0:00 The Timeless Business of Death 4:52 Two Decades of Decline 6:16 Ashes to Ashes 9:16 Fragmentation + Consolidation 12:58 Funeral Homes vs. Cemeteries 15:52 Impact of Cremation 17:02 Billion Dollar War Chest 19:24 Dust to Dust

I helped my grandmother pre-pay and arrange her funeral. She wanted a simple, inexpensive service with no embalming, no viewing, just a simple graveside service. It still cost about $6500. For my grandfather, funeral director was just a salesman. He actually tried to guilt us into buying all more expensive casket with the line “Don’t you think it’s what he would have wanted?” My mom, uncle and me all looked at each other for a min and started laughing. If my cheapskate grandpa had been there he would have been cussing the guy out.

I remember when my brother died we went to the funeral home that had his body and as we were going over cremation and urn options, I was surprised how many different urn and coffin choices and the mortician almost seemed more like a car salesman. It made my family a bit uncomfortable.

When my mom passed away we found the same guy who did my dad 30 years earlier. He still has his business name but it was just part of a big conglomerate now. Anyway he was an old timer and when we were thrashing over caskets he said: "Listen, mom wouldn't care if you put her in the cheap wooden box these caskets come in. These fancy caskets aren't for the dead, they are for the living. Just pick something, it will be fine no matter what"

We had little money when my brother passed. His kids went with cremation, and the business we used was a no-frills crematorium. The owner was a great guy. The cost was about as low as you can get away with... Just shy of $1000. We held no formal funeral, but had a family reunion where he was honored. His band buddies played his favorite things. He was a Neil Young fan.

you put a very positive spin on people purchasing their own funerals and highlight some of the positives for the business. A glaring negative, and why me and my family go this route is because the home can't pray on a grieving family. It's harder to upsell a living person on why a 60 sec limo ride from the funeral home to the grave, or a fancy gravestone is needed. Most of us want that money to go to the living, not decking out our grave.

My father was a mortician. Everyone loved him. I remember being picked up from school in a hearse or a limo lol. I’ve seen babies, brides, teens etc in caskets… played in show rooms or walking by the morgue and seeing an opened chest cavity coming from the medical examiner.he also played the organ so after waiting around for him to finish a body he would play before we left…. I miss him so much!!!! So many grave site stories lol he was the real mvp

I just had to make all the final plans and pay out of pocket for a relative who passed just away. They had no insurance or plans. I can’t tell you how stressful it is to have to make those plans for someone else, let alone have to pay for it. My husband and I are middle aged but we went ahead and planned our our funeral arrangements right down to eulogies and obituaries. Our kids won’t have to be burdened with these decisions as they have already been made and paid for.

A seriously underrated channel. I took Cornell summer business classes in marketing and operations last year online and the quality of explaining concepts and company operations matches if not surpasses this. No way this dude doesnt have 100K subs by the end of the year if not sooner.

Price gouging still goes on. It’s shameless! For a $1,700 casket and three hour visitation, the cost for my moms funeral cost me $14,000 in 2009. Outrageous!

We cremated and buried my grandfather in a ceramic cookie jar. He loved deserts and a good bargain so this honored his love of sweets and saved money. I think he would have gotten a chuckle out of that.

The main reason funeral homes will continue to decline is the fact that it is that people just can't afford to spend that money anymore on funerals. They just don't have it. The baby boomer generation is the last generation that has the retirement funds to spend on the expenses of a complex funeral. I myself have written in my will requesting to be cremated. I want no formal funeral ceremony, flowers, or anything complicated. I just want a few friends to come by and say their farewell if my wife survives me. If not, I have asked my son to take my ashes and scatter me somewhere near nature. When my father died I saw the type of scams the funeral directors pushed on my mother - high-priced casket, memorial flag (he was in the military), mausoleum cost, etc. They milked my mother for all they could get - so I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for this "vanishing" industry. They take advantage of people who are feeling grief and don't want to be seen as selecting the cheap option for the person they loved. So many times relatives choose the over-priced option because they want to show "respect".

