Login
Lost Password?
No account yet? Register

Welcome

Taphophilia (dot) Com...
A repository of morbid curiosities:
Thanatology and Taphophile Issues, Cemetery,
Funeral Industry and Death Related News.

What's at Taph?

Taphophilia Home
Thanatology Forums
Taphophile Weblinks
Taph's Article Archive
Contact Deadgirl
Donating to Taphophilia
Book Library

Deadgirl Recommends

Advertisement

Dig Deeper

Literature
Topics at Taphophilia
Deadgirl's Dictionary
Cemetery Photography
Industry News
Carved in Stone

A Taphophilia Thank You...

Taphophilia (dot) Com would not be possible without the knowledge, experience and talent of DarkestWeb. From
its conception and early development, DarkestWeb
was faced with many challenges; from inspiring and motivating, to providing guidance and direction. The continued dedication and support has produced results greater than ever expected, and for this, I owe a huge debt of gratitude.

Cemetery Snapshot

General_view_18.jpg.jpg

Announcements

Graveyards of Chicago:
The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries
By Matt Hucke And Ursula Bielski. Discover a Chicago That Exists Just Beneath the Surface - About Six Feet Under! Take a tour of Chicago's permanent residents! Please visit the Lake Claremont Press website to purchase your copy of Graveyards of Chicago today!

Green-Wood Cemetery Arcadia Publishing announces the release of Alexandra Mosca's historic account of one of New York's most famous cemeteries. Aracdia Publishing's Images of America series has an extensive catalog of many cemetery publications! Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Green-Wood Cemetery and to browse other available titles!


Men of Mortuaries Calendar
To purchase your 2008 calendar, learn more about the KAMMCARES Foundation, or to be featured in the 2009 calendar, please visit Men of Mortuaries.

Epitaphs: The Magazine for Cemetery Lovers By Cemetery Lovers
For information regarding subscriptions, single issues, submission guidelines, deadlines, classifieds or advertising for future issues, please visit The Cemetery Club.

Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints, Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture
with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman is now
available. Please visit
Studio Indiana for more information.

West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.
Trouble for Death-Care Companies? PDF Print E-mail
Written by DeadGirl   
Friday, 04 August 2006
By Selena Maranjian
Aug 4, 2006
At the insightful economic blog MarginalRevolution.com, economist Tyler Cowen recently posted the funniest sentence he'd read that day: "Mr. Biggins said funeral homes can do anything that party planners can do."

That was enough to send me off to read The New York Times article that contained the sentence. I came away from it wondering about the future of the "death care" industry. The nature of life may ensure that they'll always have a steady stream of customers, but there are changes afoot in their business.


The article began by describing the memorial service for Robert Tisch, famous for heading Loews, who died as one of America's richest people. He apparently "had a marching band at his memorial service and a packed house at Avery Fisher Hall, all orchestrated by one of New York's most prominent party planners." The memorial service for Estee Lauder, former head of -- you guessed it -- Estee Lauder, "had waiters passing out chocolate-covered marshmallows on silver trays."

Perhaps you see where this is going. In a nutshell, many funerals and memorial services across America are becoming more... dare I say fun? Less somber and traditional, at least. The growing popularity of cremation over the usual casket-and-burial routine may be helping to fuel that trend. (The Times article suggests that with no body at the service, the mood is lightened.)

So what does this mean for the death-care business? Well, the rise in cremation doesn't look like good news for casket makers such as Batesville Casket, a subsidiary of Hillenbrand Industries(NYSE: HB); The York Group, a subsidiary of Matthews International(Nasdaq: MATW); and the privately held Aurora Casket. It's even worse news for these companies that China is now making and selling low-cost caskets.

Firms that buy and run funeral homes might also be affected, such as Service Corp.(NYSE: SCI), Stewart Enterprises(Nasdaq: STEI), and Motley Fool Hidden Gems recommendation Alderwoods Group(Nasdaq: AWGI). If more and more people opt for less traditional send-offs, they may call less upon the services of funeral homes, too. However, forward-thinking funeral homes can make the most of this trend by specializing in or at least offering less traditional services.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14184984/
 
< Prev   Next >
[ Back ]