Casket Cartel Continues in the USA!!-YourFuneralGuy

Batesville Casket Company is the largest Casket Distributer in the United States Image via Wikipedia

The casket cartel continues in the United States of America. A Texas judge has dismissed a  lawsuit case against Batesville Casket Company. The case has to do with casket price Fixing.

Per normal the head of Hillenbrand, Inc had to gloat, and brag about his casket cartel company(my opinion)- Batesville Casket Co.

We are very pleased with the dismissal of this suit,” said Kenneth A. Camp, president and chief executive officer of Hillenbrand. “From the beginning of this extraordinarily long process, we knew the plaintiffs’ allegations were baseless. As we will always do, we aggressively defended our fair and ethical practice of selling Batesville-branded products only through licensed funeral homes.”

via www.prnewswire.com

My opinion is Calling Batesville’s  casket selling policies fair and ethical (in my opinion only) is  false, a big  bold face lie. The information on discounts Batesville gives to the Funeral Home are not available to the purchaser in most cases,  the consumer hurting in their grief.

Hillenbrand, Inc and Batesville Casket Company leave the door wide open for Funeral directors  to take advantage of funeral consumer.(Obscene Profit Margins).

From my experience selling Caskets, the markup is between 100 an d 500 percent.  No one but insiders know each funeral home’s casket markup. Batesville gets out of any accountability on this issue, by saying it is  to the Funeral  Home to set the price. Meanwhile the discounts Batesville gives to each funeral provider are not available to the consumer speaking from my experience.

So how may one defeat any casket cartel?

Find a funeral provider who will share the markup on their caskets. In Most Cases that will be a lower cost funeral provider.

Be sure to price caskets, at the funeral home, third party, and on the internet.

Funeral Homes are required by Law to accept third party caskets.

Funeral Industry|Funeral News|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy

There is no way that a Casket Cartel is fair and ethical. Funeral Director sales exclusivity is not Free market activity, that is the opinion of Your Funeral Guy

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Funeral Industry Decline-Independents-Your Funeral Guy

Image via Wikipedia

The American Funeral Industry profits have been cut in half over the last 20 years, this is a steep log term industry decline.

We are 10 years into the 21st Century and many funeral homes are just moving into effective websites and social media strategies. The rise of cremation and the current economic enviroment is accelerating the decline.

The decline in the funeral industry has been coming for quite a while and it has provided a great opportunity for folks to save on funeral cost.

The Federated Funeral Directors of America, an accounting firm for independently owned funeral homes, found that in the past 20 years, its clients’ profit margins have been cut nearly in half. Yet the $11 billion funeral industry, dominated by family owned & operated funeral homes, commanding 89% of the death care market, has been slow to make the necessary adjustments in order to meet consumer demand and the growing popularity of non-traditional services. Not at all surprising that  it has almost become a cliche that “the funeral industry is the last industry to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.”

via mylifeindeath.com

Funeral Industry|funeral news|funeral blog by your funeral guy



Tombstone Recession-YourFuneralGuy

The expert agrees that that the rise of cremation has instituted a Funeral Industry decline and and a tombstone recession. People are buying less burial plots and fewer gravestones. Folks trying to sell their own burial spaces  are having a hard time doing just that!

It is no secret that the economy has hurt funeral homes and cemeteries and caused people to turn to cremation.

This is  not good news for the traditional Funeral. It is good news for those folks that offer cremation services and sell cremation goods and services.

After advertising the space for a year,the Lemons have attracted no buyers.

“We’re not trying to get rich,” said Clinton Lemons, 82. “We’re just trying to get rid of the lots. It’s kind of like trying to sell a home.”

The demand for cemetery plots and mausoleums is lower than it has been in years and it’s a buyer’s market, says Robert Fells, attorney for the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association in Sterling, Va. The group represents more than 7,400 cemeteries, funeral homes, crematoriums and other death care service providers in the USA.

