Drive-thru Funerals?
Chipotle isn’t the only company eyeing the benefits of a drive-thru.
All of us have grown up knowing the convenience of a drive-thru window as we grab a quick bite to eat or as we venture to the bank. Even as we wash our car or drop off, our dry cleaning drive-thru windows are a convenience in time and effort. Chipotle recently announced that it is planning to add drive-thru lanes to half of the 165 locations they are adding over the next year. “It takes us all of 12 seconds to get you your food when you pull up in your car because you’ve already paid in advance and made the whole order,” Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol said.
Are they the only company that could benefit from such an addition to their standard business structure?
Now, in the age of health concerns and the inability to meet in large groups, the convenience of the drive-thru is being heavily looked at in different industries. But does a drive-thru work for businesses like funeral homes?
For years funeral homes in densely populated cities or communities that are safety conscious have used adapted drive-thru windows as a way to allow families to have a public viewing.
How would a drive-thru funeral even work?
In many iterations, it consists of the deceased in a casket or urn in a room were close family members are present. The difference comes with one of the walls being a large glass display window, where those that wish to attend the viewing may pull through via a driveway next to the window, in some cases offering condolences via an intercom system.
Another iteration of a drive-thru viewing is a room that holds the deceased in a casket slightly leaned towards a window with an automated blind reserving the view for only those that intend to see into the window. As a car pulls up, an attendant raises the blind, allowing those present to view, after which the blind is closed. A mailbox type shoot may also be available to leave condolence cards or donations for a designated charity.
As the world changes with new thoughts, concerns, and practices, technology, and the way we interact with changing technologies will transform pieces of our culture, as has been the case in the past.
If you are interested in other subjects that involve death and technology intertwining with each other in the modern world, check out Digital Remains by J.H. Harrington that looks at death, dying, and remembrance in the tech generation.
