Why Genesis Casket Company Shutting Down is Bad For The Funeral Profession
Article by: Jeff Harbeson, The Funeral Commander
The news broke yesterday on Connecting Directors about Genesis Casket Company closing it’s doors. I read comments from various people in the funeral industry touting their opinions regarding the company’s poor leadership and conjecture why the company failed. Let’s take a different view at why a casket company going out of business at this point and time in our history is really bad news especially for the funeral industry.
Many of the funeral industry pundits, most which are marketing “superlatives” that have never made a home removal or know the difference between a rough box and a alternative container have been leading the sheep about the oncoming huge spike in death because of Baby Boomers. Sounds like great news from the Willie Wonka crowd, but a reality check of what’s happening is quite different. Baby Boomers are living longer, spending more of their money to live, therefor dying with less. Guess what skippy? If your funeral home is relying on the Baby Boomers’ offspring to pay for the Disney Experience funeral from their own pockets, you’re in trouble because that age group is having difficulty paying for access to the annual county fair. If there is money left for the next generation, they are paying for their own debt and bills (assuming they are actually living on their own and have not “boomeranged” back home). Take a moment and read an eye opening article from The Guardian about what’s going on in England and “the funeral poor.” I know, “that’s happening over there” but the news continues:
Cremation is the fastest growing market segment and in the near future, cremation will surpass burials. I’m not really good with math, but how many cremations must a firm perform to equal the same net revenue as a burial? The consumer shift away from burial to cremation is not the best economic news for most funeral service providers because of the antiquated model of their operations. No need for the big chapel, hearse, limo’s, embalming room, caskets, vaults and personnel. In fact, no need for anything because a quick Google search and a consumer can not only order a pizza online, but also have grandma’s ashes delivered to the front door.
As usual, I’ll receive some of the snarky comments from the “establishment” about how great the orchestra on the Titanic sounds and their classy outfits make the experience so much better. To circle back to reality; Genesis Casket Company closing is terrible news for the funeral industry. If the market was so great, the Boomers would be dying at record pace with festivities rivaling a Super Bowl halftime and casket companies would be sprouting up all over the place. What’s even more pathetic are those that take joy in the failure of Genesis and the people now out of work. Well, you know what they say about Karma. By the way, I think the orchestra is playing your tune…
From the Command Post; Cheers y’all! #thefuneracommander
