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Read what the Daily Bulletin thought about us.
Douglas Lada, founder of Cucamonga Mortuary, is one of the new breed of funeral directors who offer competitive pricing compared to traditional-style funeral homes.
Thomas R Cordova/Correspondent
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Published Monday, October 23, 2000
Funeral homes fight to follow trends
By Kevin Smith
Staff Writer
George Prather can remember a time when nearly all funeral services were
alike. "You'd have a funeral chapel, a casket and a minister who'd preach
from the Scriptures," said Prather, vice president of the California
Funeral Directors Association. "There was very little said about the
deceased. But now we're seeing a trend toward services that are more
personalized."
And that's just one of the changes that have taken place in the
multibillion-dollar industry. As more options become available to bereaved
consumers, funeral homes are fighting to remain competitive.
Discount casket stores, cremation services, Internet marketing and funeral
homes that lack on-site chapels, but still provide services, are posing a
threat to more traditional, full-service mortuaries, Pry said.
"It makes us pay attention because people are looking for alternatives,"
he said. "We need to be aware of what they are charging so we can offer
prices that are competitive. It makes us better business people."
Douglas Lada, who founded Cucamonga Mortuary in Rancho Cucamonga a year
ago, is among the new breed of funeral directors.
Lada's mortuary doesn't have a chapel. But that hasn't slowed him down.
Lada also offers name brand caskets at a discount through
atcostcaskets.com, a Web-based company affiliate. It's his way, he says,
of competing with the cut-rate prices that are being offered at casket
stores.
"They can provide caskets at a much lower cost," he said. "The average
markup on a casket at a mortuary is 300 percent, but at casket stores it's
only 100 percent to 150 percent."
Lada said his Internet-based store gives clients an even better deal.
"The prices on my Web site are marked up $200, but if people use my
services I take the $200 off, so they can get a casket at cost," he said.
"I started the Web site in July, and I've sold about 30 that way."
Consolidation also plays heavily into the funeral industry.
In recent years, many family-owned funeral homes were bought up by large
corporations. Only 15 percent of the nation's 22,000 mortuaries are publicly held. But
they control about 25 percent of the funeral business, according to Greg
Abbott, general manager of Monterey-based Abbott & Hast Publications Inc.,
which publishes Mortuary Management magazine.
"They control so much because when they were in the midst of buying they
concentrated on purchasing high-volume funeral homes," he said.
With more money behind them, larger funeral homes can afford to offer
expanded services. More importantly, they are able to extend their
influence further into the communities that they serve.
"We spend $3,000 to $4,000 a month on advertising," Pry said. "We
advertise in newspapers and church bulletins, but we also do community
support programs."
One program offers consumer safety tips for seniors. Another provides
education for hospice care providers, Pry said.
"These kinds of programs are like long-term advertising," he said. "They
allow you to build goodwill."
But goodwill aside, price does matter. And funeral costs vary
significantly from one establishment to the next, according to an April 20
price comparison survey compiled by Lada.
But money can only go so far. Pry and other area funeral directors agree
that the best advertising is word of mouth.
"If you just pay attention to the business and get everything done right
it seems to work," Pry said.
Still, mortuaries can no longer assume that clients will want a
traditional "cookie cutter" ceremony for their loved ones. With more
options available, funeral homes have become increasingly responsive to
the desires of their customers, Abbott said.
"One of the big things in the industry is cremation versus traditional
burial," he said. "With cremation you're dealing with a box of ashes, so
you can do a lot of things to be creative."
"Some people even cook the ashes into memorial plates, or paint them into
a painting," he said.
Rod Hildebrand, funeral director and manager of the Neptune Society of San
Bernardino and Riverside counties, said his biggest competition comes from
other cremation companies - not from standard funeral homes.
"Some of the mom-and-pop cremation operations are charging less because
they have less overhead," he said. "But we do about 800 to 900 cremations
a year."
