01MAR09 The Economy, how are you handeling it ©
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WELCOME!!! glad you could visit us, OUR TOPIC: "THE ECONOMY, how are you dealing with it?" THIS CHAT WILL PROBABLY BE COPIED TO www.funeralserviceprofessional.com FOR ANYONE TO ENJOY LATER. Just a few rules for everyone: 1. USE ONLY PLAIN BLACK TEXT 2 DO NOT USE COMPANY NAMES 3 DISCRIMINATION IS NOT ALLOWED. If you would like chat reminders please send to: LOWELLMA@AOL.COM
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Host_John: Hello every one
Host_John: snowing up this way
Host_John: expecting a lot of snow
Host_John: like 15 inches
Host_John: hope they are wrong
angel has joined.
angel: Helloooo
Host_John: Hello
Host_John: tonights topic is the economy
Host_John: and how do you handle it
angel: oh goodie
Host_John: I would say get your long term costs in control
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angel: Service businesses have it tough
Host_John: stock lesser expensive model product
Host_John: the boss will be putting inmore time
angel: create some lower cost packages
angel: I cringe to see Fd's giving away services
Host_John: creating lower cost packages balanced with lowering your operating costs
angel: Yes, keep within budget
Host_John: what are some ways to lower costs
Host_John: shop for lower prices
Host_John: make sure you are getting the best deal
angel: Are those kloth caskets and 20 or 22 ga caskets getting more popular?
Host_John: many of us never shop for our professional goods
agravegal: get rid of ineffective employees - especially if others are doing their work anyway.
Host_John: cremation is more popular
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Host_John: a good idea to streamline your help
Host_John: trim down on hiring extra help and vehicles
angel: I wonder if people are more inclined to prepay a funeral in times like these
agravegal: be sure to reward the diligent workers in the process -
Host_John: what kind of rewards would you suggest ?
angel: Is it more economical to use a livery service for removals or use your own car and driver?
agravegal: Not all rewards are financial, but if you can cut one employee (and there are employees out there that are not pulling their load) you will save a fortune - give 5-10% of that to tre faithful hard working employee. He gets the incentive and you get a bargain
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angel: Thinking that you can save on those expensive benefits, out-sourcing can make sense.
Ray_V.: Greetings from a first time visitor...ray V. from Sc.
Host_John: Hello Ray
agravegal: Hi Ray
Host_John: good point agravegal, however these days when you cut an employee s/he has no place to go
angel: I guess there must be a "break even" point for costing out your own resources?
Host_John: shop your fire insurance
Host_John: your car insurance
Host_John: shopping can save you
agravegal: Are you suggesting you should continue to carry and fund an employee that is not carrying their fair share of the workload?
bowtieundertaker: Sometimes the mistakes made by outsourced people make others wonder about your level of care and concern. Mom died, oh, you don't work at the funeral home? Oh, you're from an embalming service?
Host_John: the price of energy, if you can shop it, shop it for the best price
Host_John: we have lost funerals to distant funeral homes doing removals who talk the family into keeping the funeral in the town of death
agravegal: I do not necessarily mean outsourcing the work - I mean taking a hard look at who is actually doing the work at the firm, rewarding the workers and cutting the dead weight. The workers are already pulling the extra load, might as well reward them for it.
Host_John: good point agravegal
bowtieundertaker: Answer your own phones so people can get help instead listening to a keyboard typing and being on hold to ask for a director on call.
angel: I think people already shop as much as they can these days, but you had a good point about the funeral supply providers- they should be competitive.
