Historically, it’s not unheard of to dig up graves, move bones to a different site, and re-use those graves. It only becomes problematic when cemetery staff take it upon themselves to re-use cemetery plots already bought, paid for, and occupied, and dump the occupants in a pile of weeds out back. That’s what employees of a historic black cemetery in Chicago did.
funerals
Study Shows Mortuaries Vary Widely In Pricing
By 5.26.09
A non-profit group recently surveyed the prices at 49 different mortuaries and crematoriums in San Diego, and found that “prices vary widely, with some mortuaries charging nearly twice as much as others for similar combinations of services.” Although the study focuses on one city, it’s a good reminder that you should check around and not assume that pricing is consistent throughout the industry.
You Had A Cat. Here Are Some Cat Ashes. Problem Solved!
By 5.20.09
How do you verify the identity of your cat after he’s been cremated? Matthew has no idea if the box he received really contains Spike’s cremains or the cremains of someone else’s pet. His vet offered to print out a new certificate with the correct name on it, but that seems less like a “solution” than a “waste of printer ink” designed to placate without providing answers.
National Funeral Home Lets Hundreds Of Corpses Rot In Hallways
By 4.5.09
The National Funeral Home in Falls Church, Virginia stores unrefrigerated corpses, including some bound for Arlington National Cemetery, in hallways and garages for months on end, according to embalmer-turned-whistleblower Steven Napper. The Funeral Home’s owner, Texas-based Service Corporation International, told Napper that they were unwilling to pay for refrigeration, which would prevent corpses from leaking and growing mold.
Save Money On A Funeral
By 3.6.09 — Updated: 5.29.13
Someone wrote to us this week that a person in his family is terminally ill, and that he was told “that the cost of the casket, funeral, viewing, and burial would possibly exceed 12,000 dollars.” He thinks that’s an “exorbitant amount of money,” and so do we. There is no reason to pay that much money for a kick-ass funeral that people will be talking about for years to come. You don’t need to be a cheapskate to manage this, either—you just need to be aware of your rights and know what traps to watch out for. Here’s our list of what to do the next time you have to plan a funeral.
Hertz Holds Your Rental Hostage For Cash Deposit, To Be Returned In 2 Weeks
By 3.6.09
Ryan’s wife is currently traveling alone with their 3-month-old son on the way to an unexpected funeral near Salt Lake, Utah. Despite the fact that she paid for the rental up front as part of an Orbitz package, the local Hertz jerks are refusing to give her the car unless she goes to an ATM and brings back $200 cash, which they say they will mail back in check form a few weeks after she returns the car. Even Hertz says this isn’t their policy, but they can’t seem to stay on the phone long enough to help Ryan and his wife.
By 9.9.08
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You don’t have to be the Princess of Wales or a former president to have a classy cortege after you die. All you have to do is live somewhere near Kansas City. After all, you paid a lot of money for that casket, so as many people should see it as possible. [Final Ride] (Thanks to Andrew!)
Lawsuits: American Airlines Loses Wife's Corpse For 4 Days
By 9.9.08
It’s one thing if American Airlines loses your baggage, but what about your wife’s body? What do you do then? One Brooklyn man was faced with this grim dilemma when he arranged to have his wife’s body flown to their home in Ecuador after she passed away from pelvic cancer. American Airlines lost the body, and it went unrefrigerated for 4 days, according to the New York Post.
Funeral Association Scaring People Away From Green Burials?
By 9.8.08
Funeral homes are being scared away from “green” burial options by an indemnification form the National Funeral Directors Association included in one of their recent magazine issues, according to an open letter posted on Funeral Consumers Alliance. The language basically suggests that if you don’t use mainstream funeral methods, in terms of the embalming and type of coffin used, you won’t be able to show grandma because she’ll be all rotted, the grave will turn into a sinkhole, and you might not be able to find where the body was buried years down the road. Here’s the specific language they’re using…
Funeral Home Switches Grandma's Body For Different One
By 7.17.08
The Mount Auburn Funeral Home in Stickney, Illinois, mixed up the tags on a couple of bodies, so that when mourners showed up to view 91-year-old Lillian Grogan on Monday, they instead saw a different lady wearing Grogan’s clothes and jewelry. When a granddaughter tried to find out what the funeral home had done with the real Grogan, she discovered the woman had already been buried. She was exhumed and reburied yesterday. Hey, at least cremation wasn’t involved.
Great Ad Campaign For… A Cemetery?
By 1.24.08
These three hilariously morbid print ads are for Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto, by Canadian ad agency ACLC.
Prepaid Funeral Planning: Don't Do It!
By 1.4.08
Prepaid funeral plans are the “extended service warranties” of the funeral industry—profitable for the funeral home but often useless.
Biodegradable Coffins, "Composting At Its Best"
By 12.28.07
Biodegradable coffins allow you to rest in peace without putting a permanent dent in the planet or your wallet.
Canadian Funeral Home Owner Busted For Cremains Fraud
By 12.24.07
The former owner of a funeral home in Princeton, British Columbia, has been charged with fraud for handing out random urns of ashes to his customers. The funeral home had been shut down in 2005 for operating without a license, but since it’s rather difficult to spot the “wrong” ashes by sight, the problem wasn’t discovered until another funeral home began to sort through the leftover inventory and found over 50 urns that had been labeled unclaimed.
Travelocity Doesn't Know What A Funeral Is, You Pay Extra $279
By 12.10.07
On Nov 22 my 36 year old brother Mike died suddenly. So I quickly hoped on-line to get a flight from San Francisco to Pittsburgh, leaving Nov 24th.
57% Of Americans Don't Have Wills
By 11.21.07
A new Bankrate national poll says that 57% of Americans don’t have wills, even though 76% of respondents said they considered it an important thing to have. This writer doesn’t have a will, but then again, I don’t have kids, and my “heirlooms” are all made by consumer electronic companies. What about people with offspring? It’s even worse: 69% of parents with kids under the age of 18 don’t have wills, even though 88% of them say it’s important.
Set Up Your Own Funeral Trust
By 11.20.07
Don’t set up an irrevocable funeral trust through your insurance company, says MarketWatch columnist Chuck Jaffe.
Cremation: The Cheap And Environmentally Friendly Alternative To Burial
By 11.17.07
Cremation is catching fire as Americans look for low-cost, low-resource alternatives to burial. Cremation often costs half as much as traditional funerals – $4,000 instead of $8,000 – and does not require wood or land space. This combination is putting the heat on traditional funeral homes.
In theory, death care should be immune from short-term economic swings. Death is one of only two sure things in life, and the U.S. population is aging.
