In early 2020, a lawyer from the US Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) contacted CANA. He was researching strategies to address the unidentified and misdelivered boxes of cremated remains in the possession of the United States Postal Service (USPS). After a preliminary conversation, I understood that there was a problem, but with the Annual Symposium looming in February, we agreed to continue the conversation in March 2020. Understandably, that delay lasted three years beyond the initial three-week postponement. In early 2023, different staff at the OIG launched an audit of the US postal service’s handling of cremated remains. As part of their work, they contacted CANA for recommendations from CANA members who ship a high volume of cremated remains. Not only were cremation professionals interviewed, they were also shadowed as they prepared cremated remains for mailing. The OIG Audit Report 23-018-R23 was published in July 2023 with some interesting findings and recommendations. The full report is available for download here. The report is very long and takes a lot of time to read, but the main takeaway is that the post office will focus on training mail handlers, clerks, carriers, and other staff on existing procedures without adopting recommendations to create new procedures. The United States Postal Service remains the only legal carrier for mailing human cremated remains. The OIG’s audit report provides useful insight into the internal workings and priorities of the USPS. Following is my summary of the report and CANA’s take on how this may impact cremation operations. Finding #1Noncompliance with Cremated Remains Acceptance Procedures The auditors interviewed postal workers and customers and reported finding inconsistencies in generating the Cremated Remains mailing label and affixing that label in such a way as to cover other bar codes on the box. Additionally, the interviews also indicated that the Orange Cremated Remains label was not consistently affixed on all six sides of the shipping box. OIG Recommendation #1 We recommend the Vice President Retail and Post Office Operations, develop and implement a process for reoccurring communication of Cremated Remains acceptance procedures to retail clerks nationwide. USPS Management disagreed with this Finding because the interview results were not statistically significant to indicate the scope of the problem. However, Management accepted the Recommendation, issuing the report and emphasizing the existing guidelines in staff training will address the proper handling of cremated remains. CANA’s Takeaway CANA includes the USPS guidelines for shipping cremated remains in the Crematory Operations Certification Program (CANA COCP™), and CANA members generally have a high level of knowledge and understanding of these guidelines. Despite this, operators encounter delivery delays and supply shortages of Cremated Remains Kits. This shortage may result in staff using fewer than the required six orange labels in order to stretch supplies or substituting subpar boxes or packing materials. Ensuring your business has a small supply of USPS kits on hand – and reaching out to a fellow local business when the need is urgent – can help prevent the results discussed in Finding #2. Finding #2Opportunities Exist to Improve Cremated Remains Acceptance Procedures The auditors described the risk of damage to packages containing cremated remains by the machines that process mail. Any damage can prevent recovering the contents and identifying the sender or recipient. That’s why, as of February 27, 2023, the OIG identified 452 sets of undeliverable or unidentifiable cremated remains in their Mail Recovery Center. OIG Recommendation #2 We recommend the Vice President Retail and Post Office Operations, develop and implement guidance requiring retail clerks to verify cremated remains are prepared and packaged in accordance with Postal Service policy. OIG Recommendation #3 We recommend the Vice President Retail and Post Office Operations, update the Cremated Remains acceptance procedures requiring retail clerks to place Cremated Remains packages in individual Priority Mail Express sacks at acceptance. USPS Management partially accepted this Finding again due to lack of statistically significant data, but supported Recommendation #2 with plans for staff communication and training. However, they rejected Recommendation #3 since the proper packaging and handling should prevent damage where additional handling and separation could increase the potential for delay and damage. CANA’s Takeaway There are some cremation providers who remain skeptical about or refuse to use the labels and/or cremation kits. They express concern that the labeled packages will be stolen. However, the OIG audit report describes in detail how labeled packages are processed by hand in order to limit risk of damage. With the high risk of damage during electronic sorting, CANA’s recommendation to use the USPS labels and packing materials is now backed up by facts – so use them! Also, 452 undelivered and unidentified sets of remains is shocking. In my conversations with the OIG, they described their storage facility in Atlanta with