We all know what cemeteries mean, and what they are used for. This is the place where we bury the dead. The word cemetery causes a morbid state of mind. This is because it is affiliated with death more than anything else. However, running a cemetery is also a type of business that many people engage in. Have you wondered how do cemeteries make money? The following sections will answer this for you.
The word cemetery originates from Greek, which literally means“ sleeping place.” A cemetery is also addressed with various other names such as a graveyard and burial ground. As much as the graveyard is synonymously used for cemetery, the term graveyard is used specifically for burial grounds that are a part of a churchyard.
Cemeteries and their unique business model
The question of how do cemeteries make money has a very simple answer. The way they make money is by selling and rendering goods and services. Just like all other businesses, cemeteries also provide products and services to their customers. However, the products may not be consumer goods or fast-moving goods. The products are mainly burial plots, grave markers, headstones, burial vaults, etc.
Another unique feature of running and maintaining a cemetery as a business is that, the agreements entered by the entrepreneur running the running and maintaining of cemetery business are not for a certain period or certain years. This agreement is forever because running and maintaining the cemetery property is an ongoing activity. Now that we know the unique features of a cemetery business, let us understand more about how do cemeteries make money.
Cemetery business and how they make money and profit
How do cemeteries make money is a question in many people’s minds. Not everyone is in the business of running and maintaining a cemetery; therefore, it is not common knowledge to everyone. Irrespective of how big or small it is, any business has to have a product or service to offer to its customers or clients.
So, in the running and maintenance of the cemetery business also there are products and services involved. These products and services are not common objects used by people in everyday life or services people use in their day-to-day life. The products sold by cemetery businesses are grave markers and headstones, plots meant for the burial of deal people, construction of mausoleums, giving out space in the columbarium, and vaults used for burial.
The serves that cemeteries offer are the following:
Cemeteries may offer a variety of services to families and individuals who are planning a burial or interment for a loved one. Some of the services that cemeteries may offer include:
- Digging a burial hole: This involves preparing a grave by digging a hole in the ground where a coffin or casket can be placed.
- Filling the burial hole after the dead person is placed inside it: Once the coffin or casket has been placed in the grave, the cemetery staff will fill the hole with dirt, using a machine or manually.
- Opening and sealing of the mausoleum: A mausoleum is a large, above-ground structure that houses the remains of the deceased in individual crypts or compartments. Cemeteries may offer the service of opening and sealing the crypts in a mausoleum when a person is being interred.
- Sealing a columbarium after the urns are properly placed inside it: A columbarium is a structure that contains niches for storing urns containing the cremated remains of the deceased. Cemeteries may offer the service of placing the urns in the niches and sealing the columbarium.
- Placing of grave markers or headstones on top of the place where the dead person is buried: Cemeteries may offer the service of installing grave markers or headstones on top of a grave to mark the burial site.
- Woodworking: Cemeteries may use woodworking in a few different ways to generate revenue. For example, they may create and sell wood products such as grave markers or headstones. These products can be customized with engravings or designs to personalize them for the deceased. Cemeteries may also offer woodworking services to individuals or families who wish to create their own memorial items, such as wooden crosses or benches to place at a grave site. In addition, cemeteries may use woodworking to maintain and repair existing structures on the grounds, such as mausoleums or columbariums. By offering these products and services, cemeteries can generate additional income and provide value to their customers.
Other services that cemeteries may offer include maintaining the grounds, providing information about burial and interment options, and assisting with the planning and logistics of a burial or interment.
Sometimes a cemetery business has to open the grave post burial and has to re-close the same. We hope that from the above points, you would have found the answer to the question, how do cemeteries make money in a very brief way.
The main product of a cemetery business and how it is priced
When talking about running and maintaining a cemetery as a business and how cemeteries make money, the main product that one can attribute to the business is the burial plot. There is a misconstrued notion that the burial plots are the most expensive part of the whole business because the land is limited to a cemetery; however, this is very untrue.
The burial plot
The burial plots are the inexpensive part of the burial. By making the cost of the burial ground lower, they tackle the competition by making their customers commit to their burial grounds than going for the competitors’ offers. By giving a burial plot to its clients, the cemetery business does give a final and peaceful resting place for the client’s family’s loved one who has departed.
The main aspect of running and maintaining the cemetery is protecting it from destruction and then presenting it attractively to the descendants of the deceased that is buried. The cost of protection of the plot is also included in the burial aspect of the business. Thus, you can get the answer to the question, how do cemeteries make money. The protection aspect of maintaining and repairing the cemetery is because the plot needs security to keep it safe from thieves, vandals and repairing graffiti, if any, done by the vandals.
Why they are inexpensive
Burial plots are the inexpensive part of running and maintaining a cemetery. This is because families usually want to have family burial plots, meaning all single-family members are buried close to each other.
This usually means that the cemetery business can sell a large portion of its burial plot to a single-family, or the whole of the burial plot to a single-family. The pricing factor should also consider the place where the cemetery is situated. This, according to us, is the answer to how do cemeteries make money.
cemeteries Other businesses
After reading the above passages, we know how cemeteries make money as a business. We would have never guessed in our wildest dreams about the business model of the cemetery business. Similarly, there are other businesses that we don’t know of.
- Cemeteries:
- Provide services related to burial and interment, such as digging graves, filling graves, opening and sealing mausoleum crypts, sealing columbarium niches, and placing grave markers or headstones
- May also offer additional services, such as maintaining the grounds, providing information about burial and interment options, and assisting with the planning and logistics of a burial or interment
- Funeral homes:
- Provide a range of services, including preparing the body for burial or cremation, transporting the body, and assisting with the planning and logistics of a funeral or memorial service
- Crematories:
- Provide cremation services, including the cremation of the body and the preparation of the cremated remains
- Monument companies:
- Design and manufacture grave markers and headstones
How do cemeteries make money Conclusion
Cemeteries make money by selling plots or burial spaces to individuals or families who wish to bury their loved ones. They may also charge fees for services such as digging graves, filling graves, opening and sealing mausoleum crypts, sealing columbarium niches, and placing grave markers or headstones. Cemeteries may also generate revenue through the maintenance and care of the grounds, as well as through the sale of cemetery-related products such as urns and grave markers.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How long do cemeteries keep bodies in the US?
In most cases, a cemetery will continue to operate for decades through the use of perpetual care payments. However, eventually the cemetery will reach capacity and will no longer be able to accept new burials. At that point, the cemetery may be repurposed for other uses, such as parkland or development. This process may occur after as little as one hundred years.
Why don t cemeteries run out of space?
Cemeteries may rent out plots for a set period of time, usually up to 100 years, before the grave is recycled and reused. This is often done in areas where land for cemeteries is scarce.
Do cemeteries reuse plots after 100 years?
In general, when you purchase a cemetery plot, it is yours to keep indefinitely. The plot does not expire, and you will retain ownership of it as long as you wish. This means that you or your family can visit and maintain the plot as you see fit, even if the cemetery is full or changes ownership.