The Future of Prepaid Funerals and Cremations?

Posted on November 25, 2008 by phaneuf

The market for preneed funeral funding is big business. Not only does it involve funeral homes but also insurance and trust companies and major investment firms. The funeral industry is certainly not immune to the economic crisis. Several insurance companies that invest funeral homes’ prepaid funeral funds have become insolvent, including one firm here in NH, ACA Assurance. And returns on funds placed in a preneed trust are earning little returns.

Funeral home owners are struggling to ensure that that they can earn a sufficient return on consumer’s funds to lock-in their prices (one of the major reasons people choose to prefund their funeral). But prepaid funerals are important to funeral homes. First and foremost, they provide the company a level of comfort that they will have business in the future. Firms that do not offer prepaid funerals or do not market this service aggressively risk the chance of other more savvy firms taking away future business. In addition preneed funds, if invested wisely, would provide a rate of return that would allow the funeral home to perform a funeral for a profit, even if the funeral had been paid for years in advance. But all this has changed in the last several years.

Will funeral homes still offer the opportunity for consumers to prepaid for their services. Yes, I think this will always be available. But many firms around the country and are taking another look at the viability of locking in these funerals indefinitely, assuming all the risk and potentially having to perform a service at a loss. My belief is that what funerals homes offer today will be much different than what they offer five years from now.

New Hampshire Now Has A Green Cemetery

Posted on November 20, 2008 by phaneuf

Earlier this summer, I wrote a blog on the green burial movement (or lack thereof) in New Hampshire. While Phaneuf Funeral Homes has offered a very low cost green burial package for some time, we have had no takers. Why not? Well until now, there were no true green burials cemetery sites in New Hampshire. Nearly every cemetery requires some sort of outer burial container to encase the casket. All cemeteries maintain their properties (or try to) by cutting the grass, filling in ground indentations and trimming trees and shrubbery. But in September, the trustees of Richmond Cemetery, located in Richmond, NH, a small town tucked away in the southwest corner of the state, opened a green burial section in its cemetery. The cemetery trustees allocated up to 100 grave spaces for green burials. You need not be a resident of Richmond to purchase a cemetery lot. But embalming the body is not allowed as is the use of a casket with metal. And no vaults or headstones are permitted. Graves may be marked only by using indigenous field stone. To maintain the back to nature theme, the town will only mow the grass a few times a year. While green does not necessarily mean inexpensive, this cemetery is very good news for New Hampshire residents who now have a true green alternative.

For more information about the Richmond cemetery, pricing and making arrangements for a green burial, please call me at the funeral home. And for anyone interested in learning more about green burial and other eco-friendly funeral alternatives, Phaneuf will be hosting a free green burial seminar this spring (around Arbor Day) entitled “Dying to be Green”. If you would like more informaton about the seminar or would like to reserve a spot, please sign up for our monthly e-newsletter on our website.

Family-Owned Funeral Homes

Posted on October 3, 2008 by phaneuf

Little do most people know that nearly one quarter of all the funeral homes in this country are owned by large corporations. These firms, some of which are traded on various stock exchanges thoughout North America own dozens or even thousands of funeral homes, cemeteries, crematories and other ancillary companies like insurance providers.

So, who cares. As long as the company provides a good service at a fair price and is run by nice people, does it really matter? Maybe yes or no. With a family owned firm, if you have a problem or concern, the funeral home owner in most cases not only works there, but there is a good chance he or she makes funeral arrangements and is present at the funeral or memorial service following cremation. If you have a problem with one of the large corporately owned firms, the process of resolving the problem could take days, weeks or even longer and more times than not, you cannot meet or speak with the final decision maker.

Nationwide, over 20% of funeral homes are owned by these chains, sometimes referred to as the Walmarts of funeral service. In New Hampshire, large corporately owned firms account for about 10% of the 85 or so funeral firms.

Dealing with family owned firms, especially when it comes to something as personal as funeral arragements just makes sense to me. Of course, I am bias as my family has been in the funeral business in our state for over 100 years, just like many of my family-owned competitors.