Some states have legalized green burials, which is simply burying a body in the ground in a biodegradable shroud. This is probably the way dead human bodies have been taken care of for most of human history. Some states have also legalized human composting. These options give more bio friendly options and much lower costs. It's helpful to have more choices in death care.

Many years ago in my college days, I worked a part-time summer job as an usher in a funeral home. When the summer was over I went back to school. The lessson I learned was, funerals are for the living.

I think funeral homes take advantage of the families. We had to pay for my mother in laws and the way they try to guilt you into things not needed.

in 2009, my husband and I arranged our cremations/services and plans. Paying $800 each, our arrangements were finalized and paid within 3 years. He passed away in 2021...and while we paid $800, his cremation - no service, no urn, no obituary, no other need for the provider, the bill came to near $1,300. Certainly, we did well. I have no idea what my cremation will cost, but it's paid for, insured, and done. There's a bit of peace of mind in that...and the simple arrangements for our children/grands. We gathered 3 times at houses...and honestly were comfortable talking about/remembering him with each other. No public gatherings were needed, we felt, as we're quite private people.

Cost and creepiness are two factors why I’ve told my family to cremate me. We all have life insurance so “money isn’t a factor”, it just seems wasteful. That money can be used for my children’s education, a vacation, pay bills, whatever. Ive requested a memorial party at our friends favorite bar/restaurant, slide show to be played, music list, and my bits of my ashes spread in a couple special spots. Simple.

Death as the basis for an industry is sick and unsustainable. Families used to hold funerals in their living rooms , also known as the "parlor" . Hence the term "funeral parlor".

From 2006 to 2021 I worked for SCI as part of the care team. This department dealt directly with removals preparation, work, dressing, cosmetics and casketing. The first eight years I enjoyed it. But in the second quarter of 2014 is when things began to change. My department brought in extremely young and very flippant and unlicensed personnel. It was like a babysitting job from hell. Management would not back me up when they did wrong. Because they were paid less management seem to value them more and provide them with more clout. Also, in that time. We went from serving five locations to a grand total of 12 all in one care center designed to serve only one location. The things I’ve seen in those last seven years created in me a resolve to avoid using an SCI establishment. I actively discourage other people to do the same.

As a ten year old standing in front of my moms coffin looking at her and watching everyone else walk up and look I thought to myself how strange. I am 64 years old now and I still think it is a strange practice.

I buried three of my family members over time. I found that the funeral homes had only one important task. They wanted to take as much money from me as they could while I was grieving!

I'm 61 and have long been fascinated by the funeral business. In my lifetime, I've seen flowers at the funeral home go from spilling out into the hall to a handful of arrangements, with emphasis instead on donations in memory of. Far less funerals involve a trip to a church, which reduces cost. My mom is prepaying for hers which will be embalming, visitation, coffin, service at funeral home, while my wife and I are prepaying for a cremation with a service off premises, actually a picnic in the park if weather and season permits. Also, families are smaller, so less need for big rooms for visitation and service. With decreased burials, cemeteries are becoming financially unsustainable. I respect the work of morticians and would be one if I could go back in time, but I can't see spending half a years pay or so on a funeral

R.I.P. Ronald Lawrence LaPrice. Mr LaPrice wrote a song that has been played at everything from children's birthday parties, to wedding receptions all over the world. The song was "The Hokey Pokey". After his death, morticians at the funeral home had a very difficult time getting his body into the casket. They'd put his left foot in, he'd put his left foot out.......

The standard of living is declining in America so there are fewer people who can afford private funerals. There's always the county coroner's office that must dispose of dead bodies.

Went to federal once where a was a body shown in a casket and it freaked me out. All other funerals I've ever attended were ash ones and some them had more memorable requests tied to their death-wish... my family flew to Seattle to part our Grandma's and Aunt ashes into the waters of the Puget Sound. Had to do our research but we were able to work with the Seattle laws and make it happen. It felt like an adventure going there and I always thought I'd forget a funeral experience but it was pretty neat throwing biodegradable tiny bags of ashes into the waters. We blasted our smartphones with songs they liked too, it was different but I think funerals are ultimately for the living and I won't ever forget where they both were buried.

Ever since I was a kid, I found it bizarre that people gather in a room with a dead body. Why anyone would want the last memory of them that of being dead in a casket is morbid.

