Don't Lose Your Shirt Over a Casket
Where can you get a good deal on a coffin?
Let's make our decision based on looks.
Funeral Depot is where "Overpaying is not dignified." In an interview on Fox News they say that funeral homes mark up coffins up to 600% above wholesale cost.
Funeral Depot also proudly proclaims on their home pages all the search engines they're listed on. As if.
The American Casket Company proclaims "100% Lowest Price Guarantee! Find a casket or coffin at a lower price? Tell us, we will beat that price!" on their chintzy site. Didn't anyone tell these funeral guys about Web 2.0? Pastels and rounded buttons are so in. Building your website in MS Word, so outre.
Casket Royale soberly advises, "Do not make an emotional loss a financial loss."
Plenty of snookering can go on at the grave site. Federal law states "The funeral provider may not refuse, or charge a fee, to handle a casket you bought elsewhere..." Read more in this report by the Federal Trade Commission.
In death, as in life, caveat emptor.
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Comments:
Well...they're a BUSINESS, not a charity.
That calendar is just not right.
Anyhow, I say boycott coffins all together.
When I die, take what useful organs there are, if any, then creamate the rest. Spread the ashes between the low tide and the hide tide on the seashore.
Reduce, reuse, recycle. :p
Well...they're a BUSINESS, not a charity.
Methinks they long ago crossed over from "business" to "rip-off". There is a difference.
We just buried my grandfather and the whole affair was one long ass-raping.
If my frugal papaw knew we had to pay so much to have him planted, he'd turn over in his...overpriced casket.
Penn and Teller have a great BS episode regarding this and the number of add ons they try to sell you that are actually detrimental to the corpse.
Freakonomics mentioned Tribute Direct as a source of online casket & memorial shopping.
It has a pretty good FAQ's and myths page, but be prepared to squint if you have a higher-than-VGA monitor.
I did a little double checking. We recently buried a family member, I was quoted between $2800 and $6500 for just a casket at 2 different funeral homes. That is as much as I wanted to spend on the entire funeral.
I looked at the sites mentioned above but ended up buying from one that wasn't listed. We bought from http://www.dignifiedcaskets.com because that was the biggest savings. The casket we picked out was extremely similar to one at the funeral home. We saved $2655. Funeral homes are a raquet. I would recommend online stores. The competition is driving prices back into reality.
Mmmm. Sexy coffin calendar:
http://www.cofanifunebri.com/2006-calendar.htm
But yeah, we had to argue and fight to get my father buried in a simple particle board coffin with minimal decoration. And that still cost us about 10 times what I could have built it for.
What a racket. Them and undertakers.
The sad thing is if the economy suffers their business increases... When I am done - Feed me to the wildlife...