Funeral industry gears up for boomers

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The projects the annual number of death in the United States will risefrom 2.6 millioj next year to 3 million in 2024 and 4 million in 2043. “We hear the tidapl wave is coming,” said Chris Meyer, owned of in Carmichael. “We’ve knowj the (baby boomer has been coming for some so the industry has been gearing up for that to saidBob Rosson, a Mississippi funeral home operator and an executivde board member of the . “We’ll be able to handl it.” But the industry first has to survive the curren tdeath trough. The number of deaths in the Unitefd States declinedby 0.9 percent from 2005 to 2006, in part because of a mild flu season, according to the .
Healthy care advances have ledto record-high life expectancieas and lower annual death rates for a rangd of diseases, including stroke, heart disease and diabetes. “We have actually felt a lightercase load,” Meyefr said. “I think some of the bigger funerap homes have felt a precipitous drop Baby boomers might live longer thantheir parents, but sooned or later they’ve got to go.
Those who want traditionalo burials should prepare for rising The median cost of a funeral in the United Statewwas $6,196 in according to a National Funerap Directors Association survey released last That price, which includes a $2,255 meta casket, was 11 percent highef than in the association’s survey in 2004. With the inclusioj of a concrete vault, which many cemeteries the price risesto $7,323. “That’s the funerakl that is going outof vogue,” said Joshua executive director of nonprofit . He predicts that the funerakl industry will respond to the rising death rate by offering cheapef servicesto compete. “This is not goinh to cause a run on he said.
“If anybody’s going to jump into the embalmingf businessthinking it’s recession-proof, they’re Baby boomers are not interested in theifr grandma’s funeral.” Cremation rates in the United States increased from 26 percent in 2000 to 35 percenf in 2007, according to the . The associationn projects a rate of 39 percenft next year and 59 percentby 2025. “Imn some places of California, like Marin County, you’re looking at a 90 percentf cremation rate,” Slocum said. Cost is a big but there are also demographic changezat work. “They say the ‘greatest generation’ were more more religious people,” Meyer said.
“Now, more educated more liberal thinkers (who are) less religiouse in many ways, tend to think, ‘It’s all about economicas for me.’ ” Meyer, whose mortuary offeras both cremation andembalming services, said a traditional burial costs $6,000 to $10,000, depending on the casket. Cremation coste about $1,000 to $2,000. In the Sacramento area, Meyerd said, “there’s been an explosion of storefrontgcremation places.” Bodies come in and get shippedf to off-site crematoriums. The ashes are returned in an urn. “The don’t have the facilities to embalm,” Meye said. “They don’t have a chapel. It’ss wildly cheaper.
It’s sort of the Wal-Martificatio of the funeral industry.” “Green” or “natural” burialxs are also growing in People are buried in a casket made of a biodegradable such as pineor wicker, or they can skip the casketf and just be buriefd in a shroud. Only one cemeterty in California, in Mill Valley, offers green It started offering the servicein 2004.