Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Funeral Requests?

It's restricted where you can spread ashes. Mostly only on privet property.

They’re not a scam to those folks that want it done that way, HC.

Jmo

If you do it with a neighbor's help and leave the mortician out of it, then it won't cost but a small fraction.
Personal or church cemeteries are also a fraction. Use of a backhoe for one hour might save a few thousand dollars.
Cemeteries and funeral parlors are a big scam IMHO.

Is there a Ralph's nearby?

Funeral parlors maybe, cemeteries no. Most cemeteries around here charge 600 - 700.00 for a plot and another 700.00 for a full burial {just went through all this burying my mom}. For that 1400.00 total, somebody has to dig your grave, fill and tidy up your gravesite, and maintain it {mow the grass and weed eat around your stone} in perpetuity. How much do you think they should charge for that ?

I guess your right Old Toot. The majority have it done that way up north and don't complain. I think that a lot of southerners use their churches for funerals traditionally.
Sometimes I complain for them because they are charged so much here and seem taken advantage of in their time of weakness when most vulnerable. If there's no insurance, then it's $10-15k for bare bones basic. There's no reason that I can see for them to charge that much. Then property taxes, probate on top of the normal bills. The loved one is very special to the families. It's a tough time regardless. I don't have anything against the choices people make for themselves and family. Most morticians I've met are very polite and responsive.

Take care and have a good week.

HC

SUMMARY

Chain funeral home corporations have existed since the 1960s; only in recent years has their presence grown substantially. Three large corporations now own 15% of the 23,000 homes in the funeral home industry. Service Corporation International (SCI), based in Houston, is the largest of the three, followed by Loewen Group Inc., based in Vancouver, Canada and Philadelphia, and Stewart Enterprises Inc., based in New Orleans. Approximately 1 of every 5 funerals in the U.S. is conducted by one of the three.

In 1996, the average cost of a single funeral service was $4,782. This is based on information acquired from General Price Lists. A General Price List is a list of funeral services and items that each funeral home provides. Under the Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule, adopted in 1984, funeral homes are required to provide consumers with these lists.

The corporate acquisition cost for an actual funeral home depends on many factors, such as size and location.

CORPORATE GROWTH

Chain funeral homes do not change the name after buyout. As a result, presence of chains in the industry is somewhat veiled. In addition to purchasing funeral homes, chains are also buying cemeteries and crematoriums. In some areas, a chain may own all or the majority of death care services which gives the chain the advantage of “clustering” their services. “Clustering” maximizes operational efficiency since limousine services, embalming services, support staff, and building expenses may be shared.

Shareholder gains appear to be climbing alongside profit gains. Stocks appear attractive. There is a fund, the Pauze Tombstone Fund, which is comprised solely of funeral home industry stocks. Table 1 provides a snapshot look at the five largest funeral home industry companies.

Source: annual reports.

A feel for the significant growth in the industry can be attained from looking at the annual reports. Statements include:

● “From the end of 1992 through 1996, our annual revenues grew from $772.5 million to . . . 2.3 billion, and the number of SCI funeral service locations, cemeteries, and crematoria grew from 925 to 3,377” (SCI, 1996 Annual Report).

● “In the 10 years since its initial public offering, the company has grown from owning 47 funeral homes and one cemetery to its position today of owning and operating over 1,000 funeral homes, 500 cemeteries and 50 crematoria. The Company has experienced a compounded growth rate over nine years of 49% in revenues and 43% in earnings before interest and taxes” (Loewen Group Inc., 1996 Annual Report).

● Earnings per common share rose from $1.11 in 1996 to $1.46 in 1997 (Stewart Enterprise Inc., 1997 Annual Report).

● “The company's net revenues increased by 43.7% to $92.0 million from $64.0 million in 1995” (Equity Corp. Intl., 1996 Annual Report).

● “The company formed in 1991 in order to take advantage of the attractive fundamentals and significant opportunities to consolidate the death care industry . . . The Company significantly expanded its corporate development and acquisition activities in 1996 and early 1997” (Carriage Services Inc., 1996 Annual Report).

United States Deathcare Market

In the US there are approximately 19,136 funeral homes, 1155 crematories and 115,000 cemeteries. 89.2% of funeral homes in the US are privately owned, mainly by families. Since the late 1960s consolidation has occurred in the industry. Large publicly listed companies (the main company being Service Corporation International) acquired small family owned funerals across the country in a debt fueled acquisition binge. The rationale for this consolidation was that through centralising back-office operations, costs could be reduced through economies of scale.

The benefits of economies of scale for these large public companies are debatable, with some people arguing that the benefits of centralised back office activities are more than offset by the increased administrative expenses required to run a large company. This is emphasised by the bankruptcy of Loewen Group International, a large multinational funeral services company (see In re Loewn Group International, Incorporated, 99-1244 (Bankr. Del. Filed June 1, 1999)).

To retain customer loyalty the acquired companies continued operating under their previous brand names developed by the previous family owners. The previous family owners often stay on as managers of the home. The large publicly listed funeral companies only own approximately 1000 cemeteries across the U.S.

There are only three publicly listed funeral service companies: Service Corporation International, Stonemor Partners L.P. and Carriage Services Inc.. Service Corporation is by far the largest funeral company in the United States with an estimated 15-16% market share by revenue and 10.8% market share by number of funeral homes. This indicates that Service Corporation charges more per funeral home than the wider industry.

The two smaller publicly listed funeral service companies are Stonemor Partners L.P. and Carriage Services Inc.. Both companies each have an estimated 1-2% market share by revenue and 1% market share by number of funeral homes. Stonemor focuses on cremation whereas Carriage Services focuses on burial. Park Lawn Corporation, listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange also has a substantial presence in the United States. Most of Park Lawn’s funeral homes are located in locales with limited presence from any of the three publicly listed U.S companies. The top six operators (public and private) control 25-30% of the funeral services market.

At the same time as when funeral homes ownership was consolidating, casket manufacturing was undergoing its own consolidation phase. In the first half of the 20th century most caskets were made of cardboard or wood. Consumer tastes changed in the latter half of the century resulting in metal caskets becoming the casket of choice. The majority of caskets manufactured in the United States are now metal. Due to the capital intensive nature of metal casket manufacturing relative to wood or cardboard manufacturing smaller firms exited the industry. 60% of all caskets manufactured in the United States are made by just two companies...

Fixed.

They’re not a scam to those folks that want it done that way, HC.

Jmo

Most of them are still a scam.

When Mother in Law died, we started calling around for cremation costs. Everybody who advertised in the yellow pages, or had a website was priced well over $3000 upwards toward $4000. For nothing more than a cremation and a cardboard box to hold the ashes.

Then someone mentioned a little place across town which we had not seen advertised. $800 for the exact same service. The people were extremely professional, courteous and caring.

Funeral homes take extreme advantage of the bereaved who often do not feel comfortable price shopping for a funeral.

Do your heirs a favor, do the shopping now. Prepay, and leave instructions.

Dad did this. He thought his funeral was all paid for. But the funeral home had some surprises for me. I had to add another 30% to what was in the savings account to cover Dad's very minimalist wishes. Not a big deal to me. Just possibly useful information to some.

Momma and I have both told the kids, burn the empty shell which remains. We will never have any more use of it, or know or care what happened to it.

Flush the ashes down the toilet. Preferably a toilet on a city sewer system, rather than a septic tank.