Loewen Steam-roller In Ponca City, Oklahoma, Loewen has made a bid to buy a local IOOF Cemetery, currently being run as a nonprofit operation as required by law. The County Commissioners must determine that a sale would not alter the operations before approving such a sale. Read more

ID Viewing Many funeral homes are now requiring “personal identification” or ID viewing prior to cremation, hoping that when you see Mom in a cardboard box, someone will ask if there isn’t something a little nicer. In fact, this tactic was recommended at a funeral industry symposium—Keys to Cremation Success, “How to Add $1,400 to Your Cremation Calls”—where the speaker admitted that such a maneuver was self-serving. Read more

Greedy and Outrageous Tactics On the back of a Statement of Funeral Goods and Services Selected/Purchase Agreement supplied by an SCI-owned funeral home—under Terms and Conditions—there appears the following, “LIMITATION OF DAMAGES AND REMEDIES: By signing this Agreement you expressly waive, and you agree that you shall not be entitled to recover, consequential damages or losses of any kind, based on negligence. Read more

“Gay-Friendly” SCI in England? The following is from an article by David Northmore in “The Pink Paper,” a British publication, dated November 1, 1996: A multi-million dollar American corporation is cashing in on AIDS deaths in the UK via a helpline claiming to direct the bereaved to gay-friendly undertakers. An investigation by the Pink Paper has revealed how relatives and partners are likely to be referred to one of the 370 UK funeral firms operated in Britain by the helpline’s owners, Texas- based Service Corporation International (SCI). The Corporation is now being probed by the Department of Trade for “acting against the public interest,” and has already been slammed by the Advertising Standards Authority for issuing misleading advertisements. Last year the Corporation launched a National Gay Funeral Advice Helpline claiming to offer the gay and lesbian community a network of “the highest standard of professional, compassionate and unbiased funeral services available.” But the Pink Paper has established the helpline is a marketing front for Service Corporation International’s UK-wide chain of undertakers. Read more

SCI Manipulates Cremation Customers The following arrived in the FAMSA mail:   Enclosed are educational tools for a new program which Service Corporation International (SCI) is imposing on their funeral homes and members of memorial societies who use their facilities. Read more

Stewart Cemetery Practices Deceptive The following was faxed to Maridel Freshwater in the regional office of the Federal Trade Commission by Pierson Ralph, Executive Director, Memorial Society of North Texas. Several editorial comments have been added in italics. Simplicity Plan of Texas, a subsidiary of Stewart Enterprises, Inc., Read more

Loewen’s Cemetery Shake-down Targeting the Poor and Parents Who Have Lost a Child The grandfather got the first call from Hillcrest Gardens in Mt. Holly, NC. Walter owns six lots there. His wife is buried there, and his tiny grandson, too, right on top of his wife. Read more