SALISBURY, Md.- It’s no secret that supply chain issues have impacted business nationwide, but a couple of those you may not have thought of are monument businesses and funeral homes.
“I’m hopeful, but I’m not optimistic, I just don’t see it happening anytime soon I just think it’s going to get worse before it gets better,” Wanda Disharoon, the owner’s wife of Salisbury Monument Company, said.
For two monument companies in Salisbury, difficulty getting materials during the pandemic is causing some headaches and keeping them from making markers and headstones.
“There’s a lack of inventory, things are not in stock, granite’s not in stock, it’s hard to come by, some of the granite is oversees,” Rachel Gulley, one of the owners of B & R Monument, said.
“So, the quarries are in the same situation that we are in, they cant get enough stone quarried out of there to get to every single monument dealer in the United States of America,” Disharoon said.
And we’re learning, the product delay has turned from weeks to months.
“It used to be may be 4 to 6 weeks before I could get stone and now it’s 4 months plus,” Disharoon said.
But, that’s not all these companies are dealing with. The cost of headstones and markers is also changing.
“Our standard what we call our bread and butter marker it’s two foot by one foot by four inches thick, before the pandemic they were $595, right now I have to charge $795,” Disharoon said.
“The price has been very, very high for any kind of granite that has color to it,” Gulley said.
Business owners said having to tell customers about these challenges isn’t a great feeling, but they’re doing all they can to make things work.
“This will not be something that will hopefully be long long term and if they can just continue to bare with us, we are on their side,” Gulley said.
