StoneMor Inc. owns and operates cemeteries and funeral homes in the United States (U.S.).
As of December 31, 2021, the company operated 300 cemeteries in 24 states and Puerto Rico. The company owns 271 of these cemeteries and it manages or operates the remaining 29 under lease, management or operating agreements with the nonprofit cemetery companies that own the cemeteries.
As of December 31, 2021, the company also owned, operated or managed 69 funeral homes, including 33 located on the ground...
StoneMor Inc. owns and operates cemeteries and funeral homes in the United States (U.S.).
As of December 31, 2021, the company operated 300 cemeteries in 24 states and Puerto Rico. The company owns 271 of these cemeteries and it manages or operates the remaining 29 under lease, management or operating agreements with the nonprofit cemetery companies that own the cemeteries.
As of December 31, 2021, the company also owned, operated or managed 69 funeral homes, including 33 located on the grounds of cemetery properties that it owns, in 15 states and Puerto Rico. The cemetery products and services that the company sells include the following:
Interment Rights: Burial lots, lawn crypts, mausoleum crypts, cremation niches, and perpetual care rights.
Merchandise: Burial vaults, Caskets, grave markers and grave marker bases, and memorials.
Services: The installation of burial vaults, installation of caskets, installation of other cemetery merchandise, and other service items.
The company sells these products and services both at the time of death, which it refers to as at-need, and prior to the time of death, which it refers to as pre-need. In 2021, it performed 54,205 burials and sold 21,739 interment spaces (net of cancellations), excluding divested locations. Based on the company’s sales of interment spaces in 2021, its cemeteries have an aggregate average remaining sales life of 282 years.
The company’s cemetery properties are located in Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
The funeral home products and services that the company sells include the following:
Merchandise: Caskets and related items.
Services: Family consultation, the removal and preparation of remains, insurance products, and the use of funeral home facilities for visitation and prayer services.
The company’s funeral homes are located in Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
Segments
The company operates through two segments, Cemetery Operations and Funeral Home Operations.
Cemetery Operations
This segment includes the sales of cemetery interment rights, merchandise and services and the performance of cemetery maintenance and other services. An interment right entitles a customer to a burial space in one of the company’s cemeteries and the perpetual care of that burial space. Burial spaces, or lots, are parcels of property that hold interred human remains. A burial vault is a rectangular container, usually made of concrete but can also be made of steel or plastic, which sits in the burial lot and in which the casket is placed. The top of the burial vault is buried approximately 18 to 24 inches below the surface of the ground, and the casket is placed inside the vault. Burial vaults prevent ground settling that may create uneven ground surfaces. Lawn crypts are a series of closely spaced burial lots with preinstalled vaults and may include other improvements, such as landscaping, sprinkler systems and drainage. A mausoleum crypt is an above ground structure that may be designed for a particular customer, which the company refers to as a private mausoleum or it may be a larger building that serves multiple customers, which it refers to as a community mausoleum. Cremation niches are spaces in which the ashes remaining after cremation are stored. Cremation niches are often part of community mausoleums, although the company sells a variety of cremation niches to accommodate its customers’ preferences.
Grave markers, monuments and memorials are above ground products that serve as memorials by showing who is remembered, the dates of birth and death and other pertinent information. These markers, monuments and memorials include simple plates, such as those used in a community mausoleum or cremation niche, flush-to-the-ground granite or bronze markers, headstones or large stone obelisks.
One of the principal services that the company provides at its cemeteries is an ‘opening and closing’, which is the digging and refilling of burial spaces to install the vault and place the casket into the vault. With pre-need sales, there are usually two openings and closings, where permitted by applicable law. During the initial opening and closing, the company installs the burial vault in the burial space. Where permitted by applicable law, it usually performs this service shortly after the customer signs a pre-need contract. Advance installation allows the company to withdraw the related funds from its merchandise trusts. During the final opening and closing, the company removes the dirt above the vault, open the lid of the vault, place the casket into the vault, close the vault lid and replace the ground cover. With at-need sales, the company typically performs the initial opening and closing at the time it performs the final opening and closing. Its other services include the installation of other cemetery merchandise and the perpetual care related to interment rights.
Funeral Home Operations
The company’s funeral homes offer a range of services to meet a family’s funeral needs, including family consultation, final expense insurance products, the removal and preparation of remains, the provision of caskets and related funeral merchandise, the use of funeral home facilities for visitation, worship and the performance of funeral services and transportation services. Funeral Home Operations primarily generate revenues from at-need sales.
Cremation Products and Services
The company operates crematories at some of its cemeteries or funeral homes, but its primary crematory operations are the sales of receptacles for cremated remains, such as urns, and the inurnment of cremated remains in niches or scattering gardens. It sells cremation products and services on both a pre-need and an at-need basis.
Acquisitions
In January 2022, the company acquired two cemeteries in Virginia, pursuant to a definitive agreement signed on March 23, 2021 with Daly Seven, Inc. to acquire four cemeteries, subject to customary working capital adjustments. The remaining two cemeteries, which are located in North Carolina, are expected to close in the second quarter of 2022.
On March 1, 2022, the company acquired one funeral home in Florida and on March 15, 2022, the company acquired one combination cemetery and funeral home, a separate cemetery and a separate funeral home in West Virginia.
Marketing
The company generates sales leads through various methods, including digital marketing, direct mail, websites, funeral follow-up and sales force cold calling, with the assistance of database mining and other marketing resources. Its marketing department provides marketing techniques to focus on its lead generation and to direct sales efforts.
Seasonality
The company performs fewer initial openings and closings in the winter, as the ground is frozen in many of the areas in which it operates.
Regulation
The company’s funeral operations are regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (the FTC) under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act and a trade regulation rule for the funeral industry promulgated thereunder referred to as the ‘Funeral Rule’.
The company’s operations are subject to federal, regional, state and local laws and regulations related to environmental protection, such as the federal Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act and Comprehensive Environmental Response (EPCRA), Compensation, and Liability Act, which impose legal requirements governing air emissions, waste management and disposal and wastewater discharges.
The company is subject to the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) and comparable state statutes. OSHA’s regulatory requirement, known as the Hazard Communication Standard, and similar state statutes require the company to provide information and training to its employees about hazardous materials used or maintained for its operations. The company is also subject to the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and similar laws.
Competition
The company has historically faced limited competition from the two publicly held death care companies that have the U.S. operations, including Service Corporation International and Carriage Services, Inc.
History
StoneMor Inc. was incorporated in 2004.
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