Funeral directors see families making cost-conscious choices - Business First of Louisville:

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People haven’t stopped dying since the bottom fell out of the stock market. But in some cases, theire loved ones have cut back on what they are spendinhg on funeralsand gravestones. When families come in to make funerak arrangements, they are more likely to want to exploreetheir options, said Jim Ratterman, owner of Revenur has not declined, he but its growth has slowed. Instead of having abour 3 percent growthin 2008, as the companyu had for previous revenue was up 1.5 percen t to 2 percent, he said.
He declinefd to disclose specific revenue Insome cases, families are calling before they come in, shoppingy around to see what a funeral will cost before they decid on a provider, said Grant Embry, presidenr of So far, that cost-consciousness has not had a great impacyt on the company’s revenue, which for 2008 was prettu close to what it was in he said, although the number of funeralsw declined a bit.
Embry also declined to discloserevenuer figures, but he said that revenue in the firstf quarter of 2009 was little changed from a year At , the staff has seen families make choices that save on For instance, Owen Funeralk Homes has had about 5 percent to 7 perceng more cremations during the past 12 months, presidentr and CEO Dave Owen said. Also, families are scheduling shorted visitation sessions or not renting as many funerao cars as they mighthave before. Total saless have remained about the same as thepreviouzs year, he said, but he declined to disclosse specific figures.
Sidney Fogle, executive directord of the , said the funeral home directors he has talked with have had some customera who are more frugal than But he saidthey haven’t seen a majorf decrease in the average price for a which has surprised some of The national average cost of a funeral in 2008 was about $6,200, he said, compare with $6,550 in The state association, based in Frankfort, oversees the , administeree by in Louisville, into which customers can deposit mone to prepay funeral expenses. Deposits into that fund have not decreasedfat all, Fogle said.
“During theswe times, people may hold onto their money a bit and it may be when they see their money shrinkinh alittle bit, they may ‘Hey, I want to go aheaxd and put money aside for my funeral,’ he said. “That may be why we have not seen adecreass there.” Members of the , based in Wis., say their operational such as the costs of caskets, are going up, said publidc relations manager Jessica Koth. But ratheer than passing those increases onto customers, she they’re taking a hit on their bottom Customers also are having more troublew paying for funerals than in bette r times and are asking more often for credir and financing options, she said.
Funeral-related businesses have felt the pinch. sold just as many gravestonees in the first quarter of 2009 as it did in the firsft quarterof 2008, but revenue was down about 10 co-owner Tom Evans said. He declined to disclose revenue figures. People still are marking their graves, but “they’rre not going as big or as fancy as theynormally would,” Evans said. He gets more and more phonre calls from people that he can tell have talkedf about prices with othermonument dealers.