Ottawa Funeral Home waiting To Turn on Resomation-Your Funeral Guy

Funeral Homes soon may be using water cremation Machines Image by fables98 via Flickr

An Ottawa, Canada Funeral Home is simply waiting to turn on Their  alkaline hydrolysis dispostion resomation machine. The process is also known as bio cremation, green cremation, water resolution, water cremation, cycledlife  or natural crematiom.

There is evidence of  other alkaline hydrolysis machines-green cremation machines  in place(or abot to be in place) in Florida and Australia.

Brian McGarry owns an Ottawa funeral home where he is investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in a resomation machine. Sometimes called “bio-cremation”, resomation uses a fraction of the energy that cremation does, and the end product is actually beneficial for the environment.

“It is environmentally friendly,” he says. “And there’s no emissions.”

Resomation involves placing the body in a giant cylinder that is filled with water and an alkali mixture that simply speeds up nature’s normal decomposition. In a few hours, all that’s left behind is a pure white ash.

McGarry is awaiting final regulatory approval from the city before he turns it on, and he already has customers expressing interest.

via www.torontosun.com

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

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• Aquamation: A Greener Alternative to Cremation? (time.com)

Illinois Funeral Director Assoc. Lawsuit leader speaks to Press|YourFuneralGuy

Alex Calvert,  whose Calvert Funeral Homes LLC is the lead name in the Six Funeral Director Class Act Class Action  Lawsuit against the Illinois Funeral Directors Association recently spoke to the press.

His comments were not about the IFDA Preneed Trust  Scandal. Instead he commented on Human Remains (Ashes) left in Funeral Homes.

Leader in IFDA Lawsuit-talks to the press

The key,” says Alex Calvert, director of Calvert & Metzler Funeral Home in Bloomington, and one of more than 35 Calvert homes across Illinois, “is to have a plan with the family (for dispensation of the ashes) and to maintain a communication. We have to make sure people have a plan of what they want to do and that usually works. I’m not saying we’ve not had loved ones stay here for months, but eventually it’s resolved.”

via www.pantagraph.com

Maybe Mr Calvert (and other Funeral Directors In Illinois) should have had a plan with the IFDA (to keep track of the folks preneed Funds)  and maintained communication so over 100 million dollars would not have been lost and mismanaged.

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

Stewart Enterprises numbers nudge Funeral Industry Decline-YourFuneralguy

Declining Funeral Corporation Numbers are nudging a Funeral Industry Decline.

The third quarter numbers for Stewart Enterprises are nudging the Funeral Industry towards it’s disaster. Stewart Enterprises did not meet the street expectations in the third quarter 2009. They did show a small  3Q revenue profit  do to debt reduction and cost cutting. The problem is you cannot cut costs and retire debt forever.

Stewart Enterprises, Inc (STEI)is the second largest Funeral Corporation in the United States of America.  The competitor Service Corporation(SCI) International finds itself in  a worse position.

Total revenue at the company fell 9.7 percent to $117.8 million.
Revenue from the company’s cemetery segment dropped 16 percent, primarily due to a decrease in cemetery property sales (translation Cemetery Preneed).

Snippet from tradingmarkets.com

“Funeral revenue decreased $2.5 million, or 3.6 percent, to
$66.0 million.

The cremation rate for the Company’s same-store operations
was 41.8 percent for the third quarter of 2009 compared to
39.9 percent for the third quarter of 2008.

Cemetery revenue decreased $10.2 million to $51.7 million
for the third quarter of 2009.  This decrease is due primarily
to a $3.7 million, or 13.5 percent, decrease in cemetery
property sales.

Funeral Industry| Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy

Unemployment High:Will Scatter Ashes for Money.-YourFuneralGuy

With unemployment high folks are taking to scattering ashes for money. Now all kinds of folks are doing this.

All Kinds of Folks are entering the Ashes Scattering Biz Ashes are scattered after the cremation process is complete.

Entering  Funeral Scattering  biz around the country are Funeral Directors and others. Crematories, Funeral homes,  boat owners, small plane operators and naturalists are all participating. It is all happening by air, land and sea.

