Why we are where we are!

As the director of a funeral company most articles I read are to do with funeral costs, and why are funerals so expensive. The answer is that this is brainwashing people to expect a large price tag,, and not question this.

Sims and Jones offer an all inclusive cremation for £2895 and this includes bringing your loved one into our care (day or night), superior coffin with raised lid and routed panel sides, motor hearse, one limousine, £300 of flower, an obituary notice, 100 orders of service, cremation fees, all doctors fees. Basically all that is required for a dignified, professional funeral, and fits within most people’s requirements.

With this in mind, how and why are we in the position that we are now? People struggling with funeral poverty, funeral cost rising at a exponential rate?

There is one reason for this; We are losing grip on our tradition funeral profession and it’s being replaced by a funeral industry, controlled by two major conglomerates with a third on an acquisition trail. It certainly seems that there is a level of acceptance for this. It seems that the funeral profession has somehow entered into the hands of the wrong people, who now treat the death of a loved one and a member of someone’s family as an accumulation towards a six monthly profit and loss announcement.

For a company like Sims and Jones, this is totally bewildering. Yes, we are a business, and rely on a profit for our business to survive and grow, but we are always looking at ways to lower our costs, to pass this on and assist families. The funeral profession business model and a general business model are two very different things. Funeral professionals are compassionate, caring people who, in my opinion, already have these attributes, which cannot be taught. An industry worker is something totally different, and to liken these two roles is certainly beyond our comprehension.

The funeral director or traditional undertaker, who was a local person, who knew and cared for the people in the community and was someone who everyone knew, like the local doctor, police officer, grocer, butcher, dentist etc is surely but slowly drifting away.

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