shelves containing these boxes. I answered a variety of questions to help them determine if these were human or animal remains. It looks like the USPS has the same challenge that many funeral homes have. If you have instances of lost cremated remains please consider working with the USPS to get those packages delivered. Finding #3Cremated Remains Not Monitored in Postal Facilities This was a technical finding related to the USPS processes for tracking packages and minimizing delays in delivery. OIG Recommendation #4 We recommend the Vice President Processing and Distribution, reiterate the procedures for monitoring Cremated Remains and develop a process for validating that In-Plant personnel review the Informed Visibility report daily for delayed Cremated Remains packages in accordance with policy. Management rejected this finding and the related recommendation but plans to investigate to find a more effective process for monitoring delays. CANA’s Takeaway I found this part of the report surprising: “From October 1, 2020, through September 30, 2022, the Postal Service reported 45,765 (14.6 percent) delayed Cremated Remains packages, averaging 1.4 days late.” You may not react as I did, because it may validate your experiences, but read the report for a detailed explanation. This is also the first time I have seen data on how many cremated remains are shipped. Using the data references above, during the same time period there were roughly four million cremations, meaning that approximately 313,500 cremated remains were shipped via USPS, representing almost 8% of the total cremations over those two years. Finding #4Opportunities Exist to Enhance Cremated Remains Packaging Requirements This Finding focused on shippers that use their own packaging and the problems this generated. This excerpt from the report sums it up well: “When Cremated Remains kit boxes are not readily available and take an extended period to reach customers after they place an order, customers are more likely to use their own packaging supplies.” OIG Recommendation #5 We recommend the Vice President Business Solutions, evaluate the feasibility of requiring customers to use the Cremated Remains kit boxes when shipping cremated remains and revise policy as appropriate. OIG Recommendation #6 We recommend the Vice President Business Solutions, develop a plan to ensure Cremated Remains kit boxes are readily available to customers. Management partially accepted Finding #4 but rejected Recommendation #5 since Publication 139 (pdf download) properly describes how cremated remains should be shipped. However, they accepted Recommendation #6 to make their shipping supplies more accessible to ensure ease of compliance. CANA’s Takeaway This is yet another opportunity for CANA members to share their expertise with the families they serve and pass along information about shipping or even maintain a supply of USPS cremated remains kits to keep on hand. It takes three weeks, on average, for the USPS to fulfill a request for Cremation Kits, so plan accordingly. DIY – Consumer Shipping of Cremated RemainsIn the US, the only way to ship human cremated remains (aka cremains or ashes) is by the US Postal Service, whether you are a funeral professional or a member of the public. If you are a consumer reading this article, you can ship cremated remains to share ashes among family members or send to a company to use when making keepsakes. The number one consideration for you is to use the Cremated Remains package freely available from the USPS. Otherwise you must be sure to label and pack the box securely. You can find details on preparing your shipment here, and you can always reach out to your cremation provider, or any local funeral provider, for assistance in selecting keepsakes and arranging for shipment. If you have experienced the mis-delivery or loss of shipped cremated remains, you may have options and should contact the USPS directly. Pet Cremated RemainsWhen my cat died last year, her cremated remains were sent to me via UPS (that’s the United Parcel Service, not the USPS). The cremation was conducted by a CANA member, so I reached out to find out why they used UPS rather than the USPS. Fearing the worst, I learned instead that UPS was conducting a trial-run of shipping animal cremated remains. Sure enough, only human remains, not pet, are still prohibited for shipping by UPS. InternationalWhen shipping cremated remains internationally, be cautious. The United States is one of very few countries with a postal service that handles packages. Most countries outsource parcel service to other providers such as DHL, FedEx, UPS, etc. that have policies prohibiting shipment of cremated remains. Additionally, when shipping internationally, you must get permission from the consulate to do so since each country will have their own rules about the proper handling of human remains. A number of consulates closed during the pandemic and many have yet to reopen. Shipping to countries experiencing wars and other instability is increasingly difficult. CANA highly recommends that you consult with a shipping company that has experience and resources to help you. You can learn more about those options here.
