The magazine of RemembranceDesk
Reporting on the daily craft, paperwork, and economics of independent funeral homes across the United States.
Nine reports for directors, office managers and preneed counselors, written from the statutes, the price lists and the paperwork that lands on a funeral home desk before sunrise. New work is added as the rules and the numbers move. If you would rather talk than read, ask for a walkthrough of RemembranceDesk.
regulation and compliance
The Rule governs the phone call, the arrangement conference, and the printed price lists. Here is what a director must hand over, say, and keep on file at each of those moments.
practical guide
Discharge papers, the National Cemetery Scheduling Office, the burial flag, and the headstone application each move on their own track. This is the order that keeps a service on time.
comparison
Both fund tomorrow's service with today's money, but they differ in who holds the cash, what grows, when the firm is paid, and what happens when a family moves away.
mistakes to avoid
Most cremation claims trace back to a signature from the wrong relative, an implant nobody disclosed, or a break in the identification chain. Each one has a fix on the form itself.
checklist
From pronouncement to certified copies, the record moves through the physician, the registrar, and the county clerk. Work the steps in this order and the family is not left waiting on paper.
numbers and benchmarks
Facility, fleet, staffing, and licensing costs barely move when call volume does. Dividing them honestly across a year of calls tells you what the basic services fee has to carry.
trends and outlook
More states now permit water cremation and natural organic reduction, each with its own licensing, effluent, and disclosure rules. Here is what adding one asks of a small firm.
case study
The FTC test shops funeral homes, and a firm that fails is offered a three year program instead of a court case. Here is the sequence, the obligations, and what it costs a small business.
field report
The phone rings at two in the morning for a nursing home, then again for a residence with a hospice patient. What the on call director carries, says, and signs before sunrise.
Why we publish this
RemembranceDesk publishes a dignified obituary and service page in about forty minutes, with the photographs, visitation hours and cemetery directions already in place, then gives the family one short link to share. Condolences arrive moderated, and the tribute traffic stays with your firm instead of a stranger's website.
Every price conversation your firm has is governed by one federal rule, and most compliance trouble starts with a telephone call rather than a document. Our guide walks the phone call, the arrangement conference, and the printed price lists in the order a family actually meets them.
What the FTC Funeral Rule Requires at Each Point of Contact
Then work outward: the eight other pieces in The Arrangement Room each take one part of it further, and every one links back here.