Latest News
- SCI Hires Outside Company To Figureout Why Death Numbers Are Down
- Supreme Court Wades Into Funeral Protests
- ICCFA Here I Come!!
- Funeral Org Pushes for ‘Green’ Burials
- Funeral Home Resource Completes Rollout of Core Product Line
- Monday Funny - Grief Fail
- Funeral Director Sued For Showing Family Burning Body
- R.I.P. Off? Pre-Need Regulations Have Increased, But Critics Say Not Enough
- Wilbert Plastics Buys Injection Molder United Southern Industries
Popular
- SCI Funeral Director Charged With Corpse Abuse
- Funeral Director Reacts to Handling First Walmart Casket, You Might Be Surprised
- Finally, An Obituary Worth Reading!
- Family Sues After Body Falls Out of Casket
- Casket Seller Booted From Flea Market
- WalMart Selling Caskets Online?
- Service Corp. Agrees To Acquire Keystone North America Inc. For $256 Mln
- There's A Casket Sale At Walmart? Watch The Video
- First Funerals Take Place in Haiti - Horrific Video
ConnectingDirectors.com - Funeral Industry News, Information, and Trends
SCI Hires Outside Company To Figureout Why Death Numbers Are Down
Written by Connecting Directors Wednesday, 10 March 2010 01:00
The North American funeral business is showing signs of life.A year ago, most public “death care” companies were reporting mysterious drops in the number of funerals they were performing, but now things have improved and some are seeing growth close to long-term trends.
And all of the companies in the funeral industry are looking forward to the next few decades, when business should be brisk as baby boomers come to the end of their run.
The hardest-hit company last year was Service Corporation International, (SCI-N8.550.080.94%) the biggest death care company on the continent, with more than 1,600 funeral homes and cemeteries in the United States and Canada. In the first quarter of 2009 it experienced an 11-per-cent downturn in the number of funerals it performed. While the quarter-to-quarter decline was only 3.6 per cent by the fourth quarter, the company conducted 6.7 per cent fewer funerals in all of 2009 than it did in 2008.
Read more: SCI Hires Outside Company To Figureout Why Death Numbers Are Down
Supreme Court Wades Into Funeral Protests
Last Updated on Wednesday, 10 March 2010 00:59 Written by Connecting Directors Wednesday, 10 March 2010 00:35
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether the father of a fallen Marine can collect damages from a religious sect that picketed his son's funeral with vulgar placards celebrating the death of American soldiers.The court also accepted two other cases on Monday, one testing whether vaccine makers are immune from lawsuits under state law and another that challenges government background checks on federal contractors as an invasion of privacy. The cases are likely to be heard in the fall.
The funeral case, Snyder v. Phelps, tests the limits of First Amendment protection for demonstrators who aim obnoxious and hurtful speech at the most sympathetic of victims. It centers on the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., founded in 1955. Most of the church's 70-odd members are children, grandchildren or in-laws of its founder and sole pastor, Fred W. Phelps Sr., according to a lower court opinion.
The Westboro Church searches the Internet for notices of military funerals it can picket to get attention for its message of hostility to homosexuality and the Roman Catholic Church, and its claim that battlefield casualties represent divine retribution for what it views as America's sins.
Funeral Org Pushes for ‘Green’ Burials
Written by Connecting Directors Tuesday, 09 March 2010 09:37
The idea of a funeral and burial with no embalming, no metal casket vault and nothing else to stop the decomposition of the body and container is an enduring idea that is getting the “green” tag.The uncomplicated funeral and burial, however, is complicated in the here and now for consumers, according to the leader of the Funeral Consumers Alliance of the Mid-South.
“Green burial has different definitions,” said Furniss B. Harkness. “Locally, the interest I think is in … an old fashioned burial – meaning without a vault, sometimes without a casket, or if there is one, a wooden decomposable one.”
Other options include a shroud with or without a casket.
The 10-year-old nonprofit consumer group regularly sends out questionnaires to funeral homes, cemeteries and others to gauge prices and services.
