Delays Beyond Our Control

Delays in the completion of headstones are unfortunately plaguing the industry right now. Granite dealers continue to reassure customers that there is not a shortage of granite. That is not the issue. The issue right now is with transportation and production.

Many of us thought the delays would happen last year during the COVID-19 pandemic. Manufacturers were shut down for periods of time. We just expected a delay. Instead, a year of backlogged orders has now caught up with the industry. And unfortunately that slows everything down.

And now… granite coming from India is delayed due to the high COVID-19 rate in India. Shipping is temporarily stalled until at least July.

At Elmwood we pride ourselves on getting headstones and monuments completed in a timely fashion. That is still our hope. However, issues such as transportation and speed of production are completely out of our hands. Trust us when we say, we too are not pleased with these issues. But they are out of our control.

Sadly, engraving is in the same boat. When engraving a monument, the weather must cooperate. Rainy, cold days do not equate to good days to engrave, nor do snowy winter days. Last year many cemeteries were not even letting engravers into the cemetery. We were not one of those. Under normal circumstances, it would take 4-6 weeks for engraving. It is now taking 8-12 weeks to complete engraving.

Since we know there may be delays, we encourage our customers to order as soon as you can. It’s best to get an order placed and get in line. Otherwise, you end up waiting even longer. Call us today for more information.

When ordering a monument or engraving, please be patient and understand that everyone is doing the best that they can.