This is the sympathy business. On a regular basis, we’re expected to offer up our condolences, well wishes, and sympathy. But empathy, a word which often gets confused for the same thing, is even more important to our success. Sympathy is defined as “feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else’s misfortune.” Empathy, on the other hand, is “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” In short, you can be sympathetic without being empathetic. But empathy will make you not only more effective at caring for the bereaved, but at managing your business. The classic “burial-or-cremation” dichotomy is illustrative of this point. Even those who know better often let our language betray the misunderstanding that there are essentially only two kinds of people in the world: the conservative, religious, pro-burial traditionalists; and the liberal, postmodern, pro-cremation rebels. While it’s perhaps a step in the right direction to understand that not everybody wants the same thing, it’s not nearly a step far enough. IDEALS® ResearchThe reality of how the modern American — your customer — sees the world and your business is far, far more nuanced. McKee Wallwork’s proprietary research methodology, IDEALS®, asks thousands of people across the US hundreds of questions on their Interests, Desires, Emotions, Attitudes, and Lifestyles to discover market Segmentation. This psychographic segmentation research conducted by my firm has shown seven segments that people statistically sort themselves into, and each is much more complicated than a simple preference on burial or religion. For example, if I were to tell you that a heavily tattooed atheist was about to walk through your door to make arrangements, you might have some assumptions about that individual. But the 14% of the population who my firm has nicknamed “Free Spirits” (the most likely segment to have tattoos, and the most likely to identify as atheist) is also the most likely segment to have posted condolences on your firm’s website, the most willing to talk about their own funeral plans, and the least likely to express opposition to a viewing (that’s not a typo). In many ways, the individual you’re liable to write off as a direct-cremation loss is actually highly interested in what you offer. Or, while 40% of the market (a rapidly shrinking number, by the way) is what you might call a traditional funeral consumer, roughly a third of that group is motivated primarily by the quality, and even status symbol, projected by the funeral; another third is motivated by local ownership; and another third is motivated primarily by religion. These three sub-categories look very similar (in life and on paper), but confuse them at your own risk, because the reality is they will prioritize very different needs. At the other end of the spectrum is who we call the “Distanced and Decided.” These are the classic cremationists, but our research revealed an interesting nuance: community size (household size, proximity to family, frequency of communicating with family) seemed to be a driver in these folks’ decisions just as much as politics or religion. In other words, they’re prone to cremate primarily because they don’t believe anyone would come to their graves. This kind of insight reveals how our profession is impacted by societal and cultural shifts, and how new products and services will always be needed, tailored to evolving subcultures. Or, consider the youngest segments planning funerals. They split statistically into two camps: one, the “Resolute Rookies,” are more removed from death than perhaps any group of people in human history: they don’t know anybody who has ever died, and they think they can avoid the whole business as a result. But another cohort their same age is a funeral director’s dream: they understand that funerals are for the living, represent a post-Boomer pendulum swing back toward tradition, religion, ceremony, and viewings, and represent perhaps the most affluent category in recent memory who is ready to spend on funerals (long driveways and long bills). Empathy Applies to All SegmentsThe point is this: there’s no silver bullet, and while there is value in letting go of the “all-things-to-all-people” concept that is a burden and a distraction to your business, there’s even more value in thinking really intentionally about empathy. When we look closer than the simple choices and assumptions, we’ll be able to venture a guess at not only what people are asking for, but why. And when we do that, we can lead them toward the considerations and options that not only make for good business, but good grief. We don’t have to be a profession or a business. Our success will only come insofar as we do both. And the better we become at listening, looking deeply, understanding motivations, and seeking to provide people with what they really need (as opposed to what we think they should ask for), the more successful we will become — both as business owners and as servants to hurting families. This post looks at just a piece of the IDEALS® research, presented in Eric Layer's session Targeting With Data at CANA's 105th Cremation Innovation Convention in Washington, DC in August 2023.
