\n<\/p>\n
Strathroy | Istock | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
For nearly a century, John Dioguardi\u2019s family has been making custom headstones and other memorial markers at Rome Monument in western Pennsylvania. Recently, he\u2019s wondered how much time his business has left.<\/p>\n
Dioguardi has been trying to adapt for more than a decade as the rise in cremations has hurt demand for the traditional burial markers his business has become synonymous with. This year, they\u2019ve been dealt another blow: President Donald Trump<\/a>\u2018s broad and steep tariffs<\/a>, which have driven up costs for granite coming to American graveyards from around the world.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope this all works out,\u201d Dioguardi said. \u201cI have no idea if it will.\u201d<\/p>\n Rome Monument is part of a fabric of small, family run companies that make memorialization products facing the dual challenges of levies and cremations. Members of the blue-collar industry are in a fight to survive the social, political and economic shifts throwing their livelihoods into a state of disruption.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As Dioguardi watched the White House\u2019s trade relationship with China fluctuate in recent months, he shifted two-thirds of his supply chain out of the Asian country. Most of it went to India, which has seen a relatively lower tariff rate for much of the year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Craftsman working with compressed air at tombstone.<\/p>\n Kzenon | Istock | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Dioguardi said bringing production to the U.S. would likely still be more expensive \u2014 even with new tariffs \u2014 due to higher labor costs. There\u2019s another simple reason to look internationally: Some types of granite, like the multi-colored aurora found in India, come only from certain regions abroad.<\/p>\n \u201cGod gave the different parts of the world certain yummies,\u201d Dioguardi said. \u201cWe have nothing like that in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s levies have altered the bottom lines in the industry, leaving businesses struggling with how to mitigate the additional costs.<\/p>\n In September 2024, Milano Monuments\u2019 Jim Milano paid around 29% custom duties and taxes on a container coming in from China to his Cleveland-based business. A year later, that rate nearly doubled to 59%.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n He\u2019s talked with fellow memorial monument suppliers about adding an addendum to large orders telling buyers that the price could be later adjusted depending on if tariff rates move. For now, Milano said he and many peers are covering the tariffs out of pocket. He\u2019s taken a pay cut as a result.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s just so many crazy things that have come up in the last several years,\u201d said Milano, whose business has been around for half of a century. \u201cBut this tariff thing has been like a gut punch.\u201d<\/p>\n In recent months, Milano has found himself rushing to communicate with his ordering controller when he sees a headline about higher levies to ensure his containers hit the water before they would take effect.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Milano\u2019s showroom and a memorial made by the business.<\/p>\n Courtesy: Jim Milano<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Because the monument industry produces specialty products, it typically runs on lead times of several weeks or months. Importers can see significantly different levy rates if the White House adjusts its trade policy between when memorial products are first ordered by customers and the granite is actually shipped to the U.S.<\/p>\n \u201cThe uncertainty part is the hardest part we struggle with,\u201d said Nathan Lange, president of Monument Builders of North America, a trade group representing hundreds of business with an average lifespan of more than seven decades.<\/p>\n Granite wholesalers have similarly needed to recalibrate their sales practices. At Kentucky-based PS Granite, operations chief Parthi Damo <\/strong>said they have delayed printing annual marketing materials for next year because they aren\u2019t sure if tariff rates could change again, which would mean prices need to be adjusted. Damo said he may switch to making new documents every 60 days in case they need to keep updating prices.<\/p>\n Trump has argued that foreign countries or, in some cases, the companies<\/a> importing their products should eat the tariffs. Data shows that businesses have largely absorbed <\/a>cost increases in the short term.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n blank stone gravestones and grave slabs in outdoor rural granite workshop.<\/p>\n Krimkate | Istock | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But memorial creators said that their smaller margins and lower volumes make it tougher to cover the costs than it would be for large retailers. Because the businesses work with shoppers feeling emotions around death, industry members say they need to be especially sensitive when deciding whether to pass down costs to consumers.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard,\u201d Milano said. \u201cWe can\u2019t go back to a grieving family and say, \u2018You know what, we got to add an additional $1,000 to your family\u2019s memorial to cover the tariffs.'\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Even before the tariffs ramped up, the industry was busy reorienting itself for a future with fewer traditional burials.<\/p>\n The U.S.\u2019 five-year cremation rate has surged to more than 60% in 2024, up from under 40% a decade and a half prior, according to the Cremation Association of North America. The organization expects more than two out of every three bodies will be cremated in an average year between 2025 and 2029.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Dioguardi has considered expanding the work radius around his Pennsylvania headquarters to buoy demand for grave site products, a broader trend which he said has prompted a wave of acquisitions within the industry. Dioguardi and his peers have emphasized alternatives like pedestal memorials for people remembering a cremated loved one.<\/p>\n He\u2019s also worked on less conventional monuments: Dioguardi recently helped a cemetery install a \u201crainbow bridge\u201d memorial that contains the ashes of pets.<\/p>\n \u201cCremation has changed our business tremendously,\u201d Dioguardi said. \u201cIt\u2019s created new opportunities. It has closed some other doors.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\u2018A gut punch\u2019<\/h2>\n
A changing business<\/h2>\n