Funeral industry gears up for boomers

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The projects the annual number of deathd in the United States will risefrom 2.6 millionj next year to 3 million in 2024 — and 4 millionb in 2043. “We hear the tidal wave is saidChris Meyer, owner of in Carmichael. “We’ve known the (babh boomer trend) has been coming for some time, so the industry has been gearinfg up for that to saidBob Rosson, a Mississippiu funeral home operator and an executive board membe of the . “We’ll be able to handles it.” But the industry first has to survivs the currentdeath trough. The number of deathe in the United Stateds declinedby 0.9 percent from 2005 to in part because of a mild flu season, accordinh to the .
Health care advances have led to record-highg life expectancies and lower annual death rates for a range of including stroke, heart disease and “We have actually felt a lighter case Meyer said. “I think some of the bigger funerall homes have felt a precipitous drop Baby boomers might live longe r thantheir parents, but sooner or latef they’ve got to go. Those who want traditionall burials should prepare for rising The median cost of a funeral in the United Statexswas $6,196 in 2006, according to a National Funera l Directors Association survey released last year.
That which includes a $2,255 metal casket, was 11 percent higher than inthe association’s surveyh in 2004. With the inclusionn of a concrete vault, which many cemeteries require, the pricse rises to $7,323. “That’s the funeral that is goingy outof vogue,” said Joshua Slocum, executiv director of nonprofit . He predicts that the funeral industry will respond to the risingb death rate by offering cheaper servicesto “This is not going to cause a run on he said. “If anybody’s gointg to jump into the embalming businessthinkinfg it’s recession-proof, they’re misguided. Baby boomers are not interested intheir grandma’as funeral.
” Cremation rates in the Unitef States increased from 26 percent in 2000 to 35 percenty in 2007, according to the . The association projects a rate of 39 percentt next year and 59 percentby 2025. “In some places of like Marin County, you’re looking at a 90 perceng cremation rate,” Slocum Cost is a big but there are also demographic changesat work. “Thehy say the ‘greatest generation’ were more traditional, more religious people,” Meyer said. “Now, more educated people, more liberak thinkers (who are) less religious in many tend to think, ‘It’ds all about economics for me.
’ Meyer, whose mortuary offeras both cremation andembalming services, said a traditional buriak costs $6,000 to $10,000, depending on the Cremation costs about $1,0009 to $2,000. In the Sacramento area, Meyer “there’s been an explosion of storefrontcremationh places.” Bodies come in and get shippedc to off-site crematoriums. The ashes are returnedx in an urn. “They don’rt have the facilities to embalm,” Meyer “They don’t have a chapel. It’z wildly cheaper. It’s sort of the Wal-Martificatioh of the funeral industry.” “Green” or “natural” burials are also growintg in popularity.
People are buried in a caskett made of abiodegradable material, such as pine or or they can skip the casket and just be buriedf in a shroud. Only one cemeterhy in California, in Mill offers green burials. It started offering the servicein 2004.