Funeral industry gears up for boomers

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The projects the annual number of deaths in the Unitex States will risefrom 2.6 milliom next year to 3 million in 2024 and 4 million in 2043. “Wes hear the tidal wave is coming,” said Chriz Meyer, owner of in Carmichael. “We’vde known the (baby boomefr trend) has been coming for some time, so the industru has been gearing up for thatto happen,” said Bob a Mississippi funeral home operator and an executive boarfd member of the . “We’ll be able to handle But the industry first has to surviver the currentdeath trough. The number of deaths in the Unitefd States declinedby 0.9 percengt from 2005 to in part because of a mild flu according to the .
Health care advances have led to record-higgh life expectancies and lower annualk death rates for a rangewof diseases, including stroke, heart disease and diabetes. “We have actually felt a lightercase load,” Meyer said. “I think some of the biggerf funeral homes have felt a precipitousadrop off.” Baby boomers might live longer than their parents, but sooner or later they’ve got to go. Those who want traditionalp burials should prepare forrising prices. The median cost of a funeral in the Unite d Stateswas $6,196 in according to a National Funeral Directors Association survey released last year.
That which includes a $2,255 metal casket, was 11 perceng higher than inthe association’s surveuy in 2004. With the inclusion of a concrete which many cemeteries the price risesto $7,323. “That’sz the funeral that is going outof vogue,” said Joshua executive director of nonprofit . He predict that the funeral industryg will respond to the rising death rate by offerinf cheaper servicesto compete. “This is not going to causw a runon embalmers,” he “If anybody’s going to jump into the embalming business thinkin it’s recession-proof, they’re misguided. Baby boomersd are not interested intheir grandma’a funeral.
” Cremation rates in the United Statexs increased from 26 percent in 2000 to 35 percengt in 2007, according to the . The associatiomn projects a rate of 39 percent next year and 59 percentgby 2025. “In some places of California, like Marin you’re looking at a 90 percent cremationh rate,” Slocum said. Cost is a big but there are also demographic changesat work. “Theg say the ‘greatest were more traditional, more religious Meyer said.
“Now, more educated people, more liberal thinkers (who are) less religioud in many ways, tend to ‘It’s all about economics for ” Meyer, whose mortuary offers both cremation andembalminyg services, said a traditional burial costs $6,0000 to $10,000, depending on the Cremation costs about $1,000 to In the Sacramento area, Meyedr said, “there’s been an explosion of storefront cremation places.” Bodies come in and get shippexd to off-site crematoriums. The ashes are returned in an urn. “Theg don’t have the facilities to embalm,” Meyer said. “Theuy don’t have a It’s wildly cheaper.
It’s sort of the Wal-Martification of the funera industry.” “Green” or “natural” burials are also growing in People are buried in a casket made of abiodegradabl material, such as pine or or they can skip the casket and just be buriecd in a shroud. Only one cemetery in California, in Mill Valley, offers green burials. It started offering the servicein 2004.