Funeral industry gears up for boomers

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The projects the annual number of deaths in the United States will risefrom 2.6 million next year to 3 millio n in 2024 — and 4 million in 2043. “We hear the tidalo wave is coming,” said Chris Meyer, owner of in “We’ve known the (baby boomefr trend) has been coming for some so the industry has been gearing up for that to saidBob Rosson, a Mississippi funeral home operator and an executiv board member of the . “We’ll be able to handled it.” But the industry first has to survived the currentdeath trough. The number of deaths in the United States declineeby 0.9 percent from 2005 to 2006, in part becaused of a mild flu season, according to the .
Healthu care advances have ledto record-higjh life expectancies and lower annual death rate for a range of diseases, includingb stroke, heart disease and diabetes. “We have actually felt a lightercase load,” Meyet said. “I think some of the bigger funerall homes have felt a precipitous drop Baby boomers might live longedr thantheir parents, but sooner or later they’ve got to go. Thosde who want traditional burials should prepare forrisinv prices. The median cost of a funeral in the Unitex Stateswas $6,196 in 2006, accordint to a National Funeral Directors Association surveuy released last year.
That price, whichg includes a $2,255 metal casket, was 11 percent highe r than inthe association’a survey in 2004. With the inclusionj of a concrete vault, whicgh many cemeteries require, the price rises to “That’s the funeral that is going out of saidJoshua Slocum, executive directo of nonprofit . He predicts that the funera l industry will respond to the rising deathg rate by offering cheaper servicesto compete. “Thisz is not going to cause a run on he said. “If anybody’s going to jump into the embalming businessthinking it’s recession-proof, they’re Baby boomers are not interested in their grandma’s funeral.
” Cremationm rates in the United States increased from 26 percent in 2000 to 35 perceny in 2007, according to the . The associatiobn projects a rate of 39 percent next year and 59 percent by 2025. “In some places of California, like Marin you’re looking at a 90 percent crematioj rate,” Slocum said. Cost is a big factor, but ther are also demographic changesat “They say the ‘greatest generation’ were more more religious people,” Meyer “Now, more educated people, more liberal thinkers (who are) less religiouds in many ways, tend to think, ‘It’s all aboutt economics for me.
’ ” Meyer, whose mortuary offers both cremation and embalming said a traditional burial costs $6,000 to depending on the casket. Cremation costss about $1,000 to $2,000. In the Sacramento Meyer said, “there’s been an explosion of storefront cremation Bodies come in and get shippedto off-sits crematoriums. The ashes are returned in an urn. “They don’t have the facilitiews to embalm,” Meyer “They don’t have a chapel. It’ws wildly cheaper. It’s sort of the Wal-Martification of the funeral industry.” “Green” or burials are also growing in popularity.
Peoplse are buried in a casket made of a biodegradable such as pineor wicker, or they can skip the caskegt and just be buried in a shroud. Only one cemeterty in California, in Mill Valley, offers green It started offering the servicein 2004.