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agravegal: I can think of three firms right now that could save $25,000 + per year by cutting that one employee that is more parasite than employee
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Host_John: decide on what erands need to get done and do them in a more stramlined fashion eliminating extra people power and saving gasoline
Ray_V.: Sometimes though, if you reward them today, it becomes expected tomorrow...a case of "what are you doing for me today? As to phones, whenever I am home, I answer the phones for both my funeral businesses...it is important, I believe.
angel: If that's all they're paying them then they get/give what they get
Host_John: there are overtime issues we have to be aware of
Host_John: you can't run employees into the ground, they need time off
Ray_V.: Wow, topics change fast here...look down for a second and you are behind....
angel: Right John, control the things you can control
Host_John: if you don't have an answering service the person who takes the phones is on your clock
bowtieundertaker: If you don't want to pay overtime then don't embalm after 8 or 9 at night, leave bodies in the cooler and see what happens to your call volume.
agravegal: What will happen to your call volume?
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bowtieundertaker: I answer the phones every other night on my shift. I don't get paid for it.
Host_John: at least funeral service still has real people answering the telephones, vs corp american with automated answering machines
Ray_V.: The was I look at t s my staff represents me when I am not present, I need to work hard to make my staff content. As far as phones, the staff doesn't do it, the owner does...he's always on the clock...
Host_John: Bowtie, if you are a licensed FD or Embalmer I don't think you have to get paid overtime, thanks to NFDA
agravegal: If you are calling to report a death, press 1
bowtieundertaker: Your embalming results will not be as favorable as the guy down the street who does his own work when it needs to be done.
agravegal: That would not go over very well
Ray_V.: Yes, but how can you work all day when you got three hours of sleep at night? You have to draw the line somewhere.
bowtieundertaker: I have a Great boss who pays me overtime. Thanks why I work here--sort of like agravegal was saying. Not everyone listens to the funeral idols in Milwaukee.
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agravegal: We have all embalmed cases that had to stay overnight at the hospital or a day or two with the medical examiner. I do not see a good embalmer having his results to noticably affected by waiting a few hours.
angel: That's why I mention a livery service, surely they have to be professional and if they aren't how do they stay in business?
Host_John: quality if everthing Angel, you must have an excellent service
angel: Thanks, gravegal, embalming after donation too.
angel: Yes, livery service has to serve the Fh
Host_John: depends on the condition of the remains
Host_John: some should not wait
Host_John: cutting the cost by re thinking your advertizement
agravegal: usually the ones that should not wait are the ones that are held up at the Me office.
Host_John: put ads where, in your heart you think they are doing your company some good
angel: I agree that you can't work well with only 3 hours sleep due to removals the night before--
agravegal: where would you suggest John?
angel: John, not your heart, your wallet-- ad responses can be tracked to see which ones are most productive
Host_John: good point Angel, what is wrong with asking a family why you got their call?
angel: Absolutely and how did you hear about us?
Host_John: maybe it is that telephone book ad, or that church bulletin ad
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Host_John: maybe it was opening the door for them at the funeral home
bowtieundertaker: family tradition, location, friend suggestion.
bowtieundertaker: Exaclty, John.
angel: It will probably be a combination of many things but you always have to do everything that you do as perfectly as you can
agravegal: Sometimes we forget that those happy, hard working (well paid) employees can be the best advertising.
bowtieundertaker: The human factor in our business outweighs any economic factor.
agravegal: Get them out making presentations to Sr. Groups, Job Fairs, Civic Groups, etc.
Host_John: when you get your service out there, that is the best ad you can have
angel: but the economic keeps the lights on-- how do you handle your collections?
Host_John: service up the visitations and funerals you have
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Host_John: payement is expected before services
Host_John: you have to talk about getting paid
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agravegal: I had a funeral director that handled my daddy's funeral tell me that he did not see any real benefit to having a means to present a picture slideshow - talk about not seeing the value in something. My step brother brought in a laptop, and Everyone was crowded around it to see the pictures.
harper: the simple line is "how would like to take care of this"
Host_John: good line harper
agravegal: A few hundred dollars invested in a flat screen Tv would do him so much more good than an ad in the newspaper
Host_John: it is a good service to have on hand and SOME people love it
Host_John: the slide show
Host_John: OPEN FORUM FUNERAL CHATTER UNTIL THE TOP OF THE HOUR
angel: When death is unplanned, how do families cope in today's economy? No job, no life insurance, no county welfare funerals?
