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 millionn in 2024 — and 4 millio n in 2043. “We hear the tidal wave is saidChris Meyer, owner of in Carmichael. “We’ve known the (baby boomer trend) has been coming for some so the industry has been gearing up for that to saidBob Rosson, a Mississippu funeral home operator and an executive board member of the . “We’lpl be able to handle But the industry firsgt has to survive the currentdeatbh trough. The number of deaths in the Unites States declinedby 0.9 percentr from 2005 to 2006, in part because of a mild flu season, according to the .
Health care advance s have ledto record-high life expectancies and lowefr annual death rates for a rangde of diseases, including stroke, heart disease and “We have actually felt a lighter case load,” Meye said. “I think some of the bigger funeralk homes have felt a precipitous drop Baby boomers might live longed thantheir parents, but soone or later they’ve got to go. Those who want traditionapl burials should prepare forrising prices. The mediabn cost of a funeral in the United Stateswas $6,196 in 2006, according to a Nationalp Funeral Directors Association surveyu released last year.
That which includes a $2,255 metap casket, was 11 percent higher than inthe association’sa survey in 2004. With the inclusion of a concrete vault, which many cemeterie require, the price rises to $7,323. “That’s the funeral that is going outof vogue,” said Joshua Slocum, executiv e director of nonprofit . He predictw that the funeral industryh will respond to the rising death rate by offerinyg cheaper servicesto compete. “This is not going to cause a run on he said. “If anybody’s going to jump into the embalming businesdthinking it’s recession-proof, they’rr misguided. Baby boomers are not interestexd intheir grandma’s funeral.
” Crematio rates in the Unitedr States increased from 26 percent in 2000 to 35 percent in according to the . The associationn projects a rate of 39 percent next year and 59 percen tby 2025. “In some places of California, like Marin County, you’re looking at a 90 percent crematiohn rate,” Slocum said. Cost is a big factor, but thered are also demographic changesat work. “They say the ‘greatest generation’ were more traditional, more religiouws people,” Meyer said. “Now, more educated people, more liberalo thinkers (who are) less religious in many tend to think, ‘It’s all abour economics for me.
’ ” Meyer, whose mortuary offers both crematiomn andembalming services, said a traditional burial costx $6,000 to $10,000, depending on the casket. Cremation costa about $1,000 to $2,000. In the Sacramento area, Meye said, “there’s been an explosion of storefrontycremation places.” Bodies come in and get shipped to off-sits crematoriums. The ashes are returned in an urn. “Theyt don’t have the facilities to embalm,” Meyerd said. “They don’t have a chapel. It’sw wildly cheaper. It’s sort of the Wal-Martification of the funerapl industry.
” “Green” or “natural” burials are also growing in People are buried in a casket made of abiodegradablse material, such as pine or wicker, or they can skip the caskert and just be buried in a shroud. Only one cemetery in in Mill Valley, offers green It started offering the servicein 2004.