From the moment you are brought into this world to when you leave it you are ONE THING....A CONSUMER!

I never liked the fact that funeral homes made profits off of peoples death and misery. Some families have to scrimp and scrap to put these funerals together. Society almost guilts people into having the “traditional funeral” when cremation would be the better more financially way to go.

Been in funeral business long time. Death is often sudden. Morticians are on call day and night no matter the weather and all holidays. It takes "genuine" compassion to carry out the tasks of being a successful funeral director. It cannot be faked. Not all deaths are of an old or sick person that is soon to die. Many deaths are extremely tragic and sudden. Baby's die in cribs or are shaken to death, young and middle aged people commit suicide by hangings, self shootings or asphyxiations, toddlers die of ingesting poisonous items or fall from high places to their death, there are people that die in mass fires and vehicle collisions and are not recognizable or are dismembered, young soldiers suffer fatal disfigurement and are returned from wars. These are horrific tragedies that leave families and loved ones devastated and in vapid shock. It takes 100% honest care and heartfelt empathy of funeral directors to assist families and all those that loved a person that is "suddenly" gone. It cannot be faked. Funeral directors usher grieving people "through" the process of creating order out of shock and the confusion of grief and "present" them with the many varios options they may choose fitting and affordable for who they loved and lost. "Their" wishes/desires and what they want to spend is the desired result of what will please them in honoring their lost loved person. A funeral service that does not adhere to these principles does not provide sincere care and doesn't last long. They are the ones that thankfully and eventually get called out, lose their licensing and are closed.

Briefly worked at a funeral home. 3-5x markup is WAY under what I saw on caskets. The basic ones were 20x

Gee, ya think. They’ve priced themselves out of business. People are probably going for cheaper options. Weddings and funerals are both emotionally based , price gouging industries.

This channel is better than Dorsia on a Friday night. Seriously, keep cranking out the content. Your videos are some of my favorites to watch while building decks in my pajamas

I watched all of your other videos and was hoping for more. Cant wait to watch this one! Love your work, keep it up!!

I know the owner of our local funeral home. He’s a good man who was very flexible with us and considerate while taking care of the final affairs for my dad and brother.

Hi modern MBA you are very underrated hope to see you rise and grind into the future, not many good creators left on here

Interesting my Mom died last year at a cemetery (Rose Hills) owned by Service Corporation International and heard that her plot she purchased along time ago has increased in prices by a lot (more than regular housing). Guess like housing it depends on the area. My stepfather also prepaid this year for his headstone and services for future use. Sorry to sound crass but I thought it was a good idea with how fast inflation is rising.

Cremation doesn't create ashes, it creates bones. We don't find ashes that are millions of years old we find bones. The bones are put into a large blender and turned into a fine dust.

