Hillenbrand( of Batesville Casket)continue to diversify-YourFuneralGuy

Hillenbrand Inc and the CEO Kenneth Camp, have acknowledged funeral industry and Casket sales decline.  The company executive has decided to live with the reality that is there. People are paying less funeral cost and many are continuing to live with the reality of the funeral industry decline.

Hillenbrand Inc. CEO Kenneth Camp might have been content for his company to stick to the casket business, given its predictability.

But with the public’s preference for cremation gaining on casket burials, he knew the company needed a new way to grow. Now, nine months after Hillenbrand closed on the $435 million purchase of Pitman, N.J.-based K-Tron International Inc., which makes manufacturing equipment, Camp is more convinced than ever that diversification was the right move.

“Batesville Casket will always be the bedrock, but we think it’s the right time for us to use some of our existing tools in an industry that can be another leg on the stool,” Camp said in an interview this week.

via www.bizjournals.com

Batesville Casket will continue to diversify in the years ahead. As the funeral industry declines, more alliances between companies like Batesville and other vendors will continue.

Funeral Industry|FuneralNews| Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy

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Top Ten Batesville Casket Articles of 2010-Your Funeral Guy

Here are the top ten Batesville Casket Company Articles of 2010- Batesville Casket Company is the largest supplier of Caskets in the United States.

1. Inside Batesville Casket Company it is very competitive, Casket sales are down so much so that it is at least in the manufacturing plants-it’s dog eat dog http://yourfuneralguy.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/inside-batesville-casket-company-its-dog-eat-dog-your-funeral-guy/
2. Cremation is taking the Batesville Casket Company Down As more and More People demand cremation there is less need.for caskets. http://yourfuneralguy.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/batesville-casket-cremation-will-take-down-the-funeral-yourfuneralguy/
3. ConnectingDirectors.com has been chasing Batesvile Caskets since 2009. The Purchase of Goria Vaults, non funeral companies peaks the young webmaster’s interest at this site. http://yourfuneralguy.wordpress.com/2010/10/08/connectingdirectors-com-continues-to-chase-batesville-caskets/
4. The Wall Street Journal has done an article on Hillenbrand Inc, HI and funeral cost. WSJ often takes down their links.http://yourfuneralguy.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/wsj-article-on-hi-and-funeral-cost-decline-your-funeral-guy/
5. Can the  casket company  be raised from the dead?http://www.yourfuneralguy.com/2010/11/can-casket-industry-rise-from-the-dead-your-funeral-guy/
6. The Funeral industry Decline has sponsored many alliances. In 2010 Batesville Casket Partnered with FTD Floristshttp://yourfuneralguy.wordpress.com/2010/11/03/batesville-casket-company-partners-wftd-yourfuneralguy/
7. In 2010 a Lawsuit against Batesville casket was dismissed.http://yourfuneralguy.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/lawsuit-against-batesville-casket-company-dismissed-your-funeral-guy/
8. Batesville Casket Company won  a Mexican Knock off  Casket  Patent case.http://yourfuneralguy.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/batesville-wins-in-casket-patent-case-yourfuneral-guy/
9. Early in 2010 Hillenbrand, Inc Had a Moody Credit downgrade.http://yourfuneralguy.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/nyse-hi-hillenbrandbatesville-casket-moodys-credit-downgrade-watch-yourfuneralguy/
10. The Big story here is not a lawsuit. The Story is that the big three Casket Company may begin to sell directly to the consumers!http://yourfuneralguy.wordpress.com/2010/08/03/big-three-casket-companies-being-sued-your-funeral-guy/

There are more Batesville Casket Company Blog posts at your funeral guy blogs. Some are more controversial than those mentioned above.

Funeral Industry|funeral news| Funeral blog by Your Funeral Guy

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Batesville Casket Company Partners w/FTD-YourFuneralGuy

Funeral Flowers Image via Wikipedia

Batesville Casket Company a subsidiary of Hillenbrand Inc has Partnered with FTD.com Florists, Now this is unique the world largest casket company is diversifying and getting into many other aspects of the funeral business. Flowers are an important part of funerals but just like caskets, people are demanding to pay less.

It is all about a decline in Funeral cost.

FTD.COM, Inc. (“FTD”), a subsidiary of United Online, Inc., has entered into an exclusive agreement with Batesville Casket Company, the leading provider of caskets, cremation products and funeral home websites, to provide customized, co-branded floral websites to licensed funeral homes in the United States and Canada.

“This program represents a unique and innovative opportunity for both FTD and the funeral service industry. FTD will provide a nationwide system for ordering sympathy arrangements to a market that has not always enjoyed a consistent, quality, branded experience,” said Robert Apatoff, President of FTD Group, Inc. “Thousands of funeral homes and their customers can benefit from easy, online access to a full range of beautiful arrangements designed and delivered by FTD’s nationwide network of artisan florists, and supported by its quality customer service.”