I think it's important we talk about disaster planning and emergency management coordination. It is important to know how a disaster is defined, because that is how we react and how we are deployed. A disaster, by definition, is a serious disruption of your community, and it's when you exceed all the capacity and resources that your community has, or is allowed to have, in coping with the situation. That’s how we define it, and it's how we are deployed, and it's how we react whenever the time comes. We've all seen or been through disasters and you know it is chaos at the time. how are we deployed?When something happens, there's a lot of adrenaline. There's a lot of people in charge, or that’s the way it may look, but truly it's what we plan for. To be able to rehearse and go through different situations. There are several different levels of jurisdiction for a disaster event, depending on the severity and the resources available. Disasters can range from extreme weather events, commercial transportation wreckage, and mass shootings to—as we’ve seen recently—pandemic devastation. When a disaster strikes, how are we deployed? Who decides where we go and what resources are available? Most of that information is compiled with what is called an Emergency Management Coordinator. An Emergency Management Coordinator is someone in your community – on a state and local level – who is the first get a complete analysis of the disaster or the event, and who is then responsible for appropriating different resources to that event that are necessary. Each type of event has a different need. With a mass shooting, you're in a rescue and triage situation. There's a lot of different things that we train for, depending on what the event is. We were recently in hurricane season, so we in Texas and other coastal areas can understand and know the devastation of a hurricane, and we have trained and gone through several different hurricanes in our area. Big, catastrophic events, such as the Oklahoma City bombing or 9/11, are handled at the federal level. Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams (DMORT) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) work together to take charge of those situations. I'm chairperson of the Texas Disaster Team, which is affiliated very strongly with our Texas Funeral Directors Association. That is a very strong bond that we have together. It's where all of our volunteers’ training is done, together through that organization. Other states have very similar organizations that are part of their state funeral director association. So, if you’re not a part of your state association, I would encourage you to get involved, because they play an important role in coordinating resources. Our association is affiliated with the state of Texas, and we are contracted by the state for all of its mortuary assets. So, all mortuary assets go through our association that we manage for them, so when any type of deployment comes in our area in the state of Texas, our funeral directors are the frontline resources available that go out. how we helpLet me give you a few of the incidents in our area that we have been a part of. Our team was the lead agency in for the West Fertilizer explosion back in 2013. We were the lead agency that took care of 13 of the 15 bodies that were killed. It was a small town, so we came in not only as search and rescue and transportation, but we also have a funeral director element of our team that came in and assisted the funeral home. Recently, we faced the pandemic. Our team was deployed to the Texas Valley in 2020. We spent three months there. We took over full mortuary operations for the Texas Valley, including the intake and transportation of bodies. We handled over 1,300 deaths there in two months. It was a 24-hour operation there. Our team, some of whom are here in the room today, were also very active in the Uvalde school shooting. We went into Uvalde and we assisted taking care of that situation. So, we have been a part of a lot of different disasters. As a funeral director, cemeterian, cremationist, you are on the front lines, and your resources are valuable to emergency management coordinators. So, if you are not currently part of emergency planning in your area, I encourage you to do so. You're the expert. You know, on the front line almost all disasters, you're dealing with death, you're dealing with transportation of bodies, you're dealing with temporary morgue holding facilities, so I encourage you to get involved with that. be preparedThree things I want to leave you with, because when disaster strikes, it's too late to plan, so be prepared.
Before I got involved in this, and then after seeing on the other side, I know our importance, our value to the county and state officials when a disaster hits. Because it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. We all know that, and we see it daily on the news. So, be part of the response and get involved to be able to help when the time comes. This post excerpted from the panel presentation Regulate, Recruit, and React: A Quick Take on Current Issues at CANA's 105th Cremation Innovation Convention in Washington, DC in August 2023.
The death care business and advertising have a tenuous relationship. Part of it is not merely a scarcity mindset, but a scarcity reality: when my ad dollar can’t grow the market and has questionable likelihood of growing market share, I have to wonder if there are better investments. And, especially in an environment where the words “inflation” and “recession” (let alone “post-COVID slowdown”) are inescapable, many firms are looking for places to save a buck or two. While fearfulness doesn’t make for good management, preparedness does. Business owners are (and should be) thinking about how to batten down the hatches should the need arise. Even if it all comes to nothing, it’s good to have a plan. In my firm’s quarter-century, our clients have frequently been faced with the need to trim their ad budgets during tough economic times. The solution ain’t what it used to be. RECONSIDERING THE FOUR P’S OF MARKETINGThere was a time when I coached clients to stay the course. For years I’ve told a story about a friend who owns a local cigar shop. In 2008, during the Great Recession, he invested heavily in his company, moving into a larger location, opening an affiliated lounge, and expanding his inventory. Looking back, he says that if he had taken a defensive stance, his business would have faltered instead of growing as it did. I’ve used that as an illustration of why it’s a good idea to maintain or even increase your marketing budget through recession. But here’s the rub: my friend didn’t invest in promotion. He invested in his place. Place is an often-neglected pillar of the four Ps of marketing, but it’s as much a part of marketing as the other three. Ad agencies tend to focus on promotion — paid advertising and its cousins — to the