Immortality through services.
Last year my Father-in-law died. His passing was one of three close family members’ deaths we faced with that year. It was, as you can imagine, an awful year. Slowly we’ve recovered – but there are events that still bring the memories back.
We had one last weekend. My father-in-law owned his own business and had given my wife a Costco membership when we lived in LA over 15 years ago. Even after his death, the membership continued to be paid by his company. Until last Sunday.
It wasn’t entirely unexpected as his company has been sold to his former business partner, but yet it felt like a small death. As if just a little bit more of my father-in-law had died.
It also made me realize how services – in this case the service of a Costco membership – can be symbols of the love and affection you feel for your children or other family and friends. They are ways for you to provide – even after your death for some of their needs. For you to always let them know you are there to take care of them.
This insight becomes particularly relevant in this country at this time. Baby boomers are not simply retiring, they are also dying and leaving children behind them. I think this opens up a massive opportunity to provide after-death services (apologies for the slightly macabre name).
We are seeing this already with things like this: afterlife storage of important files and information. However, I now think the big boom will be in services that parents are able to purchase for their children or their grandchildren. Imagine paying Simon Delivers to bring a real Sunday Dinner to your child for the rest of his or her life. Or, paying Expedia to create a family holiday every year. There are rituals that every family has that could be extended indefinitely through services.
I’m pretty sure this will start to happen. I’m not sure how I feel about it.
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