February 2019

Page B6 FEBRUARY 2019 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on B (800) 4-HEARSE FuneralVan.com 4 more info visit: By Mike Jamar I am writing this column on December 31, 2018, New Year’s Eve to appear in the February issue of Funeral Home and Cemetery News . By the time you read this column you will know the national college football champs and may- be even the Super Bowl Champ. For me that informa- tion is still in the future, and I can only guess. If pushed to guess, my money is on University of Ala- bama and New Orleans Saints. Each had stellar perfor- mances in 2018. But, these are guesses based on what I know of the past, the only way of predicting the future. This started me thinking about the hearse’s future. If you look back 20 years, the hearse hasn’t changed much. It’s still based on a car chassis, and except for styling changes, is really the same vehicle. Their past indicates nothing much will change for hearses, which may be true. However, their real future may actually mirror that of other professional vehicles, like ambulances, police cars and limousines. Consider ambulances. They’ve changed from a car- based chassis to truck chassis. Of course, much of that change was based on the evolution of care that can now be provided at the scene and while being transported to the hospital. Years ago, the goal of the ambulance was to Mike Jamar is founder and co-owner of Advanced Integration Technology. Mike has been working with computers since the early 80s and started Advanced Integration in 1994. Advanced Integration specializes in Internet inventories designed for specialty vehicles and equipment. HearseHub was created through a collaboration between Advanced Integration and Nomis Publications, and is now in its fifth year of service. HearseHub brings together funeral vehicles from a number of dealerships that specialize in high quality funeral vehicles. HearseHub offers funeral directors a large, and easy to shop inventory, of funeral vehicles. You can reach him at Mike@AITAdvantage.com. www.nomispublications.com Funeral Home & Cemetery News Contributors share insights and exchange ideas. B logs get the patient to the hospital as soon as possible so treat- ment could begin. Now treatment starts immediately. The ambulance has evolved from strictly transportation to a treatment room on wheels. I don’t think there will be an evolution like this for hearses, but it does mean that the need for car chassis for ambulances is now gone. One nail in the coffin. Police cars have changed too. Even the term “police car” is antiquated. Twenty years ago, almost all police vehicles were sedans. Today, more and more are SUVs. And why not. The police find them functional like many of us do. Just look at the number of SUVs on the road today. Besides function- ality, this change could also be based on the fact that there are fewer and fewer large sedans manufactured. It seems ev- ery time a sedan has a major design change the vehicle gets smaller, sometimes significantly smaller. So, we know that cars are getting smaller and less are being made. The second nail in the coffin. Limousines have experienced the least change among these examples, but it is not unusual to see a limousine based on an SUV chassis. I haven’t ridden in many limousines, fact is I have probably been in as many police cars as I have limou- sines, but that is another story. Nonetheless, two years ago I did have the opportunity to ride in one, and it was based on a sedan chassis. I found it cramped and somewhat hard to get in and out of, although that may have more to do with my age than the car itself. What I do know is that Leslie and I have both a SUV and a car, and the SUV has more room and is easier to get in and out of, and I think the same is true for limousines. I think this means more limousines will turn to SUVs and vans bodies and away from the se- dans. Another market where the sedan is disappearing. The third and maybe the final nail in the coffin. The reason hearses may be forced to change is because car companies are not be able to afford building large se- dan chassis, especially given it is a shrinking market. Fu- ture sedans may not have enough room, or have the re- quired structure, to support the needs of a funeral coach. Given all this the funeral coaches of tomorrow may be forced to change, not out of necessity, but instead market reality. No one can predict the future, and I am probably as wrong about this as I am about the outcome of football games. NEW YORK,NY— Doric Products, Inc hosted their 63rd Annual Fall Meeting at the Hyatt Centric Times Square hotel in New York City. The first half of Friday was spent touring Creter Vaults’ two locations in New Jersey. The tours were lead by Dick and Rich Creter, and Bill Rob- ertson which included seeing the fac- tory, warehouse and monument facili- ties. After the tour, the group enjoyed a catered lunch and helped celebrate Creter Vaults 100th year in business. The Doric Annual