The new program is available exclusively to funeral homes that utilize Batesville’s WebLink(TM) websites. Participating funeral homes will receive a co-branded floral website, custom-designed and hosted by FTD, which prominently displays the funeral home’s name and brand. Consumers can easily access the new floral website to place orders through a link on the existing funeral home website. Tailored for the funeral industry, visitors can choose from a first-class assortment of FTD sympathy and funeral arrangements and gifts including flowers, plants, sprays, wreaths, gourmet foods, and gift baskets.

via www.perishablenews.com

Funeral Industry| Funeral News|Funeral blog by Your Funeral Guy

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Batesville Casket Company Expands Cartel into Burial Vaults-YourFuneralGuy

Image by MichaelMinter via Flickr

Batesville Casket Company (Parent Hillenbrand,  NYSE: HI) has expanded it’s casket  cartel  into burial vaults. This is has been done by acquiring the Goria Vault Company. The anti consumer website connectingdirectors.com is reporting on Batesville and Vaults:

Snippet

Yesterday I received an email from an Ohio funeral director who went to one of the Batesville distribution plants in Ohio to pick up a casket. While at the distribution plant he was given a sneak peek at the graveside set up Batesville is testing in Ohio, Indiana, and parts of Kentucky.

via connectingdirectors.com

“Graveside setup ” is  Funeral indsutry jargon for setting up a  traditional burial site with a vault.

The  fact that Batesville has had to go into burial vaults is a strong indication of funeral industry decline.

Burial Vaults are used in traditional Funerals and Burials in the United States. They are not used the UK. Burial vaults are not used in green burials. Batesville going into the burial vault business does not bode well for consumer funeral cost.

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

Now  the  reality of  Batesville selling bringing on increased Cartel Status for Batesville Casket Company is only the opinion  of Your Funeral Guy.

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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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Lawsuit against Batesville Casket Company Dismissed-Your Funeral Guy

A  2005 Lawsuit Against Batesville Casket Company the world’s Largest Casket Company, Service Corporation International(NYSE:SCI), Stewart Enterprises Inc NYSE: SCI and the Alderwoods Group has been dismissed.

The Funeral Consumers Alliance ( FCA )brought forward the Lawsuit on Casket Price Fixing. The companies named are major corporate players in the Funeral Industry.(Alderwoods Group has since-2005- been  purchased by Service Corporation International.)

JUST BECAUSE THE LAWSUIT WAS DISMISSED DOES NOT MEAN THAT CASKET FUNERAL COST PRICE FIXING DOES NOT OCCUR.

Lawsuits may not be the best way to solve the funeral cost or casket costs problem

Casket Price Fixing is in reality alive and well in the Funeral Industry. That is Your Funeral Guy’s opinion.

All the more reason to purchase a casket online.

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

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WSJ article on HI and Funeral Cost Decline-Your Funeral Guy

The Wall Street Journal has done another article pointing to the rise of cremation  and traditional

Hillenbrand, Inc- parent company, Batesville Casket moving away from funeral industry

funeral industry decline.

Hillenbrand Inc third quarter profits slumped. Hillenbrand(HI)  is the parent Company of the Nations leading Casket Maker, Batesville Casket Company, Inc.

In today’s Economy folks are demanding to pay less in funeral cost. Hillenbrand recently made a non Funeral acquistion K-tron for almost half a billion dollars.

Hillenbrand Inc.’s (HI) fiscal third-quarter profit slumped 48% on surging acquisition costs while revenue jumped on the K-Tron acquisition, with results topping expectations.

The funeral-service products company suffered as economic uncertainties have prompted many families to choose cremation instead …

via online.wsj.com

Funeral industry|Funeral News|Funeral Blog By Your Funeral Guy

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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

CEO| Hillenbrand Says Funeral Industry is not growing-YourFuneralGuy

Batesville Casket is showing the world a traditional funeral industry decline.

The CEO  Of  Hillenbrand Inc, Kenneth Camp  the parent Company of Batesville Casket has stated that the Funeral Industry is not growing. Now when a plant is not growing it usually dies.

“We are a very significant player in an industry that isn’t growing,” explains Hillenbrand Chief Executive Ken Camp.”via online.wsj.com

Funeral Industry numbers are dismal. The National Funeral Directors Association website points to a lack of jobs. The funeral Industry may well be on their deathbed.

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

Casket Side of Funeral Industry Decline-YourFuneralGuy

The amount of money people are paying for Caskets is less

The biggest sign of traditional funeral industry decline, is the decline in Casket Sales, and the decline in the amount of the Casket Sale.

The  Wall Street Journal is reporting that Casket  sales are in decline, and the amount of money people are spending on Caskets are reduced dramatically.

The World’s largest Casket Company Batesville Casket Company and it’s parent Hildebrand, Inc  are moving outside the casket sale to get income. Hildebrand has purchased K-Tron a non funeral industrial company.

In 2009, Casket sales dropped by 5 million caskets  as reported by the Wall Street Journal. This is different than the 80,000 reported by the Cincinati Business Journal

Snippet From the Wall Street Journal.

We saw a decline in the overall price of our caskets sold,” says CEO Joe Bartolacci. He’s now making acquisitions in areas of the funeral business he considers more promising, such as cemetery markers.

Other casket makers are making lower-priced models. Jonathan Field, president of Jonathan Field Collection, which specializes in military caskets, started noticing that his customers were ordering more of his lower-priced caskets in December 2008 as the downturn deepened. In March, he will start selling a casket for $1,200, less than half the price of his main model, which sells for $2,850. The cheaper version will have fewer embellishments.

But Laurie D’Onofrio, a 50-year-old nurse from Staten Island, N.Y., would still prefer to be cremated. In her family, most people choose burial, but she thinks traditional burials are needlessly expensive—and a little icky. “I don’t like the idea of rotting away,” she says. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”

via online.wsj.com

This is the first time that Batesville Casket has been revealed as considering

Casket Sales down in the USA

getting into Cemetery Markers.

Batesvile Casket had it’s worse year in recent memory in 2009. Batesville  An increase in sales over last yaer has not happened yet in 2010. Even if Sales go up over last year it it ill not indicate a turn around.

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