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Issue: The Funeral Business
The Funeral Business
By: Matt Mossman
Pub. Date: September 24, 2018
Access Date: January 19, 2022
DOI: 10.1177/237455680428.n1
Source URL: http://businessresearcher.sagepub.com/sbr-1946-107942-2903272/20180924/the-funeral-business
©2022 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
©2022 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Will the industry adapt to changing attitudes?
Executive Summary
The “American way of death” has undergone substantial changes since author Jessica Mitford made that phrase famous half a century
ago in her expose of funeral business practices. Cremation is now more prevalent than burial in the United States, “green” cemeteries and
other non-traditional options are growing in popularity – and some funeral homes are adapting by opening their doors to a wide range of
events: weddings, birthdays and family reunions. The funeral industry is relatively decentralized and still dominated by family businesses;
only one company, Service Corporation International, has a market share exceeding 5 percent.
Key takeaways include:
Funeral industry revenue has increased more slowly than the overall U.S. economy, and some forecasters project that revenue
growth will decline in coming years.
The death rate in the United States is expected to rise in the coming decades as the large Baby Boomer generation ages.
The federal government has attempted to regulate funeral pricing practices since 1984, but some consumer advocates argue that
the rules are outdated.
Full Report
The traditional funeral is declining in prevalence as people turn to cremation, do-it-yourself services and more unconventional
options. (Jack Taylor/Getty Images)
The March Life Tribute Center, in the Baltimore suburb of Randallstown, looks like a funeral home: from a tranquil lobby painted in tans and
browns, a bank of doors on the left leads to a chapel with stained-glass windows. Off to the right are receiving lounges for bereaved
families, a showroom with sample caskets and urns and a hallway that leads to a hearse parked in the back.
But the building also features an events-scale kitchen, a fountain for baptisms and a hall that seats 250 people. In other words, it’s an
investment in a new and different future, in which funeral directors hope their facilities will be used for more than just grieving. About 95
percent of the events it hosts are funerals, owner Erich March says, but doors are open to weddings, family reunions, birthday celebrations
or any other life-cycle event.
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“This is what we need to do now in the funeral business,” says March, a second-generation funeral director whose family now owns two
“life celebration” centers, five funeral homes and a cemetery. “We as funeral directors know how to put on events, but we have to offer
more options.”
The business of death is changing. It had been a notably quiet and stable niche in the U.S. economy for decades: demand for funerals and
cemetery plots does not rise and fall with the business cycle and, for many people, comparison shopping is the last thing they want to do
when they have just lost a loved one. Funeral directors became accustomed to offering a one-size-fits-all package and finding consumers
likely to buy it. Advocacy groups have been pushing for change for about 80 years, through forming buyers’ cooperatives, lobbying
lawmakers and promoting alternatives, but have thus far failed to find the iPhone of the death-care industry – the new technology that
changes everything instantly.
But with members of the famously individualistic Baby Boomer generation heading into their elder years, the pace of change could be
speeding up. There is a growing number of options to memorialize the dead, catering to the needs of people who want to save money,
personalize the process or make it more environmentally friendly. Cremation is cheaper and, in a primary indicator of the change
underway, equaled burial in popularity three years ago. 1 Green cemeteries, or green sections of conventional cemeteries, mimic organic
farming practices in tending their grounds. New and exotic options include mixing of cremated ashes with cement to become part of a
coral reef, burial in a pod with a tree sapling, or do-it-yourself services.
The U.S. funeral industry is composed of about 24,500 businesses, which are
projected by the market research firm IBISWorld to generate $16.2 billion in
revenue and $1.7 billion in profits this year. Most operate funeral homes, and
some also own cemeteries. About 29 percent of revenue comes from
services, such as conducting memorial events and handling paperwork.
Another 29 percent is derived from selling merchandise, including caskets,
urns and flowers. 2 Cemeteries generated $4.1 billion in revenue and $453
million in profit in 2017. 3 The funeral business is regulated by states, only
some of which allow funeral homes to own cemeteries. According to
IBISWorld, there are about 7,000 for-profit cemetery operators in the country.