Awards were giv- en out after breakfast which show- cased many of the milestones that were achieved by the Doric dealers. One dealer in particular is Carolina-Doric, Inc., based in the Florence, SC area is shown receiving top honors again af- ter having a successful year which cul- minated in being recognized as the #1 Dealer. They also received the awards for the overall Greatest Number Sold as well as Doric Athenian and Doric Patrician - Greatest Number Sold. The guest speakers, EleanorCaldwell and Jerome Case, from Sackrider & Company, Inc gave a very informa- tive presentation on understanding the new tax laws and how they apply to businesses. A complete list of award recipi- ents includes: Greatest Number Sold in Phoenix: Division I: Rex Vault & Mausoleum Service; Division II: For- syth-Puttmann LLC; Division III: AmericanConcrete Industries. Great- est Percentage of Increase in Phoenix: Division I: Buckeye Vault Service; Di- vision II: Brewster Inc; Division III: Willmar Precast. Greatest Number Sold–Patrician: Division I: Carolina- Doric Inc; Division II: Praireland Fu- neral Supply LLC; Division III: Amer- ican Concrete Industries. Greatest Percentage of Increase–Patrician: Divi- sion I: The Fort Miller Service Corp; Division II: Mercer Vault Company; Division III: Doric Vaults of Hudson Valley. Greatest Number Sold–Athe- nian: Division I: Carolina-Doric Inc; Division II: Vanden Boomen Buri- al Vaults; Division III: Temple Vault Inc. Greatest Percentage of Increase– Athenian: Division I: Norwalk Vault Company of Connecticut; Division II: Brewster Inc; Division III : Dor- ic Vaults of Hudson Valley; Division III: Precast Concrete Products, Inc. Greatest Number Sold–Lydian: Divi- sion I: Carolina Doric Inc; Division II: Esterly Burial Vault Service; Division III: Perfection Concrete. Greatest Per- centage of Increase–Lydian: Division I: Doric Concrete Vaults; Division I: Doric South; Division II: Esterly Buri- al Vault Service; Division III: Perfec- tion Concrete. Greatest Number Sold– Bronze: Division I: Carolina-Doric, Inc; Division II: Rocky Mountain Monument &Vault; Division III: Jac- son Inc; Division III: Perfection Con- crete; Division III: Precision Precast of Western Massachusetts; Division III: Willmar Precast. Greatest Percentage of Increase-Bronze: Division I: Creter Vault Corp; Division II: Esterly Burial Vault Service; Division II: Hardy Dor- ic Inc; Division III: Perfection Con- crete; Division III: Precision Precast of Western Massachusetts; Division III: Willmar Precast. Overall Greatest Per- centage of Increase: Division I: C &M Precast Company; Division II: Van- den Boomen Burial Vault; Division III: American Concrete Industries. Top Cremation Product Sales Award: Cor- deiroVault Co. Daisy ChrisomAward: Rocky Mountain Monument & Vault. Greatest Number Sold: Carolina-Dor- ic, Inc. #1 Dealer Sales Award: Caroli- na-Doric, Inc. Doric Products, Inc is a leading man- ufacturer of burial vaults, cremation vaults and memorialization products. Distributed by highly trained profes- sionals throughout the United States and Canada, Doric offers families buri- al vaults of exceptional quality, value and strength. Well known for its modest price in relation to its strength, and durabili- ty; the Doric brand burial vault offers uncompromised security with tremen- dous value. Although Doric is best known as a leader in traditional concrete burial vaults, the Classic Metal Vaults divi- sion features one of the largest selec- tions of air-seal metal vaults available anywhere. The people of Doric Products are dedicated to providing outer burial en- closures that will honor a loved one’s memory while giving family members comfort and peace of mind. Doric Awards Dealers at the 63 rd Annual Meeting in New York City Rich Creter, Matt Creter and Dick Creter being presented a com- memorative plaque from Doric president, Jim Wiens Doug Evans (right) and Jim Woods (left) being presented an award from Doric president, Jim Wiens unique flexible program that not only offers sig- nificantly lower front end costs, but will also offer passive residual commis- sions for all other online sales within an Anchor Partners primary market area, further reducing their overall costs for monu- ments without having to resell the products as an ac- tive part of their business model. New laser art ready col- ors will be introduced throughout 2019, with the introduction of a qual- ity line of cremation and grave site columbarium units, family and larger décor wall units. Custom monument design servic- es will also be incorporat- ed regionally as the REM network expands manufac- turing facilities through- out the United States and Canada. REM is also ac- cepting marketing part- ners for regional OEM and state distribution. For more Information, con- tact Cliff Veach, director at 810-543-5799 or email info@REMMemorials.com . Continued from Page B1 Michigan Startup Creates New Profit Opportunities FUNE RAL HOME & C EME T E RY NEWS www.nomispublications.com