It turns out, the state of Louisiana is in bed with funeral directors.
They’ve got a law on the books that allows ONLY funeral directors to sell “funeral merchandise.”
So unless you’re a state-licensed funeral director, you’re SOL.
The monks of St. Joseph Abbey didn’t know this when they started making simple wood caskets to help fund their monastery.
But they were quickly enlightened.
In fact, before they could sell a single casket, the state of Louisiana was kind enough to send them cease-and-desist letters that threatened thousands of dollars in fines and potential criminal prosecution.
Of course, the state claims the law exists to protect the people — as if making a casket the wrong way is somehow going to create health problems or something.
Whatever.
It’s obvious the law exists to give state-licensed funeral directors a monopoly in the casket and “funeral merchandise” business.
This stuff goes on all the time at both the state and federal level.
You pay to play.
Pay the state the licensing fee, you get to be part of the state-endorsed monopoly.
Don’t pay the fee — and you’ll be screwed six ways ’til Sunday — even if you’re a celibate monk.
Thank God the monks are fighting back and taking their case all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.
Sounds like Louisiana could use a good smack-down from the casket-making monks.
-Ryan M. Healy
P.S. Business owners who can’t write persuasive copy are kind of like the people who don’t pay to play… they’re screwed six ways ’til Sunday when it comes time to sell their product in print or on the web.
So if you need to bone up on your copywriting skills, just bow your head and walk quietly on over to http://clickora.com/CopywritingCode where you’ll find a treasure trove of in-depth lessons about the art and science of writing sales copy.
About Ryan M. Healy
Ryan Healy is a direct response copywriter. Since 2002, he has worked with scores of clients, including BoostCTR, Alex Mandossian, Terry Dean, and Pulte Homes. He writes a popular blog about copywriting, advertising, and business growth, has been featured in publications like Feed Front magazine, and is a regular contributor to WordStream.com, BoostCTR.com, and MarketingForSuccess.com.
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I’ve never been a fan of licensing fees. It’s always been a way to favor existing business owners over new ones. I watched it happen to Graphic Designers in Ontario. They claimed that registration and licensing was only to ensure the quality of the work.
In the end, even the worst designers can get licensed if they’re willing to jump through the hoops to do it. But if you’re self taught then you’re automatically not eligible for licensing.
It’s ridiculous because I am a prime example of a person with a 3 Year Communication Arts degree who could get licensed even though I haven’t worked in that field in over six years! (I’ve been too busy writing sales copy to bother with it.)
Yet, I know designers who are absolute geniuses in the field who can’t get licensed because they didn’t get grandfathered in like all of the agency business designers did when this started.
In my opinion, licensing is always about money and stomping on your competitors before they get big enough to bite you.
I may be wrong but that’s my two cents.
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