There is a prevailing ignorance concerning burial vs. cremation…this video to be included. People always compare a full traditional burial with direct cremation. People for some reason have absorbed a false knowledge (perpetuated by videos like this)in that you either purchases a full service burial or you go straight to the crematory. You don’t have just two choices…expensive or cheap. When comparing burial to cremation, a more appropriate comparison would be immediate/direct burial to direct cremation. People have developed a 2 pronged approach when purchasing. This just isn’t the case. It is like saying I am going to buy a car and thinking your only two choices are a rolls Royce or a Hyundai hatch back all the while ignoring all of the selections in between. When selecting a traditional burial…many more differences occur then burial/burning. A traditional burial affords the family a visitation/viewing, church/chapel service with graveside service to follow. Direct cremation skips all of this. You don’t have an any ceremonial, religious or public memorialization of the deceased. However, you can select all of this and then go to the crematory instead of a cemetery. The same is true to the inverse…you can go the burial route without all of the ceremonies which results in more comparative pricing to cremation. While I feel this video was fair and accurate about a lot of its points, it still exhibits this generalized, prevailing ignorance. Perhaps this is due to a lack in ability of the selected funeral home to explain such information. However, in my experience, people have already developed these opinions and views far in advance of the demise of their loved one. Another topic which makes funeral home owner’s toes to curl is when researchers,like the author of this video, select SCI as their example. They are the world’s largest CORPORATE conglomerate in the world. They own thousands of funeral homes globally. Here is the kicker…they are publicly traded and therefore are more worried about their bottom line. They have a board of directors which are beholden to shareholders. This is stark difference from your privately owned mom and pop locations. Comparing the two is like saying all of the business practices of wal mart are identical to your local hardware store resulting in similar offerings and quality of service. One more point to consider. There are three major life events which most people have to consider in their lifetimes. Birth, marriage /divorce and death. Name a ceremony or event which you can openly invite the public and it not affect the pricing? Funerals are the cheapest in that listed group. I will leave you with this. Think of a figure which you think is too much and then ask yourself this question. Would you do it for less? The funeral industry is one of the only industries which is non-government subsidized yet is required to be open 24-7, 365. Would you be willing to leave your family on Christmas morning to go and take care of the dead human remains if someone else’s loved one? Would you go at 3 o’clock in the morning to retrieve the decomposing body. Would you answer the call when you had plans to do something with your family only to have to go to the hospital to retrieve a still born baby for a grieving mother? People only see morticians at funerals, standing around hosting events. What they don’t understand is that 90% of the work has already occurred prior to the funeral. The 24-36 hour shifts through the night etc..etc. Funeral directors/embalmers are similar to doctors in that they are trusted with a person’s most prized possession…their loved one. However, morticians don’t get paid nearly as much as a doctor nor receive the adulation. For some reason, it is ok to charge a person to keep their loved ones alive, but is often frowned upon for funeral homes to provide a dignified and respectful disposition of that loved one after death. I hope this sheds some light on the subject.

My mother prepaid her funerall yet we had to fork over another $1100.00 to get her into the ground. We did not have a chapel service , only a graveside. They do prey on your grief. Cremation is definetely the way to go because you can take your time to get things done.

…’meta space cemetery prices’..phrases about such a concept’s possibility both morbidly fascinates me and tightens my gut as far as ‘what it meant to arrive at that point’..as far as this specific video goes the highlighting of a ‘micro-allocation of land’ actually being an element of real estate is appreciated

I'm now 65 and have been to the funeral home serval times to help make arrangements for dad brother sister aunt and uncle's it's always like they have you at a very vulnerable time and they take advantage these people are lower than the lowest car salesman

For two weeks, I tried to sell the pre-need funeral plans, plots & service. I just couldn't do it, it was all such a scam. In my family, all of he grandparents, aunts & uncles of both big families died - 18 deaths within my first 20 years. But my generation was DONE with the whole funeral scam. All of our generation now simply prepays our OWN cremations and gives that document packet to someone in the family that we're close to. Upon death, we invite the coworkers, family and friends over to honor the deceased one, and everyone brings a potluck. We will often do it at the lake. So much more comfortable for everyone in very casual dress, jeans, etc.. And we are Catholics. There should be no expenses for a loved one's death. There does not need to be a dog and pony show.

the same thing is happening to funeral homes that happened to bakery's shoe makers, family owned restaurants, small family owned grocery stores, hair salons etc

The content of these videos goes a little more in-depth than so many other alternatives. That's super valuable, thanks!

I've never understood people's morbid obsession with how we treat the dead. My family has always and still struggles to make ends meet every month. That's just the way it is. The very last thing I would ever want is for my surviving family members to spend any $$ at all on what I consider to be just a dead body. I've already paid for cremation and I've requested they simply sprinkle my ashes in the garden. I have friends who have paid enormous amounts for lavish funerals and others who keep dead loved one's ashes on a mantle or shelf in the house. In my mind it's a creepy human habit.

A mortician is a technician who handles the bodies, A funeral Director runs the transportation, displays and burial. [Yes, there are places where One person might do all the jobs. These people might be small, and/or non-UNION shops.]

I believe viewing the deceased is a HUGE part of the grieving process... Even if you need to rent a casket.. I want to be able to say my last “goodbyes” before they’re “gone forever.” I want to see them one last time....❤

These videos really are very information-dense and informative, I love it! Keep up the good work!

my father passed away, had funeral plots in 2 states. Found out they were resold. Not insurable after a certain age although paid in full. Cremated as a pauper or pay a ransom price. Predatory business practices

I’ve been ripped off by a funeral home….”don’t you want your dear mother in the best casket we have ?” Yeah…..sucker. Be careful folks❤️

Funeral Homes want your best! Your Money!

