Amazon.com and the Funeral Industry-Your Funeral Guy

Image via CrunchBase

Amazon.com stepped up it’s selling to the Funeral Industry after October 2009 when it was revealed that WallMart was selling Caskets on line. The Fact that Amazon has a contract with an online casket provider for 67% off the list price of many caskets, points to the fact that the markup on caskets can be  300% or more. Not all funeral homes do this, there are lower cost funeral homes  and online casket providers where the markup is much less.

This supports what I have been saying for several years that many times the markup of caskets in the funeral home can be up to 500%!

What is interesting about amazon.com and other online vendors is that they sell directly to the consumer. This is a trend that will continue and more and more  Funeral vendors will be doing this!

In Fact Last Year the National Funeral Directors Association lobbied on behalf of the Bereaved Consumers Bill of Rights Act asking that online vendors like amazon.com be brought in under the Funeral Rule Regulations.

With the election of Republicans to the US House of representatives the passage of the Bereaved Consumers Bill Of Rights Act is unlikely to happen and caskets and other consumer funeral products being sold directly to the consumer for the short term will avoid  funeral regulations.

What is mentioned above is contributing to Funeral Industry Decline in the USA. The more that funeral goods are available online especially at popular sites like amazon.com the less the local funeral home will be needed and the more the funeral industry will decline.

Amazon.com (AMZN)
> Interesting Fact: Amazon sells a steel embalming table
> # of Employees: 21,700
> Most Recent Quarter Revenue: $7.6 billion
> Most Recent Net Income: $231 million

Amazon.com helped bring the funeral service online.  Like Wal-Mart, the company offers caskets in more than 50 different varieties.  Additionally, it sells a steel embalming table for $1,095 and pet urns for under $200.  Many caskets are sold at 67% off the list price, thanks to a partnership with Bestpricecaskets.com.

via 247wallst.com

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

your funeral guy has no affiliation with best priced Caskets.com http://www.bestpricecaskets.com/

Your Funeral Guy’s book Rest In Peace Insiders Tips to the low cost less Stressed Funeral is available online at amazon.com Presently Your Funeral Guy is not involved with the selling of  any Funeral Goods or products.

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Trappist Monks supply casket for Arizona Shootimg Funeral-Your Funeral Guy

New Melleray Abbety Image via Wikipedia

Trappist monks supplied a Casket for the Arizona Shooting victim Christina- Taylor Green. This is outside the realm of the traditional Casket Providers like Batesville or York Caskets. The Funeral was a private affair and the company Providing the Casket was Trappist Caskets-The Funeral was private and the media was not involved.

The casket for 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green, the youngest of six victims gunned down in the attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, will be buried in a coffin built by Trappist Caskets of Peosta, Ia., near Dubuque. The Roman Catholic monks of the New Melleray Abbey in northeast Iowa have become renowned for their handmade caskets over the last decade and routinely donate children’s caskets.

Sam Mulgrew, general manager of Trappist Caskets, said that the monks initially were contacted Tuesday by a family representative who was a previous customer.

“He prefers to remain anonymous,” Mulgrew said this afternoon.

Final arrangements were made with the funeral director in Tucson. Trappist Caskets received the first call Tuesday morning, and by the end of the day the casket – engraved with Green’s name as well as her dates of birth (Sept. 11, 2001) and death – was shipped via Fed Ex from the abbey to Tucson. (Caskets of various sizes and in different stages of completion are kept on hand.) Green’s funeral will be held Thursday.

The monks also shipped special keepsake crosses for the late girl’s family, engraved with Green’s name.

via blogs.desmoinesregister.com

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

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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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Many ways to save on Funeral with cremation-YourFuneralGuy

There are many ways that a cremation can save you money on a funeral. if You Choose  cremation you can rest Financially when you arrive at the mortuary. It is the most expensive part of a funeral. If that expense goes away it leaves room for more choices for memorial services, funeral video,  web casting and extended Celebration(s) of Life. It also leaves more for creativity in funeral personalization and funeral cost.

Even so, she said many consumers often use the savings from the cremation to buy other arrangements for their loved ones.

“They may make reductions in other areas to allow for flowers, video tributes and similar types of things,” she said. “If they do not have a casket burial, they may have some funds to allow for other memorial items.”

Stephen Gehlert, executive director of the Ohio Funeral Directors Association, agrees. “It’s all about what an individual chooses,” he said. “A funeral director’s job is to make sure you are comfortable with your decisions.”

via www.daytondailynews.com

Funeral industry | Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy funeral Director Illinois and Virginia

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Woman almost buried alive in Brazil-YourFuneralGuy

A woman was found to be alive  after hours in a Funeral home in a casket in Brazil. How can people miss the fact that someone is alive? The line between life and death is not a clear one.

A funeral home in Brazil was shocked to find an awakening surprised when prepping a woman for her burial.

Maria das Dores was declared dead on Christmas Eve, three days later she opened her eyes, hours before her funeral.

According to reports the police are investigating how the 88-year-old woman, whom hospital authorities had declared dead of hypertension and clogging of her arteries, was almost buried alive.