bowtieundertaker: I know of a funeral home that has cash before every service. If you have insurance, they suggest you go to the bank a get a loan and then the policy proceeds will reimburse the family.
angel: Bad credit history, no credit cards, bankruptcy, lost mortgages-- what do people do??
bowtieundertaker: cremation
Host_John: what ever decision you make or managment makes is the health and welfare of the company
Host_John: Angel if they don't have the payment, you are giving your service for free
angel: but someone has to prepare/dispose of the body.
agravegal: There are low cost alternatives, but funeral professionals need to tread lightly when addressing cost. We have already painted ourselves into a corner by labeling Cremation as alternate disposition. Especially now that it is the norm.
Host_John: my late brother always said, if you say I have a 52 in plasma screen for $400 to a poor man, some how he will find the money
bowtieundertaker: My mentor taught me, eventually someone in the family will die and will have the ability to pay. Help someone who needs help and you will be remembered.
agravegal: Now funeral homes are back tracking and presenting Cremation as an alternate choice - not necessarily the low cost choice
Host_John: be it cremation or burial full service funeral is what most people want
Host_John: those who equate cremation with no service, are mistaken
Ray_V.: As far as remembering a good deed.....i think that as we spread out, other than us, no one remembers.....societal dynamics and responsibility have changed
angel: I guess some folks will just have to walk away, like they did from their mortgages and their lives.
Host_John: who is going to take the loss you or the firm across town?
agravegal: They are mistaken, but because of the actions of funeral professionals in some areas, that is exactly what cremation is considered to be - no service.
Host_John: make it the other firm
agravegal: A mechanic would not fix their transmission without payment in full. While he has the option of keeping the car until payment is received, a funeral director cannot hold Aunt Gussie's remains as collateral. In this time more than ever, prepayment should be required.
bowtieundertaker: I agree, Ray. Sometimes the generational factor wipes out any sense of logic. But why is it that the people who don't have anything have those big tvs--so big you can't get a cot in the door, and smoke, and drink, and are sleeved out in tattoos, and, well, this list is too long. Are we really better
Ray_V.: Because we are in a retirement area, we are literally having people call, wanting to get the arrangements done on the phone because they have a meeting or a tee time in the next few hours....they clearly state that they do not want a service.....traditions are changing....even in South Carolna
angel: Ew, I am picturing a future of mechanized conveyor belt cremations-anyone ever see Soilent Green?
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harper: I read an article that green burials are becoming popular in western North Carolina
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agravegal: Lol some parts of Western Nc are the San Francisco of the east. We should stand up and take notice.
agravegal: I saw a wicker casket in an ad in the Iccfa magazine, and it was nice.
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angel: No, I guess not-- well, all you youngin's have a great evening and I will talk with you again soon-- Happy Trails
bowtieundertaker: Western Nc really means East Tn and green burial means getting lost in the mountains or going to the Body Farm.
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agravegal: Rofl
harper: Asheville, Nc area
Ray_V.: No we are not better off, but we need to stop trying to convert pople to our belief system. People are calling us every day that the funeral homes aren't listening to them and we are doing simple cremations, on a regular basis from 100 miles away....because we are doing what people are asking...kee
Host_John: Night Angel
agravegal: Green burials could cut your cost and satisfy a "trendy" idea for those consumers interested in it.
agravegal: You do not have to do a midnight embalming with a green burial
bowtieundertaker: Exactly. That was my point earlier about the guy down the street. Only you are 100 miles away. You care, listen, and are there to help.
agravegal: I have received two emails in the past month asking me where they can go for a cremation without going to a funeral home.
agravegal: Simple cremations does not have to mean no customer service either
bowtieundertaker: Kentucky is considering legislation that makes it easier for anyone to make a removal. You now have to be a licensed funeral director.
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Ray_V.: That is right....customer service, using technology is helping us grow. My cremation business is quickly becoming more profitable than my historic 90 year old traditional funeral home...very quickly.