Growth in the industry has come at a slower pace than for the economy as a
whole, at a rate of about 1 percent from 2013 to 2018. The National Funeral
Directors Association (NFDA) envisions no change in the short and medium
terms, forecasting a steady 1 percent growth rate from 2017 to 2022. 4 However, IBISWorld, which publishes studies of economic sectors
and industries in the United States, disagrees; it projects a slowdown in the pace of growth to 0.2 percent from 2018 to 2023. 5 IBISWorld
expects profitability in that period to drop from 10.7 percent to 9.7 percent, as more Americans pick lower-cost options, such as
cremation.
The traditional funeral home product in the United States is a bundle of services that includes transportation of the body from the place of
death to its resting spot, embalming it in preparation for a memorial service with an open-casket display, burial and all relevant paperwork.
The nationwide median price for this package in 2016 was $7,360, according to the National Funeral Directors Association’s most recent
industry survey, published in October 2017. The figure does not include a vault, which is the container surrounding the casket; cemetery or
cremation charges; headstone; flowers; or an obituary in the local newspaper.
The figures vary by region. The median price for a funeral-and-burial package was $6,625 in Alaska, Hawaii and the three states that
border the Pacific Ocean, not including a burial vault, while the same service in the seven central prairies states – what the U.S. Census
Bureau refers to as the West North Central region – was 18 percent more expensive, at $7,815. 6
Cremation drops the national median price to $6,260, if a conventional funeral home is used. 7 Another option is “direct cremation,” in
which the body is cremated and returned to the family without a memorial service or other costs. The median cost of this service from the
funeral homes in the NFDA survey was $2,295, but other providers offer it for even less. These are often regional businesses, such as
Direct Cremation Texas, or Chicago-based Affordable Cremations LLC, which offer the service for as low was $640 and $695
respectively. 8
Cremations Now Exceed Burials
U.S. cremation and burial rates, 2005-35
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Note: Data for 2020-35 are projections.
Source: “2018 NFDA Cremation and Burial Report: Research, Statistics and Projections,” National Funeral Directors Association, July 2018,
http://tinyurl.com/y8s48fa2
Cremations as a percentage of all U.S. deaths exceeded burials in 2015, and the cremation rate is projected to
continue climbing in the next two decades.
The industry is notable for its lack of large corporations. Most funeral homes are family businesses; in 2016 the median period a funeral
home had been owned by one family was 48 years. 9 “These are families that know their cities or regions, but are sometimes isolated
from the outside world,” says Stephen Kemp, a NFDA spokesman and owner of Kemp Funeral Home & Cremation Services in suburban
Detroit. “It used to be that the relationships were personal and you went to the funeral home you knew and were comfortable with. The new
consumer is price-driven and experience-driven.”
The only company with a market share greater than 5 percent is Service Corporation International (SCI), which has captured 10.9 percent
of the funeral market and 17.5 percent of revenue from cemeteries. 10 The company, which estimated its blended market share at
between 15 percent and 16 percent, has purchased two of its chief competitors in the past decade and now owns more than 1,500 funeral
homes and 500 cemeteries, typically known to the public by its brand name “Dignity Memorial.” 11
The company’s net income has surged from $147.3 million in 2013 to $546.7 million in 2017, as it has acquired rivals that add to its
market share. 12 Revenue was $3.2 billion in 2017, and SCI has already booked $10.7 billion in future revenue, thanks to contracts with
people still alive who have prepaid for their funeral services. The money they pay is typically invested until the person’s death, at which
point it counts as revenue on the company’s balance sheet.
