Are We Really Satisfied???

I read an article yesterday in the New York Times online edition [link] which talked about the stresses and strains in China over arable land and the impact of urban and suburban sprawl on farmers. Unlike in America, where most hand labor gave way to machinery and technology years ago, in China much farm work continues in time honored ways. For instance the lead picture shows Mr. Xi sitting watch over thousands of ears of corn stretched out along the side of a road for drying. This man sits security watch over this crop as cars wiz by on the road. He looks very out of place.

Further down in the article he points out to the reporter all the other people watching corn at the side of the road. “There has been no change,” he says. “It has always been like this.” In reality though, things have changed tremendously, with housing developments, golf courses and BMWs moving in and using up the land. His world has changed tremendously, even if he avoids acknowledging this. Another woman says, “We are farmers. We love farming. That is enough.” In point of fact, that desire will not change the shifting of land use and land demands in her area. Despite her best wishes, her livelihood will likely go away soon whether she ever acknowledges it or not. Unfortunately, human nature works that way. It's called "hindsight bias", where the past tends to look more smooth and planned than what really happened.

When I read those words I found myself asking, “Is that what I see going on in funeral services these days?” Have we stopped asking the questions we need to ask to find the successes of the future? Have we mapped out the strategies and the pathways we will need to have viable businesses in the years (what about months) ahead.

Whether we acknowledge it or not, pressures continue to build on our businesses across the country. Just think, our traditional allies may become cumbersome and expensive habits that we do not know how to afford. How much margin can we squeeze out of our businesses before we lose the ability to invest in the future? How many years of casket price increases can we absorb (or will our consumers absorb), as an example, before the entire burial process stops making financial sense for anyone? Have you stopped to notice how much money a family has to spend to accomplish a burial, not the whole funeral just the hole in the ground and the box or boxes that go into the ground? If you are one of those funeral directors who has chopped much of the margin out of the product side of the business, do you see how much money your families must spend on a burial anyway? You put 2 or 3 thousand dollars (casket cost, vault cost and grave opening cost) at risk by giving credit to someone and there’s practically nothing in it for you except the pride of upholding the "tradition"? Does this make sense mid to long term? I don’t think so. "Tradition" and good feelings will not pay to have the roof fixed or the computer replaced.

Shouldn’t we be talking about these issues and rapidly pursuing more profitable alternatives to our traditions? Absolutely, that is if it isn’t too late already.

The landscape of funeral service has changed rapidly and like those farmers in China we find ourselves scratching out a living on smaller and smaller patches of land. The end of the world as we know it has probably arrived. So what are we going to do about it? Make an alternate plan and move as rapidly as possible to get there or are we going to keep our heads down and in our work hoping the world will leave us in peace to make money? That second alternative WILL NOT WORK. We need to move up the value ladder and make a whole new range of services come alive for our families. The past will not take us there. We have to start fresh and inject a whole new level of thinking or society and with it profitability will pass us and leave us to our dejection.

Any ready to start working on this?? If so, let me know. I want to meet you.

BT

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"Remains of some 4,000 people and the skeletal remains of seven people were found in storage rooms and closets"

http://kepler.ss.ca.gov/corpdata/ShowAllList?QueryCorpNumber=C2144087

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/funerals/grandview.html

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-remains5nov05,0,1812034.story?coll=la-story-footer&track=morenews

http://www.glendalenewspress.com/news/story/29361p-42547c.html

http://www.glendalenewspress.com/news/story/29085p-42142c.html

http://www.abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=local&id=3604567