Though no industrywide statistics are available about the glut of cemetery plots, Fells says there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence.

“People are buying less burial property,” he said. “There’s a growing surplus.”

via www.usatoday.com

Funeral Industry | Funeral  News|Funeral Blog Funeral News by Your Funeral Guy

Hillenbrand Moving away from “Caskets”-Your Funeral Guy

The  Parent Company of the worlds Leading Casket  maker is taking the company away from the caskets. This is further indication of Steep Funeral Industry decline. This is good news for the funeral consumer. It is not good news for the local funeral home or for those seeking
“Funeral Director” as a career.

Hillenbrand Inc(HI) is the parent company and Batesville Casket Co is the leading casket maker in North America. Batesville takes about 45% of the 1.3 Billion Casket business.

A while back  Hillenbrand CEO, Kenneth Camp said that we do not do lower cost caskets, Now the focus seems not to be on Caskets at all!

Snippet from the WSJ:

“Caskets are not a growing business, but it has extremely high cash generation,” Camp said. “To really change what we would do for the next hundred years, [caskets] are probably not the best place to deploy our cash and expertise.”

Camp is determined to transform Hillenbrand from strictly a casket maker into a diversified industrial company along the lines high-margin conglomerates Danaher Corp. (DNR), Illinois Tool Works Inc., (ITW) and Eaton Corp. (ETN). Hillenbrand’s first step toward a new identity came this spring when the company completed the purchase of industrial-mixing-equipment company K-Tron International Inc. for $435 million.via online.wsj.com

This is a strong indication of the continual rise of Cremation in America. and pressure on the Funeral Home on main street USA, accommodate the folks with the lower funeral cost.

Funeral industry|Funeral News|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy

But demand for caskets has been declining as cremations become more common. Cremations as a percentage total deaths have been steadily growing by 1.2% annually

via online.wsj.com

Cremation Funeral Cost|YourFuneralGuy

Revealed here is a brief outline of Funeral and cremation costs or Expenses. Funeral homes and directors often  pride themselves on their “Sales”ability to bring up YOUR FUNERAL costs or expenses.

Average Cost of a Traditional Funeral (No Cemetery) $7,000-10,000 USD

Neptune Society Cremation Cost : $1499.00 USD

World’s Largest Funeral Corporation $2,200-$2,950 USD(World’s Largest Funeral Corp is Service Corporation International, NYSE:SCI)

Cremation Cost to Funeral Home or Funeral Director, $125-$250 USD

FAIR CONSUMER PRICE FOR A CREMATION: $425.00-$625.00 USD.

Cremations are becoming increasingly popular as families, pinched financially by the still-slumbering economy, seek to memorialize their loved ones more affordably.

Of the 2.4 million people who died in the U.S. in 2005, 32 percent were cremated, according to the Cremation Association of North America. The association estimates almost 40 percent of people who die in 2010 will be cremated, and that by 2025 about 57 percent will be cremated.

A traditional funeral typically costs from $7,000 to $10,000 for services, casket, burial and a headstone, according to funeral-tips.com.

Based on data collected by the Cremation Association, the average cost of cremation is about $1,600, ranging from less than $1,000 to more than $5,000 with additional services that might include a coffin, custom urns and a burial plot.

But consumers should be aware that package options and add-ons can bring costs in line with traditional funerals. The key is knowing how much a memorial and burial of ashes will cost.

Basic: The most basic of cremation services is called a direct cremation. It includes transportation of the body from the place of death to the funeral home, refrigeration, transportation to and from the crematorium, the cremation and the return of the ashes in a container. The Neptune Society, one of the largest direct-cremation companies in the country, with locations in Des Plaines and Orland Park, charges $1,499 for these services.

Rates vary, however.