Main competitors include StoneMor Partners LP, which has 322 cemeteries and 93 funeral homes; and Carriage Services, with 21 funeral
homes and cemeteries. 13 These larger firms are more likely to employ sales forces to find people willing to pay in advance, but funeral
homes of all types are seeking those types of customers. The median number of funerals held in the funeral homes in NFDA’s survey was
150.5 in 2016 and the median number of advance contracts signed was 37. 14
Civil War Origins
The idea of funerals and burial as a service available for sale is historically still relatively new in the United States. Before the Civil War,
people typically bought a casket from a woodworker and buried their dead on their own. Commercial funeral services began with the
advent of arterial embalming – draining a corpse of its bodily fluids and then filling its arteries with a chemical solution to delay
decomposition. Thomas Holmes, a coroner from Brooklyn, is credited with popularizing this technique in the United States. 15
The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865 helped to further legitimize the practice, because his embalmed remains were
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SAGE Business Researcher©2022 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved. transported by train from Washington to his hometown of Springfield, Ill. The train made multiple stops along the way so people could pay their respects to the martyred president. 16 Two other trends helped shift funerals from a do-it-yourself practice to a commercial service: the rise of hospitals, which meant more people dying somewhere other than in their own dwelling; and the industrial revolution, which triggered a migration into cities, where land for backyard burials was lacking. By the early 20th century, the modern funeral package, with its suite of services, had emerged. Cremation was an option as well, but cultural and religious preferences typically outweighed price concerns. Consumer advocates have been trying to introduce flexibility, but the industry still has some unique characteristics that insulate it from change. One is that comparison shopping is very difficult, because buying these services is typically done at a time when many people would rather spend their energies mourning their dead than hunting for bargains. Just 8.3 percent of respondents in a survey conducted by the NFDA reported visiting multiple funeral homes before choosing. 17 In addition, a funeral is not a purchase that can be put off for later if the person has just died. “With funerals, we can’t demonstrate our consumer power by pushing back,” says Joshua Slocum, executive director of the Funeral Consumers Alliance, a consumer watchdog group. Caskets Bought Online Another unique characteristic is that there is nothing funeral directors can do to boost overall demand for their product; demand is set by the death rate. That increases the importance of increasing market share and maximizing revenue from each customer. The latter objective is increasingly difficult. Caskets can now be purchased online, creating competition with funeral homes; Amazon, for example, offers a wide range of options. Nonprofit organizations help consumers by negotiating lower rates and sample contracts with funeral homes. The first group to do this was the People’s Memorial Association, which was founded in Seattle in 1939, says Kathy Long, the association’s executive director. For a one-time fee of $50, members can take advantage of pre-negotiated bulk discounts. The group has signed up a total of 210,000 members, with about 63,000 of them still alive, according to Long. Consumer awareness of the pitfalls in purchasing death-care services exploded in 1963, when writer Jessica Mitford published an expose on funeral-home pricing and practices called “The American Way of Death.” The book remained on the New York Times’ best-seller list for a year. 18 The increase in consumer pushback eventually led to federal regulations on pricing, to complement state-level licensing and standards, in the form of the Federal Trade Commission’s Funeral Rule, introduced in 1984. 19 It requires funeral homes to share price lists with consumers in advance and sell them individual services if they do not want bundled ones. But the regulation is now outdated, primarily because it was established before online commerce and does not explicitly require prices to be posted on websites, says David Zinner, executive director of Kavod v’Nichum, a nonprofit that helps Jewish communities with burial issues and relevant religious practices. U.S. Death Rate Projected to Climb Annual deaths per 1,000, 2010-50 Page 5 of 12 The Funeral Business SAGE Business Researcher
©2022 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Note: Data for 2020 through 2050 are projections.
Source: “2018 NFDA Cremation and Burial Report: Research, Statistics and Projections,” National Funeral Directors Association, July 2018,
http://tinyurl.com/y8s48fa2
The number of deaths per 1,000 people in the United States is forecast to increase by 20 percent from 2015 to
2050.
While greater consumer awareness of options is a threat to funeral home revenue, demographics is an opportunity. The number of deaths
is expected to rise in the coming decades, from 8.4 per 1,000 people in 2015 to 8.9 in 2030, peaking at 10.1 in 2050, according to the
NFDA. 20 The increase is largely due to the aging Baby Boomer generation, which the U.S. Census Bureau defines as people born
between 1946 and 1964. It is one of the largest generations in U.S. history, and according to Zinner is also the type of customer most likely
to reject the standard package. 21 “That’s a group that wants to do things their own way, and the more creative funeral homes are already
responding,” he says. He cited the March Life Tribute Center as an example.
Boomers doing things their own way could mean anything from buying a casket or urn online to save money to planning a do-it-yourself
funeral, Zinner says. Options could include a burial pod that includes a sapling, in hopes that a person’s remains will become nutrients for
a tree, or patronizing a green cemetery, a concept for which no set definition or regulatory requirements exist. It generally means burial in a
place where no fertilizers or pesticides are used to maintain the grounds and where headstones are smaller. There is also a green
alternative to cremation called alkaline hydrolysis. It involves dissolving the body into bone fragments, as cremation does, but using a
solution of water and chemicals instead of burning it. This practice has been approved by regulators in 14 states as of September. 22
Although the desire for personalized or do-it-yourself funerals is on the rise, conventional cremation ranks as the top threat to profitability in
the funerals industry, Zinner says. After decades as an alternative selected by a minority of people, cremation in 2016 was on par with
burial in frequency, in part because it is less expensive. 23 Cremation will continue to gain market share; the NFDA projects that by 2025
almost two-thirds of bodies will be cremated and by 2035 almost four-fifths. 24
With this growing list of options for consumers, the industry’s future looks like a clash between consumers’ desire to keep costs low and
control the experience, and funeral homes’ efforts to offer them enough of what they want to keep them from going it alone. That involves
existing cemeteries offering green sections, and promoting the burial or interment of cremated remains, rather than having people take
them home and the industry losing out on potential revenue.