exclusion of all else. That’s like tying two arms and a leg behind your back, especially when you’re trying to squeeze every return you can out of limited marketing dollars. Consider this: would you rather get a thousand people to check out your business, only to discover that it’s run down and outdated, or have ten people engage with it and be instantly impressed by what they see? Advertising has its role, but it’s only one aspect of a well-rounded marketing plan. This is especially true these days. Place is a high-ROI investment, and in 2023 it goes well beyond the physical. It includes your digital footprint as well, and for most funeral homes that’s a strategy that is far underleveraged. Why? Because we tend to think of marketing as a funnel. Begin at the top, the thinking goes, and cast a wide net to a large number of people, hoping some fraction of them engage with you. Then work to convert some fraction of those people. Then do your best to keep some fraction of those people as repeat customers. Digital strategies that focus too heavily on AdWords and SEO are simply applying this old thinking to new tactics. But it’s hard to make that math work in our favor. REVERSING THE MARKETING FUNNELOur lowest hanging fruit is the customer base we keep (by the way, this applies to staffing, too, which is important to note during a labor crisis). The more we focus on building our offerings around it, the stickier (and more successful) we’ll be. Thus, we should begin at the bottom of the funnel, focusing on retention before all else. Only then should we move up a level, to conversion. Is your physical space attractive and conducive to winning new customers? Is your website relevant and effective to those who are unfamiliar with you? Are your products and services priced correctly? These are questions more of strategy than spending (though the one should follow the other). Better to reach fewer people who will all become fans than to reach more people who will be disappointed. Assuming those two are in order, next up is engagement. This is where the digital-as-place strategy comes fully into play. Say you’re a retailer. People might come into your store ready to spend, or they might just be window shopping, but either way, they’re checking you out and trying to decide if what you offer is what they need. Their behavior in the digital universe is no different. It’s not a place to cut corners, nor is it a place to design around your own tastes, preferences, or ego. Everything you do to engage prospective customers, online and off, should be carefully calibrated to their interests. Imagine if a retailer managed its storefront the way the average business manages its digital outreach: “I don’t have time to think about it right now,” or “We tried banner advertising five years ago and it didn’t work,” or “Yeah, I don’t understand that stuff, but we hired Kayley to handle it for us. She’s a Millennial.” Here’s where you should also be wary of impressive-but-vague promises of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) vendors. I’ve had numerous clients tell me they have a vendor who handles SEO for them, but I have yet to hear any of them articulate what’s actually happening or what return they’re getting for their investment. SEO is only one piece of your digital space, alongside UX, Google My Business, content development, social media management, programmatic advertising, and more — in the same way that a physical building is comprised of plumbing and framing and roofing and electrical. Without a general contractor and a blueprint, the specialists won’t give you the space you’re hoping for. In the same way, every component of your digital presence must be coordinated around a unified objective, prospect profile, and brand identity. Finally, working our way up to the top of the funnel, there’s attraction. If you’re forced to cut advertising in the face of a recession, this is where to do it. The obvious caveat here is if advertising works, a brand that neglects it does so at its peril. But in a moment of austerity, if you have to cut something, it’s better to prioritize, and cut first the places you will feel it last. Still, that doesn’t mean you won’t feel it at all. Cuts to an advertising budget are not without consequence. If you are not investing in building awareness and preference for your brand, awareness and preference will decline. This is especially important to remember because the nature of these declines makes it easy to convince yourself they’re not happening. There’s usually a lag of at least one or two years, which is why you will run into people at a coffee shop who tell you they just saw an ad you haven’t run in six months. Eventually, however, the lag catches up with you, and your company will feel the impact. Still, that’s a very different thing from saying you can’t cut spending. Even though there are plenty of reasons not to, cutting your attraction budget might still be the right thing to do if your company is on the ropes. The most important thing during challenging economic times — at any time, for that matter — is to ensure that your brand’s house is in order. To reference the familiar parable, retention and conversion are “big rocks” that must go into the jar first. And they usually go hand in hand with your place, both digital and physical. Advertising is important, but it’s the sand that goes into the jar last — if you put it in first, you won’t have room for the other investments. Start at the bottom of the funnel and work your way up. making the cutDo you know your clients or customers? Do you know exactly what your brand represents to them? Are you executing with excellence? Are your internal dynamics healthy? If a casual observer visited with your executive team, would they believe that your leadership is aligned and confident? If the answer to any of those questions is “no,” or even “I’m not sure,” that’s the place to start (here’s a tool to help you quickly and efficiently find out). It’s tough to do surgery on yourself. Some of these decisions are best made with the help of professionals. But it’s even tougher to go under the knife of multiple surgeons at once. Marketing is an increasingly fragmented discipline, with dozens or even hundreds of specialists each representing their viewpoint of the world. That’s why having your own viewpoint — and an integrated marketing strategy that delivers on it — is vital. Without it, you will be continually tugged here and there and nothing will have a chance to work. Rather than a blanket cutting strategy (10% reductions on every line item), it’s vital to make the right cuts, in the right places, so as to minimize the long-term consequences. Handled properly, the effects of a temporary reduction in your advertising budget can be offset by improvements down the funnel. By prioritizing and aligning your efforts, it’s possible to weather adverse conditions and emerge stronger than ever.
