Urn manufacturers
Make yours the urns that can still be identified in fifty years.
An urn may remain with a family for decades and eventually outlast the people who know whose remains it holds. You can solve that during production. RetURN.org assigns your company unique IDs and supplies the artwork. You build the ID into the urn, and the family activates it later.
The IDs, artwork, and program are free to your company, with optional manufacturer attribution on activated profiles.
Put the identification in place before the urn ever reaches the family.
Once an urn leaves the factory, adding identification depends on a funeral home, retailer, or family deciding to do it later. Built in from the beginning, it is already there whenever the family needs it.
Permanent identification built into the product
The ID is already there when the urn reaches the funeral home, the retailer and the family. Nobody downstream has to remember to add it.
It costs you nothing to take part
No charge for assigned IDs, production artwork, licensing, the portal, or the optional API. Physical labels, if you need them, are supplied at our cost and reimbursed after activation.
Your company stays connected to the piece
When a family activates the ID, the profile can identify the manufacturer associated with the urn. Attribution is optional and it is your call.
Nothing to maintain after it ships
Families activate the IDs themselves and RetURN.org hosts and maintains the profiles. You do not hold family information or manage the profile.
We maintain a separate technical specification page for manufacturers and other organizations incorporating RetURN.org IDs into products.
Four steps, with more than one way to add the ID.
- We issue your IDs. RetURN.org assigns a block of unique IDs to your organization and provides the artwork and specifications you need.
- You choose how to add them. Use whichever approach works best for your products and production process.
- Apply premade RetURN.org IDs to finished products.
- Integrate the ID into production by engraving, routing, printing, or another suitable method.
- Work with us on a custom design if you want the ID incorporated differently into a particular urn, product line, or manufacturing process.
- The urn ships normally. There is nothing the funeral home, retailer, distributor, or family needs to activate before the sale. The urn simply ships with its RetURN.org ID already in place.
- The family activates it. The family registers the ID and adds the information and wishes they want connected to the remains. RetURN.org hosts and maintains the profile. Manufacturers can also choose whether their company is identified on activated profiles connected to their products.
The program is free. Choose how you put the ID on the urn.
Build the ID into the product
RetURN.org assigns the IDs and provides the production artwork at no charge. Engrave, route, print, or otherwise incorporate the ID using the production process you already have.
There is no charge for assigned IDs, production artwork, licensing, portal access, API access, membership, or annual program fees.
Use a physical RetURN.org label
For products where incorporating the ID directly is not practical, RetURN.org can supply physical anodized aluminum labels at our cost.
When a family activates one of those IDs, we reimburse the corresponding label cost to you. Reimbursements are paid quarterly.
The family pays to activate the ID.
The manufacturer does not pay an activation fee.
A family pays $19.99 to activate a RetURN.org ID already on the urn. There is no subscription or annual renewal.
Keep track of your IDs without adding another system.
The manufacturer portal provides one place to manage the IDs assigned to your organization. It can show:
- IDs issued to your company
- IDs already used in products
- IDs remaining
- Products associated with IDs
- How many IDs have been activated
You can see activation activity. You cannot see the family’s wishes or other private profile information.
Use the portal, or connect your production system.
No integration is required. Manufacturers can manage assigned IDs through the RetURN.org manufacturer portal.
For higher-volume production, an optional API can let your existing systems:
- Request or reserve blocks of IDs
- View assigned IDs
- Report when an ID has been used
- Associate IDs with internal product references
The API does not provide access to family wishes or private profile information.
Give your customers another reason to choose your urns.
An urn that arrives with a RetURN.org ID already built in gives funeral homes, retailers and families a useful feature they do not have to add themselves.
There is nothing for the seller to install, register, or maintain before the urn is sold. The family activates the ID when they are ready.
Put RetURN.org IDs on your next production run.
Tell us what you manufacture and roughly how many pieces you produce. Someone from RetURN.org will be in touch within one business day to set your organization up and assign your first block of IDs. Pricing, portal and integration questions are welcome at any point: talk to us.
Frequently asked questions
Why are IDs free for manufacturers?
Families pay to activate RetURN.org IDs. That revenue funds the long-term operation and maintenance of RetURN.org, including the database that keeps IDs working over time.
We also use a portion of revenue to support industry scholarships, organizations, and other programs and initiatives of Buried in Work Charitable.
The model allows manufacturers to build permanent identification into their products without adding another licensing fee, program fee, or recurring cost. Physical labels are handled separately: they are supplied at our cost and reimbursed after the corresponding ID is activated.
Where should the ID go?
Wherever it works best with the product while remaining durable, readable, and reasonably discreet. Depending on the urn, that might be the base, underside, foot, an interior surface, or another protected location.
See the ID specifications for placement guidance.
Can we use our own branding?
The permanent identifier uses RetURN.org so someone who encounters the urn years from now has a consistent place to reach the profile.
Your company can be identified on the activated profile as the manufacturer associated with the urn, if you want it to be.
Who maintains the family’s profile?
RetURN.org. The manufacturer is not responsible for storing, maintaining, or updating the family’s profile.
Can we see what families enter?
No. Manufacturers can see whether an ID has been activated and the other program activity the portal shows. They cannot see family wishes or other private profile information.
Do we have to use the API?
No. The portal can be used without any technical integration. The API is there for manufacturers that want ID management inside their existing production systems.
What if we cannot engrave or print the ID directly?
RetURN.org can provide durable anodized aluminum ID labels for products where direct integration is not practical. The material’s manufacturer expects them to remain legible for 100 years or more indoors.
Labels are supplied at our cost. When a family activates the corresponding ID, RetURN.org reimburses the label cost to the manufacturer, paid quarterly.
Talk to us about IDs
Tell us what you manufacture and roughly how many pieces you produce each year. We can help work out the best way to incorporate RetURN.org IDs and issue your first block.
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