This video has answered every question that I've ever had about funeral homes, cemeteries 🪦 and the buisness of death ☠️. Very detailed and well explained. One of the best I've ever seen. Well done 👍🏿.

When I was vey young, I asked my mother that when she died, if she'd like to be buried or cremated. Her answer was both revealing and short: "I don't care, I won't be in it at that point..." I paid 1500 for a cremation and her remains are still in the box they put the ashes in, and it sits about 6 ft from me. Funerals are less for the dead and primarily for a form of closure for those left behind... The demise of the funeral home industry is a welcome riddance from society, as they are nothing more than vultures looking to make a buck off the grief of others.

10k to bury someone is insane, makes no sense at all. The requirements to imbalm and for concrete vaults. Amish make wooden coffins and No valt or imbalming. Not having to pay out 10k makes good sense.

Man in Bible: Let me go bury my father. Jesus: Let the dead bury their own dead, come with me.

Because the costs of a standard funeral are now approaching 15k, more people are opting for cremation and buying their urns on Amazon. They have priced themselves out of their own market.

Great work. Surprised by the trends here. Also I know you verbally mentioned that there has been no meaningful increase nor decrease in spend for funeral service, but Service Corp Int’s bar graph at 16:15 should start at $0, else the ~$300 drop seems larger than life. I wonder how I should tell them… through seance?

Human nature being what it is, don't be surprised to see the cost of cremation rise to the cost of a regular funeral.

People can barely afford to live, let alone die in this society.

Funerals are too expensive. My mom bought her husband (my step dad) a nice casket with the savings they had, and a nice funeral, but when my mom died, she was cremated, and there was no funeral. My mom was an unselfish person. I can't wait to see her again. My wife and I have decided on being cremated. This is to lessen any financial burden on the one that survives.

"Our national death cult has been producing more bodies year over year, why in the world aren't the funeral directors getting rich as expected?"

My mom wanted a big fancy funeral. Only thing is, she put my cheapskate sister in charge. Made her executor of her estate. My sister had my mom buried in a cardboard box. No open casket. Very small headstone. That way she could pocket the rest of the money in the bank, which is what she did. If my mom knew this was how her body was going to be treated, she would have been furious. I think it's incredibly funny.

This is such a remarkable channel. Believe me man, you will make it big soon. Amazing research!

Funeral industry preys on grieving families.

One could say that the bussiness is being put too rest

Everyone to should preplan and prepay for their own funeral before they die. Lock in the cost of the funeral home and get exactly what you and your loved ones want in a meaningful service. Stop being afraid to talk about death and prepare for it through estate planning and end of life planning.

My late Dad paid on a policy with the funeral home for decades - assured it would cover all costs. After his funeral, we got a bill for over one thousand dollars, including $400 for “coffee service.” Funeral homes have been gouging grieving families for years.

I arranged both my grandparents cremations. The ashes came back to me. There was no funeral. My family came together and we scattered the ashes. When Grampie died it cost me a little over 1000 and about 20 years later Gramie died it cost me about 2000.00. Never understood having a fancy hideously expensive coffin. Literally it will be seen for the viewing and funeral, also very expensive, and then never seen again!

Ha ha reminds me of when I used to watch the show 6 Feet Under. The family in that show went through declining sales, family disinterest in carrying on the business, loss to cremation and an agressive (and shady) buy out attempt from a funeral home conglomerate that tried to put them out of business. It also covered what it's like having to let strangers into your home for services and dealing with bodies (and health violations) in their basement.