Funeral Industry Jobs Growing
Total U.S. employment in funeral homes and services, 1997-2016
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Source: “Industry Detail - Employee Count from the Infogroup - Business USA Database - 812210 Funeral Homes and Funeral Services, USA - 1997 -
2016,” Infogroup, Data-Planet, last updated Jan. 25, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/yccmrc6g
Total U.S. funeral industry employment increased 75 percent between 1997 and 2016.
SCI, the market leader, owns Neptune Memorial Reef, in which cremated remains are mixed with concrete to form underwater shapes off
Key Biscayne, Fla., designed to provide a habitat for coral. 25 Other options to boost the use of funeral homes include converting them to
more general facilities, as the March family has done, and promoting full-service funerals for pets. 26 SCI estimates that annual intake from
catering, a revenue stream that did not exist earlier in the decade, is now about $30 million. 27 But that is still not the primary option to
keep revenue growing, according to the company.
“Our long-term strategy is really about capturing more share and capturing what I’ll call backlog inflationary pricing,” SCI’s CEO, Thomas
Ryan, told equities analysts on a quarterly phone call in April to discuss the company’s earnings announcement. 28 Backlog inflationary
pricing means that when people pay for funerals in advance, the company can invest the money and generate extra returns that exceed the
rate of inflation, generating more profit from the same sale.
Growth through acquisitions won’t be as easy as it has been in the past, because SCI has already purchased Alderwoods Group and
Stewart Enterprises, its two largest rivals, so there are no single transactions left that would provide a big boost to market share. 29 Rival
Carriage Services has been buying up mom-and-pop funeral homes, but in transactions in which those families are offered jobs running
the funeral home. 30
At the March Life Tribute Center, owner March says he has fielded buy-out offers in the past, but chose to invest in the family business
instead – the facility is just 2 years old. “Now that’s not to say I wouldn’t listen,” March says. “If one of them ever made what I consider a real
serious offer, I’d convene a family meeting right away.”
In North Augusta, S.C., Posey Funeral Directors is building a similar space on the same block as its funeral home and recently bought a
catering company. “It’s a get-off-the-fence moment,” Managing Director Walker Posey says. “We as funeral directors have to change the
things that we offer. If you don’t want to do that, maybe you consider moving on instead.”
About the Author
Matt Mossman is a global economics journalist and consultant based in Washington. He focuses on developing countries in Africa, the
Middle East and Southeast Asia and topics including resources, infrastructure and finance. He previously reported for SAGE Business
Researcher on supply chains and protectionism.
Chronology
1838-1920s Embalming pioneers find market on battlefield.
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SAGE Business Researcher©2022 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
1838 French chemist Jean Gannal introduces a method of body preservation using arsenic injected into the neck and carotid
artery, which arrests decay but exposes practitioners to toxic levels of arsenic.
1861 Amid the carnage of the U.S. Civil War, mass acceptance of professional undertakers, who promote embalming to
help families memorialize their dead, takes hold. After the death of the first Union officer, Col. Elmer Ellsworth, Brooklyn
coroner Thomas Holmes offers to embalm the body and return it to the next of kin in New York City. Holmes goes on to
embalm 4,000 men and return them to their families, charging $100 for the service.
1865 With embalmers now following both Civil War armies from battlefield to battlefield and offering soldiers the opportunity
to pre-pay for their own embalming, public sentiment turns negative. Union General Ulysses S. Grant withdraws permits
allowing embalmers access to battlefields.… The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln helps popularize
embalming in non-war settings. The train transporting Lincoln’s embalmed body for burial in Springfield, Ill., stops in
cities and towns along the way, giving people a chance to pay their respects and boosting commercial prospects for
funeral services that include embalming.
