that over 300 graves were desecrated at Burr Oak Cemetery. Four people were arrested. Bones were piled up all over the cemetery.

In reaction to the Burr Oak Cemetery  Scandal Illinois has proposed cemetery reform, and Congressman Bobby Rush has proposed the Bereaved Consumers Bill of Rights Act of 2009-Click here

The main problem at the Cemetery is that there are over 140,000 grave sites with only 43,000 headstones.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy

DC Sniper|Funeral|yourfuneralguy

DC Sniper has been put in the grave

The DC sniper was put to rest on Tuesday. Media was not allowed in the funeral. Family members did not speak to the press after the service. No Public Statements were made. This all happened In Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Snippet from MSNBC in Washington DC.

The man known as the D.C. sniper was laid to rest Tuesday in his hometown of Baton Rouge, La.  Several dozen people attended John Allen Muhammad’s funeral.

via www.nbcwashington.com

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy