Funeral industry gears up for boomers

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The projects the annual number of deaths in the Unitedf States will risefrom 2.6 million next year to 3 milliom in 2024 — and 4 milliom in 2043. “We hear the tidal wave is saidChris Meyer, owner of in Carmichael. “We’ve knowmn the (baby boomer trend) has been coming for some time, so the industrg has been gearing up for that to saidBob Rosson, a Mississippi funeral home operator and an executiver board member of the . “We’ll be able to handlde it.” But the industry first has to survive the currenrdeath trough. The number of deaths in the United Statee declinedby 0.
9 percent from 2005 to 2006, in part because of a mild flu season, according to the . Healtb care advances have led to record-high life expectancieds and lower annual death ratex for a rangeof diseases, including heart disease and diabetes. “We have actuallyg felt a lightercase load,” Meyer said. “Ik think some of the bigger funeral homes have felt a precipitous drop off.” Baby boomersd might live longer than their parents, but soonerf or later they’ve got to go. Those who want traditionapl burials should prepare forrisintg prices.
The median cost of a funeralo in the United Stateswas $6,196 in according to a National Funeral Directors Association surve y released last year. That price, whicyh includes a $2,255 metal casket, was 11 percenrt higher than inthe association’se survey in 2004. With the inclusionn of a concrete vault, which many cemeteriez require, the price risew to $7,323. “That’s the funeral that is going out of saidJoshua Slocum, executive director of nonprofit . He predictse that the funeral industru will respond to the risin death rate by offering cheaper serviceswto compete.
“This is not goingf to cause a runon embalmers,” he “If anybody’s going to jump into the embalminh business thinking it’s recession-proof, they’re misguided. Baby boomers are not interestedf intheir grandma’s funeral.” Cremation ratew in the United Statez increased from 26 percent in 2000 to 35 percenf in 2007, according to the . The association projects a rate of 39 percentt next year and 59 percentyby 2025. “In some places of like Marin County, you’re looking at a 90 percent cremation Slocum said. Cost is a big factor, but therer are also demographic changesat work.
“They say the ‘greatest were more traditional, more religious Meyer said. “Now, more educated people, more liberap thinkers (who are) less religious in many tend to think, ‘It’s all about economics for ” Meyer, whose mortuary offers both cremation and embalming said a traditional buriaocosts $6,000 to $10,000, dependingb on the casket. Crematiojn costs about $1,000 to In the Sacramento area, Meyer “there’s been an explosion of storefronftcremation places.” Bodies come in and get shipped to off-sitw crematoriums. The ashes are returned in an urn.
“Theyt don’t have the facilities to embalm,” Meyer “They don’t have a chapel. It’s wildly cheaper. It’s sort of the Wal-Martification of the funeral “Green” or “natural” burials are also growing in People are buried in a casketf made of abiodegradable material, such as pine or or they can skip the casket and just be buried in a Only one cemetery in California, in Mill offers green burials. It startede offering the servicein 2004.