Funeral Home Resource Completes Rollout of Core Product Line
Written by Connecting Directors Tuesday, 09 March 2010 09:26
Ron R. Browning, president of Funeral Home Resource, announced a new partnership with the industry’s leading telephone answering service that rounds out the company’s service offerings.The partnership with ASD (Answering Service for Directors) is significant because it allows customers to implement cutting edge technology and integrate their websites with an automated phone answering and messaging system and enables Funeral Home Resource to boast the capabilities of a full-service, online marketing partner.
In addition to offering free listings on the FuneralHomeResource.com directory, which features over 35,000 nationwide funeral home and cemetery listings, Funeral Home Resource develops and maintains customized, search engine optimized websites for funeral homes and cemeteries along with a full complement of online marketing services.
Read more: Funeral Home Resource Completes Rollout of Core Product Line
Monday Funny - Grief Fail
Last Updated on Monday, 08 March 2010 12:51 Written by Connecting Directors Monday, 08 March 2010 12:32
Everyone seems to need a little chuckle on Monday mornings to get their day started, so here ya go!! Whenever I find funny funeral industry related photos I like to try and share them with you. So below is a photo I found on Failblog.org (very funny site). The caption for this photo is: Grief Fail. I don't know if the family planned for the photo to include what is in the bottom right corner or not. I guess it would have been their very last chance to get a family photo.
Do many people take photos like this in you funeral home?
Funeral Director Sued For Showing Family Burning Body
Last Updated on Monday, 08 March 2010 13:05 Written by Connecting Directors Monday, 08 March 2010 12:20
Henreyville, IN - Two Louisville women have sued Henryville, Ind., funeral director Richard Pyke, alleging that he showed them a burning human body and human bones during a visit to his business last October to discuss funeral arrangements for a relative.The claims in the Clark Circuit Court lawsuit give only one side of the case. Pyke declined to comment and referred questions to his lawyer, Richard Mullineaux of New Albany, who did not return a call Friday.
Pyke, meantime, faces unrelated felony insurance fraud charges in Clark and Floyd counties. Following an Indiana State Police investigation, authorities accused him of cashing burial insurance policies of several customers, most of whom are still alive.
Read more: Funeral Director Sued For Showing Family Burning Body
Press Releases
Ron R. Browning, president of Funeral Home Resource, announced a new partnership with the industry’s leading telephone answering service that rounds out the company’s service offerings. The partnership...
Read More...
Apex caskets is pleased to announce The Royal solid Mahogany casket. (H- CS50). The Royal casket features full polished high gloss Mahogany finish with pillar column corners and bronze hardware and a...
Read More...
“The Neon Man and Me” Centers On Bereavement, Loss and Friendship Wilbert Funeral Services, on behalf of the Wilbert Foundation, has agreed to be a national sponsor for “The Neon Man and Me”....
Read More...Funeral Industry News And Articles
The North American funeral business is showing signs of life. A year ago, most public “death care” companies were reporting mysterious drops in the number of funerals they were performing, but now things have improved and some are seeing growth close to...
Read More...
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether the father of a fallen Marine can collect damages from a religious sect that picketed his son's funeral with vulgar placards celebrating the death of American soldiers. The court also accepted two other...
Read More...I am just moments away from heading to the airport to catch a plane to San Antonio for the 2010 ICCFA Convention. This is my first time being at the ICCFA convention so I am looking forward to the experience and doing a great review at the end of the show. While...
Read More...Join PLPA @ ICCFA
Wilbert Foundation
Advertise Here
Login
Follow Us
Funeral Industry Job Openings
-
SCI – Location Manager – Houston, TX We currently have a career opportunity waiting for a motivated...
-
SCI – Funeral Director – Houston, TX This position interacts directly with client families during...
-
Springdale Cemetery - Sales Manager Active, historic cemetery containing 223 acres seeks highly motivated...
- 1
- 2
- 3
Polls
Are You Attending ICCFA?
Profile of gravediggerkevin 
Add a Friend 
Write a guestbook message 
Send Message