A basic cremation offered by Service Corp. International, North America’s largest provider of funeral, cremation and cemetery services, can range from $2,200 to $2,295, depending on transportation costs.

via mobile.chicagotribune.com

Funeral industry|Funeral News|Funeral blog by Your Funeral Guy

NFDA Confirms it:Folks spending less on Funerals, Caskets-YourFuneralGuy

The sale of traditional funerfal goods and services are in decline says the National Funeral Directors Association

The  National Funeral Directors Association is stating that The Lower Cost Funeral and the  Lower Cost Casket are king. Consumers are spending less on Funeral  Goods and Services, specifically caskets. Cremation is on the rise. Folks are moving away from traditional caskets(Batesville,York Aurora). In fact  NOT focusing on lower cost caskets was  one reason for  the leading casket maker Batesville Casket Company Revenue decline in 2009.

If anything, the fiscal constraints families are experiencing have taught people to be more selective or cautious with the money they have, especially with regard to such things as funeral expenses, said Daniel Biggins, spokesman for the NFDA.

“I think the economy has forced people to be better consumers,” Biggins said.

via www.ivpressonline.com

The  Funeral Industry is having  a hard time accepting this. Your funeral Guy got the boot at a Funeral Industry Site for saying  comments like “ye old traditional funeral world is dissipating” and suggesting low cost funeral homes as a business model.

Your Funeral  Guy began advocating  the low cost funeral in 2006, published a ground breaking book on the subject in 2008 and became a recognized Authority on Consumer Funeral Cost and Funeral News  in 2009.

In Lieu of Flowers did not mean In Lieu of Flowers at the end of 09-YourFuneralGuy.

The Funeral Industry is trying to change the Meaning of in Lieu of Flowers

To Most Folks In Lieu of Flowers means do not send flowers-Instead Make a donation here. In 2009 The Walter Cronkite Family, Ted Kennedy Family  and Other celebrities used in lieu of flowers as a means to provide donation to their Favorite charity.

It seems that the funeral and floral industry has funded a study that concludes In Lieu of Flowers does not mean In Lieu of Flowers. This was called important at ConnectingDirectors.com and published in the Earth times!

Funeral Flower sales were significantly down in 2009.

Where will Funeral Spin stop! To spend money on a study that attempts to increase Funeral Flower Sales is indeed sad.

Many Funeral Homes sell their own flowers. It is usually best  not to purchase flowers from a funeral home! The best place to Purchase flowers is from wholesalers on and off the Internet. This is a little wedding floer secret as well.

For some Families in Lieu of Flowers sometimes contains a request for donation to the family. For some those funds go to help pay for the Funeral.

Flowers may momentarily comfort BUT THEY ARE NOT AN INTEGRAL PART OF the Grieving Process.

The study was sponsored by ta Floral society and conducted at Harvard University.

Funeral Industry| Funeral Blog by your funeral guy.

Your Funeral Guy under Fire for saying Excellent Free(Low Cost)Funeral Services available-YourFuneralGuy

Your Funeral Guy under fire from ConnectingDirectors.com

Your Funeral Guy- some fire today from Connecting Directors.com.  It was simply stated in a recent blog post that the consumer does not have to put up with(be ripped off) by High End Funeral (Specific)Services.. This is the main theme of your funeral guy blogs.

High Funeral Expenses are not to be paid  when the same high quality free and lower cost funeral services are available.

Here are  some of the  connectingdirectors.com comments on the post.

“Apparently their is someone in the funeral industry who believes that funeral homes, with the help of industry companies like FuneralOne and ConnectingDirectors.com, have came together in 2009 to formulate new ways to rip off the consumer. According to the statements, by ‘Your Funeral Guy‘ in the following article he apparently thinks that offering services like, online obits, Webcasting and better websites, services the consumer is demanding, is ripping them off because the funeral home charges for these services.