“From the Bend Bulliten”

Rusty Wilkerson, the owner of Wing and a Prayer, uses his 1947 Stinson to scatter ashes over a place that held significance to the deceased.

“There are a lot of people that want the service, but they’re still alive. That poses a problem.”

It does if you have a business scattering people’s cremated remains from an airplane, says Randal “Rusty” Wilkerson, a 46-year-old pilot living in Bend.

When I practiced as a funeral director in Virginia, directors on their days off would scatter ashes by air, and sea for money.

Consider Scattering Ashes when doing a funeral arrangement. Instead of hiring someone it just may be scatter the ashes of your loved one yourself. It will save you money.

Funeral Industry| Funeral Blog by your Funeral Guy- R Brian Burkhardt, author

Batesville Revenue points to Funeral industry Decline-YourFuneralGuy

Batesville Casket Had a 17.1% decline in net income, a bad sign for the funeral business.

The largest casket maker in the United States has posted a 17.1% decline in net income in their 2nd Quarter of 2009. This is another indication of  more decline in the funeral business. (Numbers here do not include litigation costs and spin off adjustments)

Hillenbrand Inc- Batesville Casket Co.

“Kenneth Camp, president and chief executive officer of Hillenbrand, Inc said, “The funeral services industry has experienced a decline in burials that is largely consistent with a mild influenza and pneumonia season, combined with an increase in cremations that may be more pronounced in the current economic environment. There also has been more intense competition in both the casket and cremation businesses.-(rttnews.com)

Excluding costs, net income was $28.6 million, down 17.1% from $34.5 million in the prior yearquarter.-(rttnews.com)

Batesville casket  did post a profit due to the reduction of operations-but operations cannot be reduced forever. A 17.1 decline in net income paints a steep decline in the casket end of the US  funeral industry. Not only was  there more cremation and  less burial , there was a significant  threat to the US funeral industry in the rise of high quality Chinese Casket imports.

That is  part of the rise in more intense competition.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

Source(rttnews.com)

post updated at 12:54 Am on May13th 2009 due to inaccurate info fron 1st source.( revenue decline was 10.8% not 22%)

Chicago Cubs Cemetery is for Burned Fans.YourFuneralGuy

This is the inspiration for the Chicago Cub Fan Cemetery, Center Field, Wrigley Field wall 400

Breaking News – The Chicago Cub fan cemetery opens today April 22, 2009 The cemetery will feature a replica of the Chicago Cub hand operated Scoreboard in Stain Glass.

The Chicago Cub Cemetery features a replica of the Wrigley Field Center Field  Wall. The cost of being laid to rest there is $1,295.oo. The REQUIREMENT TO REST IN PEACE is to be a BURNED Cub Fan.

I am not talking about being burned because the Cubs have not won a WORLD SERIES in a 100 years.

In order to store your Ashes in an “ETERNAL SKYBOX” you will have to undergo a cremation. That will be on top of the cost of resting in peace at “Beyond the Vines.” You will have to accept the fact that your body will be burned.

It really is not all that bad because with  a little shopping around  for cremation you can come in under the average cost of a funeral which I have declared to be $8,500.00+ in 2009.

You can view past and current pictures of the replica  cemetery center field brick wall at http://beyondthevines.net/

But there  is only 288 spaces available here hardly enough for the “die hard” Cub Fans in Chicago.

The Beyond the Vines Cemetery will have a Stained Glass replica of the Historic Wrigley Field Scoreboard.

The latest word is that the business owner now has his eye on Yankee Stadium.  From the Bugs and Cranks Blog

“The goal was to try and take away some of the gloominess and depression from a cemetery visit,” Beyond the Vines founder Dennis Mascari said in an interview. I’m not quite sure if he went about it the right way……Mascari unsurprisingly said he’s considering a Yankees-themed cemetery.”

Hope springs eternal for the Chicago Cubs.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog-Your Funeral Guy

Source:Bugs and Cranks Blog

Wrigley Field Center Field Photo from Flickr under the Creative Commons license

jimcchou’s photostream

State Goverment plans to Enter the Funeral Business-Your Funeral Guy.

Cremated Ashes are being put to rest in Forest Preserves in Texas for a fee.