I have specified in my will that anyone who engages a funeral home for my funeral will be disinherited. I know that sounds strange, so let me explain why. When my grandpa on my mom side died, he had pre-paid for his funeral and burial plot. My uncle lived next-door to him, and my uncle had severe dyslexia that made him functionally illiterate. When tested, he read at the second grade level. Everyone in the small town where he lived knew about this, and the funeral Director had known our family well for a long time. Right after my grandpas death, before we could yet Into town to help my uncle, the funeral Director had talked my uncle into $10,000 more of services and property, most of all a very fancy casket. The funeral Director lied about what was covered in the contract for my grandpa’s burial, and when we objected to the increased expenditures, we were told that my uncle had already signed the paperwork and that it couldn’t be undone. I believe that was vampiric on someone who was grieving terribly since the death was sudden. I won’t allow that to happen to my family when I die. I have plans in place for cremation, and the ashes are to be returned in a cardboard box, not a fancy urn. My memorial service will be done in our home, and if I could, I just have my family hire a backhoe and bury me in the backyard. I hate the idea of paying for any services related to my death that are not absolutely necessary. I don’t even like going into funeral homes for other peoples services because of the bad taste in my mouth when my grandpa died. My opinion is that funeral directors are more like used cars salesman that prey on their customers ignorance and pain.

Here in Australia the funeral business is now run by a few large companies, which leads to less flexibility in what the customer wants.

As a native, I'm so glad that our tribe has a funeral insurance for us, but as the years go my, I noticed that the prices have gone up in years,

Municipalities can help, at least in one way, to minimize costs. In my town, an urn lot is only $75, and the burial cost for an urn is $50. Full burials are more expensive, as they involve a cement vault and the use of heavy equipment. The town appropriates funds to maintain the cemeteries, and there are trust funds to supplement them. However, these "bargains" are available to town residents and their descendants only.

I work for the vault company that supplies the vaults and tent services for snyder funeral homes here in ohio. Thats crazy seeing there pictures. Its a small world lol.

My Dad paid for everything, the cheapest way, no embalming, which meant he had to be buried within a few days of death and we couldn't pay extra for embalming because his wish was not to be. Regardless, it made everything easy for us and they couldn't take advantage of us. Thoughtful to the very end.

It really angered me that a week before I turned 65 I got an advertisement from one of these ghouls. Don't know if they get the names from people who apply for Medicare or some other source, but it was in extremely bad taste.

Thanks for posting this video. You definitely buried the lede at the end and could have titled this "This company banks $14 billion on the business of death" since it's astonishing for a company to hold so much prepaid money that it doesn't have to spend for years, even decades. I think you did a good job trying to tie a lot of different facts together which come from a lot of different pieces of this large industry puzzle. I'm curious if Service Corporation has grown these assets especially in the last few years, and also how this is affected by markets like real estate, since after all cemeteries can run out of space, or have to start building "up" into less attractive mausoleums. lots to dig in there that I think reveals a changing industry just as much as the shift toward cheaper options like cremation. The bottom line to me though, and what could have been stated more strongly in the essay, is that while "death" as a premise is going up in demand what also really matters is the commodity's intrinsic value to the customer, and whether there are disruptors or competitors which affect that intrinsic value. You can take, for instance, consumer electronics as an equivalent industry (IBM vs. clones driving up demand but huge competition/cost crash), and diamonds/jewelry as perhaps a foil industry (still very valuable even as low cost alternatives emerge). Trends drive cost just as much as demand. Also just so you know, this video was flooded with stats, but very few visualizations which made is harder to follow than past videos. Some things you could have visualized to help tell the narrative better were - A diagram / flowchart of the burial vs. cremation process. - line item breakdowns or more structured summaries - could pull specific examples of stats for a given city/zip vs. generalized average costs nationwide

I remember when my mother died they brought us to the $8,000 coffins - are you fuckin nuts?? Made her show us to the cheaper coffins under $1000. It’s disgusting how they target grieving families who don’t know any better

"The Business of Death" - is such a wide market, insurance, antiques, property renovation, funeral directors, religion. Can't imagine how much money is made every year from death.

Its a mistake for the death industry to think innovation is over. There is a lot that can be done for the future. Supporting other means of body disposal such as composting or "natural" burials would be a good idea.

What a splendid channel! Have been watching your channel since your first video!! Fully expect your channel to grow like crazy.. please keep up the great work. If you had to list out your favourite sources to learn about analysing business strategy, what would they be?