Host_John: anyone can open a gasoline station but there are less of them now than ever
harper: I beleive if it was pushed any family could take care of their deceased remains.
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Ray_V.: Yes, but most people are not physically or emotionally prepared for doing so...that is where we come in.
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agravegal: Of course they could - fortunately for funeral professionals, wading through the red tape is not what the bereaved are capable of doing at that time.
Host_John: intersting harper, however most people don't even change their own oil or paint their how house
bowtieundertaker: Maybe we should let them find that mysterious sibling they haven't heard from in over 20 years to just let them handle the cremation authorization.
agravegal: Why is that? Their oil change is sent to a 10 minute "professional" but there is no value placed on someone taking care of their deceased family member
agravegal: Is that a self inflicted perception?
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Host_John: most want funeral directors, there will always be do it yourselfers
bowtieundertaker: Our passion should be to convince them of our value.
agravegal: But even amongst the ones that want funeral directors, there is always talk of "stick me in a pine box and throw me in a hole somewhere"
Host_John: also a feeling of they called the right place and we give them a feeling that all will be OK
Host_John: that is you agravegal not your mom!
Ray_V.: Our value?...according to who? We need to be perceptive as to what thier values are and then take care of their needs, based on their values, not ours...called responding to the market.....
Host_John: being ahead of the curve on needs is a good place to be
bowtieundertaker: Our values are taking care of their needs--from assisting an out of town firm in getting a notice in the local medial or burying the mayor.
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agravegal: Folks, it has been a Loooong time since I have been in here, and I enjoyed it. I have to go for now, but hope to type at you all again in the future.
Host_John: good to have you here agraegal
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Ray_V.: My first visit after geting e-mails from John for many years...i look to be back, thank's y'all....
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Host_John: Good to see you too Ray
daveb: Hi John
Host_John: I am trying different times of sending the reminders
Host_John: Hello David
daveb: What do you hear on " Resomation:
Host_John: what is working lately is an hour before chat
Host_John: Resomation is not in the dawn yet
daveb: but rising eh?
bowtieundertaker: Visitation is drawing to a close-which means I get to go home to my family soon. Thanks for the brain stimulation tonight.
Host_John: with the winding down of the economy I don't think we will see resomation or any change in depositions soon
Host_John: Night bowtie, a safe journey home
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Host_John: BACK ON TOPIC NOW, "THE ECONOMY, HOW ARE YOU HANDELING IT?"
Host_John: What are you doing to lower your costs?
Host_John: suggested last hour was to shop, re-think your advertising, fire the deadwood staff
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daveb: if we all got rid of yellow pages add we would be better off
daveb: less money ther
barry: phonebooks are extortion. won't publish my number unless i advertise
Host_John: I agree Dave
Host_John: but they have you
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Host_John: if you don't advertise your number will come up nowhere
cnmmnc: Good evening folks
daveb: In white pages my friend
Host_John: call directory assistance and see if they have you and what number they give
Host_John: younger generation does not use phone book
daveb: who has the biggest yellow page adds----- The Lawyers
Host_John: be careful to be sure your phone number is out there
cnmmnc: but it does come to your home free... there's no charge to get a phone book
Host_John: your clients need to contact you over the phone, how will they get your number?
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barry: i don't use phonebook anymore. easy to find doctors phone numbers via the internet to line up the dc
Host_John: all I am saying is be careful
daveb: they left me ou several years ago --- but do you thing they gave me credit??? Nooooooo
barry: same here. they left me out for a full year back in 1990
Host_John: we got a year free Dave when they made a mistake on our ad
cnmmnc: the phone book(s) advertising rates are astronomical though...
daveb: Newspares will soon fold in print
barry: actually they published my number wrong
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daveb: i have not bought a Lowell Sun for 2 years and then bought one recently
Host_John: when the newspapers go how will you get the word out about funerals?
