Carriage Services, Inc. provides death care services and merchandise in the United States. Carriage Services, Inc. operates through two segments, Funeral Home Operations and Cemetery Operations. The Funeral Home Operations segment offers various services to meet a family's funeral needs, including consultation, the removal and preparation of remains, the sale of caskets and related funeral merchandise, the use of funeral home facilities for visitation and services, and transportation services. As of December 31, 2009, Carriage Services, Inc. operated 138 funeral homes in 25 states. The Cemetery Operations segment provides interment services; the rights to interment in cemetery sites, including grave sites, mausoleum crypts, and niches; and related cemetery merchandise, such as memorials and vaults. This segment operated 32 cemeteries in 11 states. Carriage Services, Inc. also markets funeral and cemetery services and products on a preneed basis. Its preneed funeral or cemetery contracts enable families to establish, in advance, the type of service to be performed, the products to be used, and the cost of such products and services. Carriage Services, Inc. was founded in 1991 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.