State Government has plans to enter the Funeral Industry. It is happening in Texas. It is all part of an effort to raise money for the purchase of conservation land.

The agency. The Parks and Wildlife Department in Texas plans to let folks let  cremated remains “Rest in Peace” in forest preserves for a fee. This may be a good lower cost funeral option for those who choose the less expensive “cremation option.” It is another bad sign for funeral directors who are seeing a decline in profits due to cremation.

According to Bloomberg.com

“Texas will cater to people concerned about environmental impacts of the “death-care industry,” Ted Hollingsworth, the agency’s director of land conservation, said in an interview.

“If tens of thousands of people want to take advantage of this opportunity annually, it could easily double the rate at which we’re adding lands to state parks,” Hollingsworth said.”

The impact of this will be huge on the $15 billion dollar funeral industry. It  will be even greater if other states follow the lead of Texas. With the economic downturn cremation is growing at a rapid rate. The Texas plan is a creative way to help  consumers with their cremations and funeral costs and state government at the same time.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Costs Blog by Your Funeral Guy

Service Corp Inc sales drop, Average Cost of a Funeral Down-yourfuneralguy

According to SCI (Service Corporation International) It’s Cemetery operation Sales were down 59% in the Fourth Quarter. This means the Average Cost of a Funeral is going down. Service Corporation International is the largest funeral corporation in the world.

Quoting from the Press Release:

“Cemetery operations were more susceptible to economic and financial market conditions, with comparable gross profit decreasing $28.4 million or 59%, driven by lower preneed sales, lower trust fund income recognized and less cemetery property construction revenue.”

They stated that there was a  a reduction in preneed cemetery sales. Translation-folks just are not buying burial property.

This statement coupled with the continued rise in cremation as reported in media sources means the average cost of a funeral is going down!

In Cremation Vs Burial the lower cost cremation option appears to be the winner in the bad economy.

I have declared the average cost of a funeral to be 8,500 USD in 2009.

Funeral Cost/Funeral Industry Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

Source finance.yahoo.com
average cost of a funeral
preneed

Below the Average Cost of a Funeral:Free Cremation-Your Funeral Guy

If you want to come in under the average cost of a funeral,you can do a free cremation. This generally is done through an anatomical gift organization  or medical school.

Be aware that in most of these situations there is no timely return of the cremated remains of your loved one. If the return of the remains does not bother you please call your local medical school  or anatomical gift organization.

Remember however please do a memorial service at a local church, community center or VFW hall. This way you will be sure to come in under the average cost of a funeral.

Blog by your funeral guy.

Source: The funeral experience of your funeral guy.
funeral cost

Your Funeral Guy: Funeral Industry Bailout or Hot Stuff?

Recently a funeral director asked himself a question Should the Funeral Industry get a bailout? No they should just embrace the hot stuff here.

“Have we tried to swap in those crappy Asian slave labor caskets in the place of our own countrymen’s handiwork, and not adjusted the price to accurately represent our cost and a reasonable profit margin? All in the vain hope that the consumer won’t notice? Or perhaps we think that they’re not smart enough to notice….”

FROM MY HOT STUFF:

National Report

Maura Judkis, a producer for US News and World Report did a story on the rise of cremation

Human interest stories on cremation

http://www.newser.com/tag/812/1/cremation.html

From the Vine- Guy Buried in the Pringles can

http://www.newsvine.com/pringles

Creative Paragraph on cremation

http://www.divinecaroline.com/article/22193/64362-funeral-planning–recession-style/2

Cremation Kansas

http://www.ktka.com/news/2009/jan/12/economy_forces_families_explore_other_options_fune/

From Georgia

http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=9628630&nav=5kZQ

From Maryland

Baltimore Sun newspaper reports a trend toward cremation in the last year

Cremation New York.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/11/death-and-the-downturn-ho_n_150280.html

Cremation Texas

http://www.newschannel10.com/Global/story.asp?S=9678398

Cremation Utah

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700255159,00.html

This is Why Folks around the USA are going for the hot stuff and the lower cost funeral option of cremation.

Blog on Hot Stuff by Your Funeral Guy

Do a cremation and come in under the average cost of a funeral.