1924 When the Soviet Union’s leader, Vladimir Lenin, dies, cold weather in Moscow keeps his body preserved and citizens
come to pay their respects. Soviet officials decide to embalm his body to preserve in a mausoleum in Red Square,
providing a further boost in awareness of embalming as a method to preserve bodies.
1939-Present Consumer advocates, regulators press for changes.
1939 The first cooperative funeral society, the People’s Memorial Association, is founded in Seattle. It negotiates lower rates
for funeral services on behalf of members and lobbies for legalizing modern options, such as alkaline hydrolysis, a
chemical alternative to cremation, in the state of Washington.
1963 The People’s Memorial Association and other consumer groups create the Funeral Consumers Alliance, a nonprofit
consumer advocacy group.
1963 Jessica Mitford’s “The American Way of Death,” an expose of the funeral industry and its practices, becomes a New
York Times bestseller.
1984 The U.S. Federal Trade Commission enacts the Funeral Rule, which requires funeral homes to provide accurate,
itemized price lists for their services and to allow consumers to pick and choose from those services.
2013 Service Corporation International (SCI), the biggest provider of funeral services in the United States, completes its
acquisition of smaller rival Stewart Enterprises. This, combined with SCI’s 2006 purchase of Alderwoods Group,
makes it the only company with a market share of 5 percent or greater in the U.S. funeral industry.
2016 The U.S. cremation rate hits 50 percent after a long and steady increase in market share.
Resources for Further Study
Bibliography
Books
Mitford, Jessica, “The American Way of Death Revisited,” Alfred A. Knopf, 1998. The updated version of Mitford’s original 1963 book on
funeral-industry practices adds chapters on pre-paid funerals, the role of global corporations and an evaluation of the 1984 Federal Trade
Commission regulation that the original book helped to create.
Wilde, Caleb, “Confessions of a Funeral Director: How the Business of Death Saved My Life,” HarperOne, 2017. A funeral director
overseeing his family’s funeral home recounts memorable funerals and the lessons learned from dealing with death as a professional
services provider.
Articles
Eveleth, Rose, “How Lincoln’s Assassination Launched the Funeral Industry,” Smithsonian Magazine, Aug. 13, 2012,
https://tinyurl.com/ydyzbsbp. A writer recounts the famous train tour that returned the president’s embalmed body to his hometown for
burial.
Quirk, Vanessa, “‘We’ve mastered weddings – but the funeral needs a lot of work’: Inside the new death industry,” Quartz, April 4, 2017,
https://tinyurl.com/ych85p26. A journalist explains how increased appetites for alternative, green or otherwise customized funeral
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SAGE Business Researcher©2022 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved. arrangements are helping to disrupt the industry. Sanburn, Josh, “More Americans Than Ever Are Choosing to Be Cremated,” Time, July 13, 2017, https://tinyurl.com/y8uro3uh. A reporter outlines how American attitudes toward burial and cremation are changing. Reports and Studies “Deathcare Accounting,” Service Corporation International, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/ybqdu29g. The country’s largest funeral company explains specific industry accounting rules, such as how companies handle money that consumers pay in advance for services to be provided when they die. “Service Corporation International’s (SCI) CEO Tom Ryan on Q1 2018 Results - Earnings Call Transcript,” Seeking Alpha, April 26, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/ycjlds59. The chief executive of the largest funeral industry company in the United States talks to securities analysts about the company’s performance in the first quarter of 2018 as well as its strategy and prospects. McGinley, Devin, “Funeral Homes in the US,” IBISWorld, June 2018 (subscription required), https://tinyurl.com/ycfk48yf. This business- intelligence report explains the U.S. funerals industry, provides key data on its value, size and performance and details the types of companies involved. Oliver, Kelsey, “Cemetery Services – US Market Research Report,” IBISWorld, December 2017 (subscription required), https://tinyurl.com/y8m4ey6k. A report on the U.S. cemeteries industry concludes that cremation’s increasing popularity is a threat to cemetery revenue, but favorable trends in per capita income could boost spending by those families inclined to bury their deceased. Slocum, Joshua, “Death