Funeral industry|Funeral news| Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

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Batesville Wins in Casket Patent Case-YourFuneral Guy

Image via Wikipedia

Batesville has won in an intellectual property patent case involving knockoff caskets coming in from Mexico.

Hillenbrand Inc., the largest U.S. maker of coffins, won an order to ban imports of knockoff caskets from Mexico.

The U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington said Dec. 13 that Ataudes Aguilares will be barred from bringing in caskets with attached memorabilia compartments and mechanisms for letting funeral-home directors swap out ornamental corner pieces. The Guadalajara, Mexico-based company failed to respond to patent-infringement claims from Hillenbrand’s Batesville unit, the ITC said in a notice on its website.

Batesville filed the complaint in June, seeking to protect sales of its coffins with memorabilia compartments

via www.businessweek.com

Batesville Casket Company is the Largest Casket Company in the USA

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Now is the Time To End Maryland’s State Funeral Cartel-Your Funeral Guy

Image via Wikipedia

Now is the time to end the State of Maryland’s Funeral Cartel -Your Funeral Guy has worked with Maryland Funeral Homes and have found them to be very protective of the TRADITIONAL FUNERAl  overall and not open to low cost Funeral Options.

Now this is not true across the board and is based on Your Funeral Guy’s experience only.

None the less State funeral cartels are harmful to the general public and need to be regulated.

A cartel of state-licensed funeral directors has been fleecing Maryland consumers to the tune of $800 per funeral for decades. The law that created this Maryland funeral cartel is unfair, immoral and unconscionable. A federal appeals court will soon decide whether it is also unconstitutional. The stakes are high: With 43,000 deaths per year in Maryland, the funeral cartel stands to lose tens of millions of dollars per year in unearned monopoly profits, and it certainly won’t let that happen without a fight.

Alone among the states, Maryland law provides that only state-licensed funeral directors may own funeral homes. Now, it’s one thing to say that anyone who wants to conduct a funeral has to be a licensed funeral director, but it’s another thing to say that only licensed funeral directors may own funeral homes. That’s like saying only licensed pilots can own airlines. And guess who spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on lobbyists to thwart public-spirited reform efforts and prevent the Maryland funeral industry from being opened up to fair competition the way it is in other states? Why, state-licensed funeral directors of course.

via washingtonexaminer.com

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

It is best for the consumer that all funeral cartels be stopped.

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Gay,coffin,caskets arrive on the Scene-Your Funeral Guy

Gay caskets have arisen on the scene. They are available in Europe and Germany.

Funeral directors in Germany are bidding for the pink pound – by launching coffins specially designed for gay customers.

The caskets feature homoerotic artwork on the outside and come with a series of tastefully luxurious plush designer interiors, say makers Mike Konigsfeld and Tom Brandl in Cologne, Germany.

The designers – who have lived together for more than 10 years – say the images of muscular young men in classical poses are the perfect way to send off a loved one.

“Naturally there were some people who threw their hands up in horror when we had them on display in the window but they are tasteful and beautiful – like our customers,

via web.orange.co.uk

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Author reports on 30 Funerals in 30 days-Your Funeral Guy

Image by origamidon via Flickr

Author Gail Rubin has been reporting on 30 Funerals in 30 days. Today she is giving a guest post on this unique challenge.

Since I started going to a funeral or memorial service daily and blogging about it at The Family Plot Blog, I’ve noticed some interesting trends and learned about the lives of some amazing people.

I started my personal the “30 Funerals in 30 Days Challenge” on October 30, the 11^th annual Create a Great Funeral Day, with the following goals:

• Show that funerals are a life cycle event much like a wedding, best planned more than a few days ahead of time.
• Illustrate the many creative ways people celebrate the lives of those they love.
• Help reduce a fear of talking about death – something that will happen to us all.

So far, I’ve covered 16 services and blogged about 14 of them. The deceased have ranged in age from 30 to 91 years old. A few observations:

• Cremation is definitely a rising trend. Of the 16 events to date, six had a body in a casket present. One of those was going to be cremated after the funeral. (The family used a rental casket.)
• One person’s body was donated to a medical school.
• One person’s body was being flown to another state for burial.
• One person’s body had not been recovered.
• Cell phones are a pervasive distraction at those services where no one tells the assembled to silence or turn off their devices.

At every service, I have been welcomed. No one has questioned my presence. My posts have described elements of the service, the person being honored, mentions of hymns, psalms, and songs used in the service.

Something new at The Family Plot is video blogging that started with this project. Using a FlipCamera on a tripod, after every service I record some thoughts. Some of the more memorable moments include having the hearse I was standing next to drive off in the midst of the recording, doing a report in the casket room of a funeral home, and a report standing before a cemetery statue of giant hands in prayer.

Only 14 more services to cover! I’ll be sure to report back on more.

Gail Rubin’s forthcoming book, A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die (Light Tree Press), provides the information, inspiration and tools to plan and implement creative, meaningful and memorable end-of-life rituals for people and pets. Copies may be reserved at a pre-publication discount at www.AGoodGoodbye.com.

Post by Gail Rubin

Funeral Industy|Funeral | Funeral News | Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy

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