Funeral Words

Rental Cake???

We long ago got used to the idea of rental caskets for use in the funeral home. Now would you believe that a market has developed in the wedding world for rental cakes?!?

Yes, just a few minutes ago I heard an interview on the American Public Media show Marketplace with Susan Lobsinger who has made standard wedding cakes for 30 years and who stumbled into this idea of providing rental cakes a few years ago. She had noticed brides looking for ways to cut back on wedding expenses (smaller cakes, less detail) and began offering this as an alternative. It has taken a little time to catch on of course but she says demand has more than doubled in the last year

They build most of the cake pieces out of styrofoam and layer that with real icing to create the appearance of a cake ready to serve two hundred or more. In the back, they have a cutout section where they blend in a small portion of real cake for ceremonial purposes. Once the cake cutting finishes, the rental cake gets rolled out of the ball room and the wait staff serves pieces out of regular sheet pans. A little bait and switch magic in the midst of wedding time.

The picture above, which I downloaded from their website, will give you an idea of the detail in the finishe product--quite amazing. If you would like to know more, follow these links:

Marketplace: Audio and Text Transcript of the Rental Cake Interview

Rent the Cake of Your Dreams Website

Download rent-a-cake_brochure.pdf

See, funeral service is NOT the only ceremonial event where families look to contain costs. Everyone must face the same sorts of challenges.

When Should We Hire the Travel Agent

The article linked below says nothing about funerals. However, it does talk about a growing trend in celebrations among the richest Americans: holding an anniversary or birthday house party in some exotic or romantic location, not alone either but with flying in a group of friends to participate.

New York Times: Making the House Party a Movable Feast

As I have said many times before, none of this helps average Joe funeral director in Peoria, IL. Still, a few funeral homes in the highest income neighborhoods of this country might make a splash by organizing the same sort of destination event for memorialization purposes.

Unfortunately, the haves and the have-nots of this country continue to grow further and further apart. What will work in service to the elite of this country will not trickle down all that well.

Funeral Business in the Movies Again

A new film opening this Friday, includes another Hollywood peek at the funeral business. From watching the trailer, You Kill Me tells the hard luck story of Frank (Ben Kingsly) who works as a hit man for the Polish mob in Buffalo but gets shipped out to San Francisco when his drinking gets in the way of his work. There he enters AA, starts working at a "mortuary" where he falls in love with Laurel (Tea Leoni), which eventually leads to her assisting Frank in his return to the old neighborhood.

Billed as a comedy, the trailer certainly looks silly enough though it is very hard to tell whether the story works from a 90 second clip. The prep-room quips look thoroughly off color anyway. If I have time to see over the weekend, I will certainly give you a little more feedback.

As always, reader oppinions and experiences with the film welcome. Just leave a post below.

Here's the film website:

You Kill Me

Cemeteries in the Way of Progress

The New York Times recently ran an article about increasing encroachment of land develpment upon old family cemeteries. You can find it by following this link:

New York Times: New Homes Confront Old Burial Grounds

American Funeral Director Electronic--Demo Edition

Kates-Boylston, publisher of the American Funeral Director Magazine, has put out a demo electronic edition for funeral directors to evaluate. On screen it looks like a miniature version of the print edition which you can zoom in and read at full size. You can take look by following this link:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/katesboylston/afd-demo/index.php

It worked fine on my browser (Internet Explorer 7). I would be interested to see how you respond to the format. Feel welcome to leave a comment. Anything you post here I will pass along to Kates-Boylston to help them evaluate their electronic concept.

Got to Have Structure

Here's a great piece of writing about the need for heirarchy in all sorts of organizational situations and that definitely includes running funeral homes.

Very short and to the point, well worth the few minutes it will take to read.

http://conniff.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/06/18/egalitarian-tall-tales/

One More Thing to Add to the Mix

Or -- Why we all need bigger funeral homes.

AP: Graduation Webcasts Bridge Distances

The link above will take you to an Associated Press story about the use of internet "webcasts" at graduation ceremonies both high school and college.

It does not sound as though the practice has become widespread. Still, the concept will continue to spread. Perhaps some consumers may actually show up and ask whether you Mr. Funeral Director can put Aunt Millie's service up on the web for her neice and nephew to see half way around the world. I would particulary expect to see this happen in technology regions and near multi-national corporations, where collaboarative work occurs literally around the globe.

And what does this have to do with larger funeral homes? Simply that like many of the hundreds of other consumer needs we have seen crop up in recent years, it takes staff time and expertise to make one of these webcasts work. That time and expertise does not come without a true financial cost and someone has to pay for that. The more funerals you handle, the more opportunities you have to spread those costs and to utilize the expertise.

Also note from the article, that even with 1,177 graduates, only about 125 people logged in to see someone cross the stage. Don't expect that your funeral home webcast will draw very much attention for a ceremony centered around just ONE person. If the person lived at a nursing home, assisted living facility, or spent regular time at a senior center of one kind or anther, you might be able to set up some equipment so that those folks could share in the funeral as a group. But again, the costs of making the broadcast happen just jumped a whole lot more.