Chapter 1, The Undertaking Summary and Analysis

Thomas Lynch buries a few hundred of the people in his town each year. He cremates two or three dozen. He sells caskets, burial vaults, urns, headstones, monuments and flowers. He mostly sells the use of his business and owns a hearse, a minivan and several other transportation methods. He once sold his services according to a 'unit pricing method', a packaged deal with one number, a large one. Today he itemized because it is the law. He makes a million a year, five percent of which is profit. He is the only undertaker in town.

Thomas predicts the market based on a crude death rate, the number of deaths each year out of a thousand persons. 8.4 people will die each year out of 1,000. Two-thirds of those people die from old age, 5% are children. 2.5 corpses are baby-boomers...