We discussed what we wanted to do prior to our deaths, we had been to several funerals and decided lining the pockets of funeral directors, ministers, reception hall space, and caterers was not what we wanted; better to leave that money to the surviving partner so life would be easier for the loved one left behind. That was just us, do what's best for you.

Nope. I'll be buried within 24 hours, without embalming, in a canvas bag, in a green cemetery in a wooded area. No fuss; no drawn-out ceremony. My soul will be long gone, and burial won't matter. Of course if the Lord returns, I may be able to avoid it all and just get gathered up. ✝️🌟🥳😇

I never liked cremation until my husband passed.. it was a horrible expense. It took me forever on a widows pension to pay for it. Since then, I told my kids to cremate me and to Bury me atop my loving husband. ❤️

So. The funeral business is bust and we just had the world's deadliest pandemic?!? What are we missing here?

In the past the price on the casket included everything, but this led to hidden charges for services, so funeral homes were then required to make certain services optional; i.e. limousines, use of funeral home for visitations, transport of body to funeral home and to burial, all these became billed as independent services to stop excessive hidden charges. While a measure taken to give more options and limit cost, but now each part of the package goes up and up. Cremation does impact funeral business, and in the future more natural burials will begin to happen and funeral directors will lose that section of profit making. In the old days, bodies were brought to the home for viewing, etc. There are also more methods of cremation becoming available that do not require burning the body. So really big changes are coming down the road. This will also impact cemeteries and use of vaults, etc. It will be amazing to see what’s coming down the road. Funeral homes in the past were more able to stay focused on providing genuine care, but that is less and less possible. Corporate institutions brought a focus on profits above all else. Some states do require a funeral director signature on death certificates, but that could easily go away. Services can easily happen in churches and other religious institutions where viewing can also be provided, most often free of charge or a minimal charge for non members. Many churches also have burial spaces for cremains, and some even have cemeteries for lost cost or no cost. When you realize limousines and hearses cost close to 100 grand new, you see how much overhead accompanies the business. I suspect we will not recognize the business not far in the future.

Not to mention, where I live, it’s totally legal to bury someone on your property!

I'm 76 now, and I've always wanted to be cremated. No family home or ties. All famiy and friends are gone, so why spend money on me??

I don't get why you only have few thousands views on this video (and channel as a whole). Keep it up!

I don't care what happens to my body when I die and do't see the need for a funeral.

We will still support our local funeral home when the time comes because my family doesn't believe in cremation. It violates our religious beliefs. We are already prepaying for my husband's funeral costs with burial insurance. So we will not have to worry about it when the time comes. For us, a funeral still involves a trip to church because we have a traditional Requiem Mass and then a procession to the cemetery. It isn't just the baby boomers who need funerals. My husband is 51. We were told by his doctor that he is a high risk of dying from his medical conditions within the next 10 years.. and that was 6 years ago. People die at any age. Even young, fit, sports professionals have been dropping dead lately. Unknown sudden adult death syndrome is a real thing in post Covid society.

Very interesting video, thank you. I always knew being a mortician is lucrative. To me it is respecting the dead, someone’s beloved. Thanks again.

Would have been interesting to also analyze the cremation diamond industry to see if that has had an impact as well.

I’m actually shocked Service Corp doesn’t count the pre-pay accounts in its books as “mark to market” the same way Enron did.

In the wild west, it was a pine box and a trip to boot hill. Total cost to the country $10.

The reason the funeral homes , are vanishing, it cost to much money to go to Mortician school , the high cost of buying out an retired funeral director , and the high cost of set up. This is ridiculous in the USA & else where. The greedy funeral directors & staff, are pricing themselves out of business !!!!!!!!! AND THEY WILL !!!!!!!! Kevin Phoenix

The SCI scam was reported way back in the late 80's. Made my decision for cremation easy. Ashes into Lake Superior.

Went to a cremation burial last August. After the cremation the expenses were about: $20 for the toolbox the family put the ashes in and a $25 fee for paperwork at the cemetery. The family dug the hole on the grandfather's grave themselves, deposited the "urn" refilled the hole. They could have bought a plot for an additional $25.00. You can't say they overspent, you just have to know how and where to do this.

it's a good business. People are just dying to get in....

Thanks for providing more info on this, might help in considerations after loved one is deceased.