What do consumers want? This is the $64,000 question everyone involved in the death care profession is trying to answer. You know your aftercare surveys are overwhelmingly positive. You track your online reviews and celebrate the positive ones, while addressing the negatives. You know your community and encourage engagement with local groups. Your reputation is your brand and you sleep well at night knowing the top-notch service you provide. At the same time a vocal minority of volunteer funeral consumer advocates have been telling the FTC staff for years that funeral service is criminal and in need of close scrutiny. Despite record low complaints, the Funeral Rule remains in place and is likely to be revised. Over the past three years, I have been the lead staff person working with the CANA board, members and other death care leaders to craft comments and responses to the FTC’s proposed revisions. On September 7, 2023, I was privileged to participate in the FTC Workshop: Shopping for Funeral Services. In addition to representing our profession to the regulators and consumers, the event provided a chance to listen to the arguments and requests set forth by consumer advocates and industry reformers. You can watch the recording yourself on the FTC’s website, but here are my key takeaways on how consumers view the funeral profession. FTC COMMISSIONER AND STAFF REMARKSOpening and closing remarks from the FTC focused on how unique the funeral profession is and how important the Funeral Rule is to the FTC. Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter opened the workshop by describing how the Funeral Rule protects customers when they are grieving and vulnerable, and also promotes competition – two reasons the Rule is central to the mission of the FTC. The commissioner quoted NFDA average funeral costs pointing out that funeral expenses carry the third largest price tag after a home or car, but they are the only obligation everyone will universally experience. From the title of the workshop, “Shopping for Funeral Services,” to the selection of panelists, the FTC staff focused on the transactional nature of death care. Consumer advocates are dedicated to lowering prices and educating consumers about the elements of funeral service that are necessary and those that are optional. The General Price List (GPL) is their primary tool used for these purposes. Associate Director of the FTC’s Division of Marketing Practices Lois C. Greisman closed the workshop by thanking panelists and the hundreds of attendees who attended in-person and online. She hailed the workshop as a success because the day held lively conversations designed to dig into pressing concerns. There were many disagreements during the course of the discussions, but it was an important opportunity to reimagine the future HOW HARD IS IT TO POST A GPL?During the event, consumer groups advocated hard for posting the GPL on existing websites, particularly for businesses that complete sales online. They maintained that posting a PDF or adding content to a website would be marginally expensive to the business and would build trust. These are difficult arguments to refute. Some consumer advocates admitted that the GPL is confusing and not ideally suited as a standalone planning document. They conceded that it is designed as a tool that is best used in conversation with a funeral director. However, the GPL is up for discussion. That means consumer advocates are empowered to suggest many additions and changes to GPL-required items (including third party crematory fees and other "hidden" fees) and disclosures (like the legality of home funerals, embalming disclosure to include federal and state law reference and then business capacity/policy). The common ground between all workshop participants was an acknowledgement of the necessity for consumer education on selecting and planning funeral goods and services. Members of the profession tended to argue that the GPL was a tool used in consultation with a funeral director. The advocates argued for posting it online and then having the consumer approach funeral providers with informed questions or selections. Throughout the day, there was a strong emphasis on how much the funeral profession and consumer preferences have changed over the past 40 years. It was repeatedly observed by reformer panelists that consumers want more control over and participation in funeral planning and activities. Industry protests against mandatory price posting were countered with accusations of hiding and thievery. Obviously, it’s true that transparency builds trust and many CANA members who post their pricing cited that as a primary reason. However, simply posting the GPL alone will not address the issue because, as we know, shopping for funeral services is a unique and complex experience. My takeaway is that consumer groups, like the Funeral Consumer Alliance and Consumer Federation of America, are focused on transparency and the ease of price comparisons. This can lead to the creation of comparison websites and concierge services—or even a Consumer Reports-style comparison survey or report. Just