Word: funeralls
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With little fanfare, the Loewen Group and a handful of other large death-care companies are racing to buy up as many independent funeral homes as possible--not out of any desire to share the resulting economies of scale and cut the cost of funerals but rather to boost prices...
In a corporate replay of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, Loewen seeks to create the illusion that local funeral homes are still run exactly as they always have been, by native sons and daughters with a vested interest in the community. Although Loewen boasts of its acquisitions to shareholders, it...
Outsiders, however, haven't seen it quite the same way. Jessica Mitford, author of The American Way of Death, the 1963 blockbuster that first disinterred the scandalous practices of the funeral industry, told TIME shortly before her death last summer that she planned to target the deceptive practices of consolidators...
Which wouldn't matter if not for the tendency of Loewen and SCI to raise prices after taking control. The consolidators increase revenue through a combination of price hikes and a deft reconfiguring, or "remerchandising," of casket showrooms to ensure that customers buy caskets with far better profit margins. At...
None of the tactics employed by the consolidators is illegal, although Arizona, where SCI has a powerful presence, is contemplating a law that would require the companies to disclose their ownership to consumers. "I can't point to SCI and Loewen and say they're doing anything wrong," says David...