I strongly disagree with the article. It is ridiculous to think that a funeral home should offer these service and not charge for them. Also, funeral homes are not “pushing” these services on the consumers, the consumer is demanding and requesting these services!! The 7 “New and Improved Ways” funeral directors are ripping the consumer off”via www.connectingdirectors.com

Firstly ,Connectingdirectors.com, and FuneralOne.com are pro funeral owner, funeral director sites. Secondly, by charging high fees for for tech and other services that are available for free or at low cost they really are really not helping funeral directors or the industry.

Thirdly, I have seen no proof that Funeral Consumers are demanding these services. Funeral Consumers.are definitively not demanding services that they can obtain with high quality at no or little cost.

Fourthly, Funeral directors do have the right to charge for their services, but NOT OVER CHARGE WHICH APPEARS TO BE  THE PERPETUAL PROBLEM IN THE FUNERAL INDUSTRY.

Fifthly, OVER CHARGING  FOR YEARS IS THE REASON FOR THE CURRENT FUNERAL INDUSTRY DECLINE.

Funeral industry|Funeral Blog by YOUR FUNERAL GUY.

Read more reply at www.connectingdirectors.com

Yes the sites, people mentioned above and in the previous post did come together in 2009 to take more money from funeral consumers, families.:) That is rather obvious.

What’s next for Funerals?-YourfuneralGuy

Wall Mart now sells caskets? So what is next for Funerals? Whatever it is probably not good for the Traditional Funeral Industry. Does anyone remember Full Service Gas Stations? They are gone.

Just Maybe sometime in the future……. Does anyone think about  those Traditional Funerals and the Funeral Home On the corner that was dark and somber? Yes i know all but the graveside service is now being  done online. Everything costs so much less, that sure makes death easier to deal with. Those old blacksuits and the ties, they’ve been gone for awhile. Just a few years back it was a big deal when Walmart began selling caskets online. Now they are on the showroom floor. Order on line and go down to Wal-Mart and Pickup. Now you do not even a funeral director for that.  What were those old casket companes, Batesville, York, Aurora, too bad they did not sell those ecopods back in the day before green funerals. I heard that they had to meltdown there metal caskets and sell the wooden ones for kindling.

Here’s a snippet from a blogger who takes you into the near future.

The funeral homes industry has reason to be concerned. I am sure their argument is these funeral homes can provide full service (like gas station) and ability to provide comfort and empathy, but it comes at a price. If it works for Wal-mart, the next one to join would be Target. They would invite Stella McCartney or Phillipe Starke to design caskets that costs just a little more, but with a lot more style. Amazon.com will follow with online customization that you can pick your favorite patterns or engraved your family crest.

via www.business-strategy-innovation.com

Funeral industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy Funeral Director, Illinois, Virginia,

National Prearranged Services 600 mil. Funeral lawsuit-Yourfuneralguy

The owners of National Prearranged Services (NPS) are facing  a Federal  Lawsuit for 600 million dollars.  The 150,000  funeral accounts are estimated to be worth over 1 billion dollars. The Cassity family based in Missouri were the owners of National Prearranged Services.

State Insurance Guarranty Programs have been paying for these funerals. The lawsuit wants recovery of  funds spent by seven states  paying for the funerals through insurance guaranty, including Illinois and Missouri.

The Missouri Scandal is perhaps the largest pre-need, prepaid, pre-arrangement  insurance scams in the United States.

More on this here:

Funeral Guy Used White Out in multimilion$$ Funeral Crime-YourFuneralGuy

It serves as a strong warning to the consumer: Do not pay for a funeral in advance. This scandal alone is reason not to have peace of mind about it.

This will help you come in under the average cost of a funeral.

From stltoday.com

“A federal lawsuit was filed alleging the Cassity family of St. Louis “preyed on consumers and funeral homes to perpetuate a multimillion-dollar, nationwide scheme from the sale of ‘pre-need’ funeral services and merchandise.”

The suit seeks to recover costs expended by the plaintiffs — seven state insurance guaranty companies, including in Missouri and Illinois, which have stepped into the void to honor most of the pre-need contracts.”

Funeral industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy