When a California woman went to unpack the urn containing her late brother’s ashes, she found it had been damaged in shipping and the ashes spilled onto her floor. The crematorium that sent the urn blames UPS, which points the finger right back at the crematorium, saying it violated UPS policy by shipping human remains.

“I’ve been in the business 15 years,” the cremation company’s owner tells CBS Sacramento’s Kurtis Ming. “I’ve handled thousands of cases with remains and never have I heard anyone say anything about an urn breaking before.”

He also says he didn’t place the ashes in a plastic bag — which would likely have prevented the ashes from spilling — because it wouldn’t fit into the eagle-shaped urn. What he wouldn’t comment on is the whole “shipping human remains” thing that is a no-no according to UPS.

When contacted by CBS, the shipping company reiterated its policy of not accepting “Human Remains, fetal remains, human body parts, or components thereof” for shipment.

However, since the woman did hear claim to hear the UPS driver drop the box on her front lawn, UPS has offered her a $300 “goodwill payment” to replace the urn.

Speaking of goodwill, a local funeral home not only volunteered to help the woman clean up the spilled ashes, but also demonstrated how the crematorium could have placed a plastic bag in the urn.

Call Kurtis Investigates: Broken Urn Sends Relative’s Ashes Flying [CBS Sacramento]

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