Neptune's charge for a basic cremation, which includes a plastic utility
urn, runs $795 - considerably less than a standard funeral.
Decorative urns made of wood, bronze or ceramic generally cost $200 to
$300. But specialty urns can run as high as $4,000, Hildebrand said.
"There are not a lot of native Californians who have lived in one place
for a long time like you'd see in the Midwest," he said. "You don't have
the same kind of tradition."
Ultimately, however, it's the consumer's choice as to what kind of service
will be held for their loved one, Hildebrand said.
"It's kind of like Fords and Chevy's," he said. "If they really want
cremation, they're going to go with cremation."
Standard funeral services have also become more creative. Contemporary
ceremonies often include a theme that incorporates the deceased's favorite
music or hobby, Abbott said.
"If the person was a fisherman, they might have a casket with a fish cut
into each corner," he said. "The funeral director can also encourage the
family to bring fishing poles to the service. ... It's a way of
celebrating someone's life."
Alta Loma resident Mike Jernigan said the input his family received from
neighbors made a big difference at the funeral of his late stepfather,
James Ellis, who died suddenly on Aug. 4.
"They got up and spoke at the service, and it make a big difference to the
family," he said. "It was important to know how other people felt about
him ... he had lived there for 25 years."
John Todd, owner and president of Todd Memorial Chapel, one of the area's
few remaining family-owned funeral businesses, said consumers have become
more prudent when shopping for funeral services.
"People are a lot more aware now," said Todd, who owns facilities in
Claremont and Pomona. "It used to be they'd just call the same mortuary
that had been used for other family members. But now people are getting on
the phone and comparing costs, facilities, staff and ownership."
Advertising among some funeral homes, Todd said, has become decidedly
aggressive.
"Some of the larger firms are trying to capture more business through TV,
radio and billboard advertising," he said. "But we only do what we're
comfortable with. I think we have a good reputation in our community.
Read what the LA Times said about us.
Wednesday, August 2, 2000
Mortuary offers caskets online at cost
A markup only is figured in when a customer chooses another funeral home.
By JOANNA CORMAN
RANCHO CUCAMONGA --
Whether you are as near as Ontario or as far as Japan, now you can buy a
casket from a local mortuary online.
Cucamonga Mortuary went online about a
week ago with AtCostCaskets.com , offering caskets for the price
the funeral home pays, or $200 more if your services are elsewhere.
"It is the first and only site to offer
the leading casket manufacturers ... at our cost," the site says. "You
can't get a lower cost elsewhere."
With
14 years in the business, Cucamonga Mortuary president and general manager
Doug Lada said he is confident his prices are low compared with the
industry standard, although he hasn't checked out he prices offered by all
other mortuaries.
"I don't think you can
ever say it's 100% accurate without seeing the 22,000 mortuaries that are
out there," Lada said.
Others in the
industry agree that Lada's online casket prices sound like a bargain.
"That's less than a normal funeral home
would charge, there's no question about it," said Enoch Glascock, owner of
the Los Angeles-based Abbott & Hast Mortuary Inc., after hearing a
list of prices. "A very fair price."
Abbott & Hast opened in 1957.
AtCostCaskets.com offers caskets
with no markup if customers use Cucamonga Mortuary's services, Lada said.
For those who want to go elsewhere, he will charge about $200 more than
the wholesale price. Customers don't pay for shipping in the Inland
Empire. Those out of the area pay the shipping cost at no markup, Lada
said.
Some caskets are offered online
for less than $500.
In six days, the
life of the Web site, six people have bought caskets online -- three
locally and three in Northern California, Lada said.
Caskets, Lada says, are the most
expensive part of the funeral.
"Most
mortuaries are going to mark up a wholesale price of a casket about three
times, or 300%. ... There's been so much bad press and people are so
hesitant about going to a mortuary in general and think they're going to
be taken advantage of," that with this service, Lada says, he hopes to
remove some of the stress.
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