as the profession prefers not to be required to post pricing, consumers resent being forced to use funeral providers who aren’t transparent. THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILSThe discussions about the logistics of posting pricing online, assuming it becomes required, centered on details. The consumer advocates on the panel debated format: HTML vs. PDF, mobile-friendly versions, and other accessibility questions. Should the FTC require a specific font, size, color, or document format? Or set general requirements that GPLs are “clear and conspicuous”? Should there be machine- and human-readable requirements? Consumer advocates were arguing for uniformity to assist their work in comparing GPLs, but failing to recognize that funeral providers are businesses who are actively pursuing calls. Technology will change, but market forces will ensure funeral providers meet consumer needs to earn their business. We also discussed that the primary purpose of a funeral provider’s website is to post obituaries and service information. A secondary purpose is to facilitate online condolences and the third is to sell funeral goods and services. This information is based on research CANA conducted among members, and it was well received by the panelists. The research showed that, among CANA members who post pricing, fewer than 1% of website visitors clicked on the pricing information. Additionally, the use of apps or social media largely supports backlinks to the provider’s website and is, therefore, not a replacement for a website. Advocates countered this argument by pointing to the fact that the death rate is about 1% of the population. While true, the death rate and clicks on pricing information have no direct connection. It is an interesting coincidence, I suppose. Discussions around fees were largely non-controversial. There was agreement on the advantages of the ability to discount basic service fees and the difficulties of requiring listing of cash advance items, including third party crematory fees, on the GPL. Basic service fees fall within control of the funeral provider, but cash advance items do not. There also seemed to be acknowledgement that “Direct Cremation” has become a package in the consumer’s mind. Cremation services have changed during the 40 years of the Funeral Rule, and one required item, Direct Cremation, does not meet the modern consumer’s needs. This is an exciting opportunity for our profession to influence the FTC on this topic. Are consumers happy with funeral |
Barbara Kemmis, CAE is Executive Director of the Cremation Association of North America, where she promotes all things cremation through member programs, education and strategic partnerships. After more than 20 years of experience in association leadership, Barbara knows that bringing people together to advance common goals is not only fun, but the most effective strategy to get things done. Barbara has served two prior professions as the Director of Member Services at the American Theological Library Association and Vice President of Library and Nonprofit Services at the Donors Forum (now Forefront). Barbara earned a master’s degree in library science from Dominican University, a graduate certificate in nonprofit management from North Park University and a B.A. from Earlham College. In 2021, Barbara earned the Certified Association Executive credential in recognition for her expertise and experience. |
Paul Harris is President and CEO of Regulatory Support Services, Inc., a company founded in 1994 and specializing in regulatory compliance consultation to the death care profession. He holds a North Carolina Funeral Service license and prior to joining the company was the Executive Director of the North Carolina Board of Funeral Service from 2004 until early 2012. Additionally, Paul served as the OSHA compliance officer for a large North Carolina-based funeral home and has eighteen years of first-hand knowledge of regulatory compliance issues. |
Deathcare may be a second career for Liza Altenburg, who began as a Sales Counselor in 2017 and joined Park Lawn Corporation as a Sales Manager at Oakview Cemetery in 2021, but she has truly found her calling in this amazing profession where she has been a top producer year after year. She brings more than twenty years of experience to the cemetery world as a corporate sales trainer, public speaker, and John Maxwell-certified DISC behavioral consultant. She is proud to have helped thousands of sales professionals achieve their goals by implementing consistent and proven sales strategies. She is the author of Selling with Sensitivity: Achieving Success in Deathcare Sales through Empathy, Service, and Connection. You can learn more about her at SellingWithSensitivity.com. |
Cole Waybright is Vice President of Sales Operations for Foundation Partners Group and a licensed funeral director. An experienced strategic sales and operations leader, he joined the company in 2017 and previously served as director of preneed sales. He can be reached at cole.waybright@foundationpartners.com. |
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