July 2017

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Page A18 JULY 2017 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A
Sheesham
Our popular hand-carved Rosewood urn
now comes in a Jumbo size.
This 260 cubic inch urn is perfect for families planning
to scatter their loved one’s ashes or for those on a budget.
The dimensions of this urn are 9.8” x 6.8” x 5.5” tall
and they come 8 to a case and cost $20 each.
51-450-7727 •
SCATTERING URN
By Jim Starks, CFuE, CCrE
Pre-Needs: Foreseeing Product
Selection Changes
Protecting clients who have purchased pre-needs written
at your location is imperative: not only may the products
and services selected change and become unavailable when
the pre-need matures, but staff may not know what was in-
cluded in a pre-need written more than ten years prior.
The casket is a common pre-need item that may change
from the time the pre-need was written to the time it ma-
tures. For example, the casket company can drop the unit
or discontinue it from particular distribution centers.
While some manufacturers will transfer a unit that was
dropped from one particular distribution center when
available, the option doesn’t exist if the unit was discon-
tinued. If it was discontinued, employees will need appro-
priate information to identify the casket and find another
of the same quality. The current employee will not likely
know the gauge/species, type of finish and interior of the
casket if only the name is listed.
To add to the issue, many firms are purchasing caskets
made in other countries due to their lower purchasing cost.
Matured pre-needs may call for a casket that is on back-
Protecting
Your Families
and Business
regardless of whether a firm is selling, caskets, urns,
vaults, markers, etc.:
•Manufacturer of the product
• Product name or manufacturer identification
• Type of interior
• Gauge or species and type of finish
• Copy of package in each pre-need
Documenting the following information with the
pre-need reduces the chance a non-comparable prod-
uct is substituted when the originally-selected product
is no longer available.
order from a foreign supplier. The question becomes
whether a firm will need to replace that back-ordered
unit with a similar but domestically-sourced casket
that costs twice as much.
Similarly, providing urns on a pre-need may be-
come a problem. With cremation rates at more than
50 percent nationwide, urns have become a major
part of merchandising. Hundreds of firms distribute
urns of all shapes and sizes to other firms in the death
care industry.
If a pre-need specifies a “bronze cube” urn, an
employee will not know whether the specified urn
should be made from sheet, plate or cast bronze. But
the wholesale cost could be significantly more de-
pending on how the urn is made. And the customer
should receive what they paid for.
Yet another challenge with pre-needs is the arrang-
er working with the client when the pre-need ma-
tures. That person should know what products have
been replaced, as well as what products are compa-
rable when a selected one is no longer available.
Regarding services with pre-needs, many firms have
developed packages including different services and
merchandise. And over time, firms have modified the
packages to better represent what the consumer is se-
lecting. However, the name of the package does not
necessarily change when the content included chang-
es.
Thus, when a package is selected, a copy of the
package contents should be included in the pre-need
file to ensure the consumer receives what they pur-
chased. This likewise protects the firm from provid-
ing more than what was purchased when packages
are upgraded over the years.
To protect both the firm and consumer, the follow-
ing information should be included in all pre-needs
Jim Starks, CFuE, CCrE, is President of J. Starks Consulting in Lutz,
FL, and a nationally-recognized trainer on funeral home and crema-
tory risk management.
He used his experience in both funeral home and crematory oper-
ations and risk management, combined with his involvement with
funeral homes of all sizes and geographies, to become an author-
ity at controlling risk and loss in the death care industry, providing
lectures and presentations to private firms, as well as regional, state
and national associations. He also conducts private audits and risk
assessments to independent funeral homes and crematories in the
US and Canada, often identifying ways to save or generate thou-
sands of dollars of profit.
Jim is a Michigan and Indiana Licensed Funeral Director and
Embalmer and ICCFA- and CANA-certified crematory operator, as
well as Dean of ICCFA University’s College of Cremation Services. He
is a graduate of the University of Wyoming, the Mid-America School
of Mortuary Science, and the ICCFA University. For more information
on risk management in the death care indust
com. Contact Jim at (813) 765-9844 or
AseraCare of Evansville Hosts National
AseraCare Memorial Event “A
Butterfly to Remember”
EVANSVILLE,IN— AseraCare of
Evansville, provider of hospice and
palliative medicine services, invited
former patient families and the local
community on Thursday, June 8, 2017
at Oak Hill Cemetery in Evansville.
The “A Butterfly to Remember” me-
morial event is an annual AseraCare
gathering to honor and remember
loved ones who have passed away this
year by families, friends and the Evans-
ville community.
“Through this special memorial event,
our families, community and office
may honor the lives and memories of
those who we loved. It is our privilege
and commitment to serve and support
our patients and their families with re-
spect and dignity,” said LaToya Hardi-
man Volunteer Coordinator of Asera-
Care of Evansville.
“From our AseraCare family to yours, we
invite you to warm your hearts and cele-
brate the gift of life through our ‘A But-
terfly to Remember’ memorial event,” said
Angie Hollis-Sells, President of Asera-
Care. “This event is a special time to re-
member those individuals AseraCare has
cared for and those the community has
cared for, celebrate their lives, and most
importantly – support their families.”
Butterfly encounters frequently are
mentioned after the loss of a loved
one and many think of this symbol
as from the soul of the loved one who
has passed giving us hope and healing
while we grieve.
With 53 hospice locations in 19
states, AseraCare is one of the larg-
est providers of hospice and palliative
medicine services in the United States.
Aseracare Hospice is designed to pro-
vide the care, guidance and symptom
management that patients need for an
improved quality of life. AseraCare
serves more than 14,000 patients an-
nually and is part of the Golden Living
family of companies. L ike Us On Facebook!