I saw a brief article on the New York Times website which talked about magazines and periodicals having to become "carbon neutral", which means that in the making of the magazine (including the production of the raw paper) the publisher somehow removes as much carbon (mostly in the form of carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere) from the environment as gets produced. For some this means planting forest space. It also means counting the full environmental impact of magazine production. The reason for all this? Some advertisers withhold their accounts from magazines with poor environmental accountability!!!
I mention this as a "sign of the times" which may inadvertently impact funeral service, particularly in the use of chemicals in preparation and such. The idea of global warming has caught on with a wide audience and making some kind of difference (even if it is superficial) with the environment has captured the imagination of more and more people. We may find it harder in the future to steer clear of these initiatives no matter how little our prep room work impacts the environment.
Click on the link below to view the piece in the NYT.
Baby Boom Ass-U-M-ptions
During the recent National Funeral Directors Association I found myself talking with a nationally recognized speaker in the funeral business. I had expressed my concerns about the future of my business and how it will function in the years ahead. This speaker kept tossing ideas in front of me trying to trip me up among them the idea that baby boomers had lots of money, more money than any previous generation blah blah blah.
The thing is, my business is located currently in old Northeastern blue collar towns. The baby boomers with the money have moved on to other places to spend their nest eggs. For the most part (and I think this is true of MOST FUNERAL DIRECTORS!!!!!!!!), I have basic bread and butter folks who don't understand or want all kinds of fancy and unless I am mistaken, other of life's expenses will tap out their nest eggs LONG before they call upon us for a funeral.
Does this mean we cannot succeed??? Not at all, it only means the the "easy" solutions that many of the pundits in our industry toss around will not apply to our average america places of business. And just for the record, when I began to describe the type of marketplace I must work with in the years ahead, the person I was speaking with got real quiet real fast.
In places like Phoenix and Ft. Lauderdale, the funeral business has LOTS of options because there IS lots of money and educated people around who will respond to well presented alternatives. But, in many parts of the country, those "left behind" in all these great retirement migrations won't have the means or the inclination to accept these more glamorous approaches. In those average america kinds of towns, we will have to run lean and listen carefully to find the simple solutions which will keep funeral homes in business.
In other words, don't make an ass of yourself by assuming that what works in Pheonix will work in your neighborhood. Maybe it will, but for many (most???) funeral homes, simpler solutions (and steady consolidation of locations) will have to do.
October 29, 2006 in Comments | Permalink | Comments (1)