Monument, headstone manufacturer deals with fees and cremation

For nearly a century, John Dioguardi’s family has been making custom tombstones and other memorials at Roman Monument in western Pennsylvania. Lately, he’s been wondering how much time he has left in his business.

Dioguardi has been trying to adapt for more than a decade, as the rise in cremations reduces demand for the traditional burial markers that are synonymous with his business. This year, they took another hit. President Donald Trump’s broad and expensive tariffs are driving up the cost of granite shipped from all over the world to American graves.

“I hope everything goes well,” coach Dioguardi said. “I don’t know if that will happen.”

Rome Monument is part of an organization of small, family-owned businesses that produce memorial products that face the dual challenges of collection fees and cremation. Members of blue-collar industries are fighting to survive amid social, political, and economic changes that have disrupted their livelihoods.

Mr. Dioguardi has seen the White House’s trade relationship with China fluctuate in recent months, moving two-thirds of his supply chain out of Asia. Most of it went to India, where tariff rates were relatively low for most of the year.

Dioguardi said it would likely still be expensive to bring production to the U.S., even with new tariffs, because of high labor costs. There’s another simple reason to look internationally. This is because some types of granite, like the colorful aurora seen in India, are only found in certain regions overseas.

“God gave different parts of the world certain delicacies,” Dioguardi said. “We don’t have anything like that in our country.”

President Trump’s tax has changed industry revenues and companies are struggling with how to mitigate additional costs.

In September 2024, Jim Milano of Milano Monuments paid approximately 29% duties and taxes on containers coming into his Cleveland-based business from China. One year later, that percentage had nearly doubled to 59%.

He is talking with fellow memorial suppliers about adding an addendum to large orders to let buyers know the price may be adjusted later if tariffs change. For now, Milano said he and many of his peers are covering the tariffs out of pocket. As a result, he received a pay cut.

“So many crazy things have happened in the last few years,” said Milano, who has been in business for half a century. “But this tariff issue was like a gut punch.”

In recent months, Milano has found himself hastily contacting order managers after seeing headlines about increased surcharges to ensure containers land before they take effect.

Because the monument industry produces specialized products, lead times typically range from weeks to months. If the White House adjusts trade policy between the time the memorabilia is first ordered by a customer and the time the granite is actually shipped to the United States, importers’ tax rates could vary widely.

“The uncertainty part is the part we struggle with the most,” said Nathan Lang, president of Monument Builders of North America, a trade group representing hundreds of companies with average lifespans of 70 years or more.

Granite wholesalers have similarly had to readjust their sales practices. Parti Damo, operations manager for Kentucky-based PS Granite, said the company has postponed printing its annual marketing materials until next year because it’s unclear whether tariff rates will change again, in which case price adjustments would have to be made. Damo said they may switch to creating a new document every 60 days in case they need to keep updating prices.

President Trump has argued that tariffs should be borne by foreign countries, or in some cases by the companies that import the products. Data shows that companies have largely absorbed the cost increases in the short term.

But the monument’s creators said tight margins and low sales volumes make it harder to cover costs than big retailers. Companies need to be especially careful when deciding whether to pass costs on to consumers because they are working with shoppers who are emotionally attached to death, industry officials say.

“That’s difficult,” Milano said. “You can’t go back to a grieving family and say, ‘We have to add another $1,000 to your family’s memorial to cover the customs duties.'”

Even before the tariffs were raised, the industry was busy pivoting toward a future with fewer traditional burials.

The five-year cremation rate in the United States has increased from less than 40% a decade and a half ago to more than 60% by 2024, according to the Cremation Association of North America. The organization predicts that in an average year from 2025 to 2029, more than two out of every three bodies will be cremated.

Dioguardi is considering expanding its footprint around its Pennsylvania headquarters to stimulate demand for cemetery products, a broader trend that he said is driving a wave of acquisitions in the industry. Mr. Dioguardi and his colleagues have emphasized alternatives, such as pedestal memorials for people to remember loved ones who have been cremated.

Mr. Dioguardi recently helped install a “Rainbow Bridge” memorial at the cemetery containing the ashes of pets.

“Cremation has really changed our business,” Dioguardi said. “It created new opportunities. It closed some other doors.”

The city of Milan is concerned that if monument builders have to raise prices to account for customs duties, more consumers could be induced to choose cremation. Besides granite, taxes on production materials are also hurting profits, he said.

Indeed, Canada’s monument industry is feeling the heat even more intensely, with the five-year average cremation rate expected to exceed 80%. Mr. Dioguardi said the granite manufacturers he worked with in the U.S.’s northern neighbor were not raising prices through tariffs, given the shrinking domestic demand.

Dioguardi said his family’s business should be solid for another 10 years, but he doubts it can survive in its current state beyond that. At the same time, the 75-year-old knows the fate of the business depends on whether people want some form of memorial service for their loved ones.

Comparing the Egyptians’ choice of pyramids with today’s tendency to scatter ashes elsewhere without marking them, Dioguardi is not exactly confident. Part of the challenge, he and other industry insiders say, is proving that commemorative products of any kind are worth the investment.

“Forget about building pyramids,” Dioguardi said. “I don’t even know if they want pebbles.”