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FAMILY OWNED VS. CHAINS
| The funeral profession has a long, proud history of personal service
provided by generations of local families with deep roots in their
community. Today there are many funeral service providers to choose
from. What you may not know is that not all funeral homes are owned by
local families. While they may have been operating in your community
for years, and their names have not changed, some funeral homes have
sold out to national and even international conglomerates. These funeral service conglomerates keep the original family name on their businesses because they know that at your greatest time of need you are more likely to turn to a local family you feel you can trust, than to a national chain you know nothing about. They are large corporations that are publicly traded on the stock exchange. This makes them responsible to their stockholders and board of directors to continually grow profits year after year. It is not our claim that these companies do not care about you, but as mandated by public ownership they are responsible to their shareholders first. As a result you end up paying more money and receive less value for your funeral service. As a convenience to both the families we have served and those that are considering selecting our funeral home, we are providing the following list of such conglomerates and the funeral homes they are operating in the Puget Sound area. |
SCI GROUP Acacia, American Burial & Cremation, Bauer, Bleitz, Brown, Evergreen, Faull-Stokes, Forest Lawn, Greenwood, Jerns, Jerns-McKinney, Powers, Price-Helton, Purdy & Kerr with Dawson, Purdy & Walters, Mills & Mills, Miller Woodlawn, Schaefer-Shipman, Snoqualmie Valley, Sticklin, Sunset Hills, Vancouver, Weller, Woodlawn Abbey, Yarington's All are now owned by Service Corporation International from Houston, Texas. It is the world's largest funeral/cemetery conglomerate chain and is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. STONE-MOR PARTNERS Oakwood Hill, Piper-Morley-Mellinger All are now owned by StoneMor Partners LP from Bristol, Pennsylvania. It is one of the largest companies in the death care industry and is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. NEPTUNE SOCIETY INC. Neptune Society of Washington Neptune Society Inc. is a publicly traded corporation listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange with headquarters in Burbank, CA. |