with Dignity? A Report on SCI/Dignity Memorial High Prices and Refusal to Disclose These Prices,” Funeral Consumers Alliance and the Consumer Federation of America, March 2017, https://tinyurl.com/y8zuwhq8. A funerals-industry consumer rights specialist compares prices at funeral homes owned by Service Corporation International, the largest owner of funeral homes in the United States, with those of smaller competitors. The Next Step Alternative Burials Campbell, Hayley, “A New Way to Dispose of Corpses – With Chemistry!” Wired, March 27, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/yaamn7gb. A chemical process called alkaline hydrolysis, which essentially liquefies flesh, is an environmentally friendly alternative to cremation or burial. Erizanu, Paula, “The biodegradable burial pod that turns your body into a tree,” CNN, Jan. 11, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/ycjpckno. Human remains can be used to grow trees with a biodegradable urn that manages water and nutrients, and the addition of human ash, for the root system during gestation. Tangermann, Victor, “7 Futuristic Things To Do With Your Body When You Die,” Futurism, June 1, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/ycvye5qa. Creative alternatives to traditional burial that are gaining popularity range from launching cremated remains into orbit in space to being turned into a diamond. Cremation Scutti, Susan, “Half in US choose cremation as views on death change,” CNN, Aug. 9, 2017, https://tinyurl.com/yafddpn8. The growing trend toward cremation has contributed to changes in traditional services, with more people opting for casual or unconventional memorials, according to the founder of a green funeral home in Seattle. Shkolnikova, Svetlana, “Cremation is now America’s final disposition of choice, set to be NJ’s top pick by 2030,” NorthJersey.com, April 23, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/yakqhqrd. Concerns about cost and space saving are driving the growing popularity of cremation in New Jersey. Solomon, Adina, “A Dying Industry? Memorial Makers Want to Avoid That,” U.S. News and World Report, May 17, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/ybkae848. As cremation erodes demand for granite memorial markers, the industry is exploring alternatives, including cremation gardens, benches, pedestals and bird baths. Organizations Federal Trade Commission 600 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20580 1-202-326-2222 Page 9 of 12 The Funeral Business SAGE Business Researcher
©2022 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved. https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0300-ftc-funeral-rule @FTC A federal agency that enforces the Funeral Rule, which regulates how funeral homes sell their services and protects consumers from having to pay for services they do not want. Funeral Consumers Alliance 33 Patchen Road, South Burlington, VT 05403 1-802-865-8300 https://funerals.org A nonprofit consumers rights and education organization. Funeralocity 126 Fifth Ave., Suite 801, New York, NY 10011 1-212-937-4744 https://www.funeralocity.com @funeralocity An online comparison tool and conduit through which consumers can contact funeral homes. Users get a 5 percent discount if they purchase services using the site. International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association 107 Carpenter Drive, Suite 100, Sterling, VA 20164 1-800-645-7700 https://iccfa.com @iccfa A trade association that represents funeral directors, cemetery and crematorium owners. Kavod v’Nichum 8112 Sea Water Path, Columbia, MD 21045 1-410-733-370 https://jewish-funerals.org info@jewish-funerals.org @chevra_kadisha This nonprofit provides information about funeral services and death rituals according to Jewish traditions and organizes conferences and training sessions for community leaders who help provide those services. National Funeral Directors Association 13625 Bishop’s Drive, Brookfield, WI 53005 1-800-228-6332 https://www.nfda.org @NFDA A trade association representing funeral directors and other providers of end-of-life services. People’s Memorial Association 1801 12th Ave., Suite A, Seattle, WA 98122 1-206-325-0489 https://peoplesmemorial.org/ A nonprofit group founded in 1939 that seeks to help consumers by negotiating lower rates and sample contracts with funeral homes. Service International Corporation 1929 Allen Parkway, Houston, TX 77019 1-713-522-5141 http://www.sci-corp.com/en-us/index.page GeneralInquiries@sci-us.com The largest U.S. private-sector provider of funeral services. Its funeral homes are typically branded with the name Dignity Memorial. Notes [1] Josh Sanburn, “More Americans Than Ever Are Choosing to Be Cremated,” Time, July 13, 2017, https://tinyurl.com/y8uro3uh. [2] Devin McGinley, “Funeral Homes in the US,” IBISWorld, June 2018 (subscription required), https://tinyurl.com/ycfk48yf. [3] Kelsey Oliver, “Cemetery Services in the US,” IBISWorld, December 2017 (subscription required), https://tinyurl.com/y8m4ey6k. Page 10 of 12 The Funeral Business SAGE Business Researcher
