Anyone who remembers the infamous crime scene at a Georgia crematory back in 2002 can imagine what a serious task funeral directors face in restoring the trust of the public when it comes to ensuring their loved ones’ wishes are honored. Sure, there are always a few bad apples in the bunch. That incident in Georgia was less of a blemish on the industry and more of an incurable, festering carbuncle that needs to be amputated.
Enter Simple Cremation of New Jersey’s No Drop-Off Policy.
Requiring your family to positively identify your loved one before the cremation is important, but how much good does it do if we don’t cover all the bases after that? Your family has entrusted us to care for your loved one and to see the process through as far as possible. We are your advocates. So if we were to bring your loved one to the crematory only to tell the crematory staff to do the cremation “when they have time” (which, frighteningly, many do), haven’t we just unraveled everything?
Unfortunately, this is another “norm” we see among funeral homes. There is no law in New Jersey that requires a licensed funeral director to witness the cremation – they are only required to be there when the individual is brought to the crematory. Don’t get us wrong, if we didn’t trust the crematory we work with, we wouldn’t be working with them. But it comes down to professional responsibility. We believe that simply dropping off your loved one does not fulfill the spirit of the task you have trusted us to complete.
Convenience is not in our vocabulary when it comes to something like this. It doesn’t matter how many families we are serving at a given time. When a family has completed their positive identification, our funeral directors call the crematory to make an appointment for an open retort (cremation chamber). Our funeral directors personally transport the individual to the crematory at the specified date and time. They review the paperwork and double check that all the identification (both on documents and on metal tags) is identical.
This obviously takes significantly more time than many funeral homes are used to spending at the crematory. But tell us what that extra time is worth when we can call a family to say “I accompanied Mom to the crematory today for our appointment, and I can personally assure you that she arrived safely and that the cremation was underway before I left the building” and actually mean it.
When you trust Simple Cremation of New Jersey with the care of someone you love, you’re not just getting a cremation. You’re getting a commitment from professionals who take pride in providing peace of mind when it matters most. We are serious about what we do, and we believe that a cremation without these extra assurances is simply a job left unfinished. Your family deserves more than that.
We always want to know how we can improve our service to your family. In what other ways would you like to see us expand on these policies?