Host_John: we should look for ways to get the word out before that happens
daveb: it looked like my weekly---- wicked thin
barry: alot of people find us via our website
cnmmnc: well the papers all have websites
daveb: that is where they are going
daveb: and we have websites
Host_John: so spending on a good website is good for the company
Host_John: I agree
daveb: Denver paper of over 1000 years is closing
cnmmnc: but you have to work at it
Host_John: we put up most of our obits
daveb: 100 years
barry: in japan, they have a reader boards at the train stations anouncing who died and viewing details
cnmmnc: you cant just have a site and ignore it
daveb: and so does john hehheh
Host_John: so how will you prosper in the economy
daveb: What do you suggest John
barry: we offer affordable pricing. we are at 90 calls at the end of Feb.
cnmmnc: well you have to be hmm, price flexible to a certain extent
daveb: cnm ----- to whose flexibility?
cnmmnc: flexible to those who are concerned about money
Host_John: shopping for products will reduce costs
daveb: waht about chinese made casket?
barry: funeral homes rarely have trouble in a recession?
daveb: If you dont get paid you cannot reposess
cnmmnc: we havent had that much exposure to the china casket market
Host_John: many have no job, we should realize that many will not be having the funerals the once had
Host_John: the chinese caskets are not coming as the cost of shipping has costed them up
cnmmnc: and arent our services what is being sought after?
daveb: keep all manufatcturing in Us please
barry: to change topic for a moment....pretty soon all funeral homes will have to register as a "known shipper" with each airline in order to ship. Tsa requirement?
daveb: Oh Yah good pont
daveb: point
Host_John: I am hearing that about the TSA we will jump over that when the time comes
cnmmnc: yes! I saw that form from the airport
Host_John: how complicated does it look cnmm
cnmmnc: we have until april to submit the form...on-site inspection to be paid for by the shipper, meaning your firm, oh its getting crazy
barry: i herad the fee is $60.00
barry: heard
cnmmnc: the form doesnt s[ecify what the fees are
Host_John: $60 per airline?
cnmmnc: I got it from continental aircargo
barry: delta told me their fee was $60
Host_John: seems the assn should streamline this in each state
daveb: so all airline we use arecoming to inspect us?
Host_John: has your state associaiton done anything on the TSA issue
cnmmnc: dont hold your breath john
barry: so it seems
daveb: well John has our assn done much for us lately?
Host_John: I did see something from one of the associations
Host_John: I know Mass is having a seminar and TSA is on the list of topics to be explained
daveb: Great
cnmmnc: well supposedly, if your funeral home is in an airport city, the airline sends a rep., if you arent, there is a middleman who reports to the airline admin.
Host_John: how do I become a middle man?
Host_John: seems like easy job for us!
cnmmnc: get a polyester uniform and join the airline lol
daveb: and say bye bye
daveb:
Host_John: back on topic
Host_John: what are you doing to cope with this economy Dave?
cnmmnc: you'd think the state boards could do inspections when they do their usual one and just sign off to homeland security, I mean they Are both government agencies, right?
Host_John: good idea cnmm
cnmmnc: i'm just a simple village undertaker though...
cnmmnc: what do i know?
daveb: sme old day--- had to by new cars-- same guys here---- try to cut corners- i am a fix it guy do what i can myself---dumpd my pager "Oh God"
daveb: went to text message from answering service
Host_John: with a cell phone most have no need for a pager
daveb: old habits are hard to lose my friend
cnmmnc: i deep sixed mine years ago
daveb: no blackeberry though thank god
Host_John: I agree Dave the pager was great
Host_John: that new I phone is a nice piece
daveb: no i am trying to get rid of stuff --- no new stuff thank you
Host_John: I am tempted to get one, my current phone is old
daveb: ahhh always on the cusp
cnmmnc: so is mine but so what?
Host_John: the Iphone enables one to look at cem maps in the car
daveb: john take it back 6 notches hhheheheheheheh
Host_John: open forum funeral chatter until next time
Host_John: end recording