©2022 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved. [4] “2018 NFDA Cremation and Burial Report: Research, Statistics and Projections,” National Funeral Directors Association, July 2018, http://tinyurl.com/y8s48fa2. [5] McGinley, op. cit. [6] “2017 NFDA Member General Price List Study,” National Funeral Directors Association, October 2017, http://tinyurl.com/y7kj8zle; “Census Regions and Divisions of the United States,” U.S. Census Bureau, accessed Sept. 5, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/y7qaah9w. [7] “2018 NFDA Cremation and Burial Report: Research, Statistics and Projections,” op. cit. [8] “Direct Cremation Texas,” accessed Sept. 17, 2018, http://directcremationtexas.com/; “Affordable Cremations,” accessed Sept. 17, 2018, http://www.affordablecremationschicago.com/. [9] “2017 NFDA Member General Price List Study,” op. cit. [10] McGinley, op. cit.; Oliver, op. cit. [11] “General Press Room – About SCI,” Service Corporation International, accessed Sept. 7, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/y96devr7; “Barclays High Yield Bond and Syndicated Loan Conference, Management Discussion Section,” Bloomberg Transcript, May 22, 2018, http://tinyurl.com/yay8nqhm. [12] “Service Corporation International Form 10-K,” Service Corporation International, accessed Sept. 12, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/ybq8crda. [13] “The second largest network of cemeteries and funeral homes in the United States,” StoneMor, accessed Sept. 7, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/ybawd8wy; “Carriage Services Inc. Form 10-Q,” Carriage Services, accessed Sept. 17, 2018, http://investors.carriageservices.com/node/17911/html. [14] “2017 NFDA Member General Price List Study,” op. cit. [15] “Embalming and the Civil War,” National Museum of Civil War Medicine, Feb. 20, 2016, https://tinyurl.com/y9svyqln. [16] Rose Eveleth, “How Lincoln’s Assassination Launched the Funeral Industry,” Smithsonian.com, Aug. 13, 2012, https://tinyurl.com/ydyzbsbp. [17] “2018 Consumer Awareness and Preferences Study,” National Funeral Directors Association, March, 2018, http://tinyurl.com/yahbpy29. [18] Richard Severo, “Jessica Mitford, Incisive Critic of American Ways and a British Upbringing, Dies at 78,” The New York Times, July 24, 1996, https://tinyurl.com/ycz3xwtd. [19] “The FTC Funeral Rule,” U.S. Federal Trade Commission, July 2012, https://tinyurl.com/ybdyfwnc. [20] “2018 NFDA Cremation and Burial Report: Research, Statistics and Projections,” National Funeral Directors Association, July 2018, http://tinyurl.com/y8s48fa2. [21] Sandra L. Colby and Jennifer M. Ortman, “The Baby Boom Cohort in the United States: 2012 to 2060,” U.S. Census Bureau, May 2014, https://tinyurl.com/o3znhw9. [22] “Utah Becomes 14th State to Approve Alkaline Hydrolysis,” May 31, 2018, Funeral Director Daily, https://tinyurl.com/ycqcml59. [23] Sanburn, op. cit. [24] “2018 NFDA Cremation and Burial Report: Research, Statistics and Projections,” op. cit. [25] “The Neptune Memorial Reef: An undersea tribute to life,” SCI Shared Resources, LLC, 2017, http://tinyurl.com/ybeowdmn. [26] “Making Pet Funeral Arrangements,” Funeralwise, accessed Sept. 7, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/y9ef5x5r. [27] “Oppenheimer Consumer Growth and e-Commerce Conference, Management Discussion Section,” Bloomberg Transcript, June 19, 2018, http://tinyurl.com/yb9hb96c. [28] “Service Corporation International’s (SCI) CEO Tom Ryan on Q1 2018 Results - Earnings Call Transcript,” Seeking Alpha, April 26, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/ycjlds59. [29] “Our History,” Service Corporation International, accessed Sept. 17, 2018, http://tinyurl.com/ybhs8vrh. Page 11 of 12 The Funeral Business SAGE Business Researcher
©2022 SAGE Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved. [30] “Why Others Have Chosen to Partner with Carriage,” Carriage Services, accessed Sept. 7, 2018, https://tinyurl.com/ya6j2hto. Page 12 of 12 The Funeral Business SAGE Business Researcher
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