Doesn’t $8,000 for the cheapest funeral in one of the poorest states in the Union seem a little excessive? That’s what I thought. Just this past week a distant cousin passed away quite unexpectedly. He had stopped making payments on his burial policy about six months earlier, so the immediate family had to perform a lot of leg work in arranging the funeral proceedings. For the casket, wake, burial, and housing the body for two days, would cost an outrageous eight grand. So I did a little research on why funerals are so expensive. I hope this information helps readers discover the many options available in handling the loss of a loved one. The problem with funerals is that, like so many businesses, there are endless pages of laws protecting the economic interests of established funeral homes. Bear in mind that the laws pertaining to funerals and caskets may vary from state to state. For federal laws that apply to all states click here.
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Funerals are as expensive as they are because funeral home organizations have convinced communites that they have no other options but to purchase the ‘total package’. Although you may not like the idea, funeral arrangement is a business transaction, and it should be treated like one.
Caskets
The state of Tennessee has a law on the books since 1972 forbidding the selling of caskets unless you have a funeral establishment or funeral director’s license. This legislation only exists to allow funeral homes to charge outrageous mark ups on caskets. A cheap metal casket can cost $300 to $500. But after the funeral home slaps their price gun to it the price may be $1,500 to $3,000. Many states have this same law.
In an ABC 20/20 investigation producer Mark Golden asked a funeral director about purchasing a cheaper casket. The director replied “To be perfectly frank and honest with you, the metal casket is about one step above a Maxwell House coffee can.” To which my response would have been “Who cares!” The purpose of burial is to allow the body to decompose naturally, so it’s foolish to spend extra money trying to preserve your loved ones body. You want the body to decompose. These air tight caskets don’t allow the body to degenerate as it should, causing the interior of the casket to become a much more repugnant circumstance than it should naturally be.
During the investigation the funeral director tried to sell a protective vault to place the casket in. This is more ridiculous rhetoric designed to make you feel like these upgrades are somehow beneficial to the decomposing body of your loved one. Researcher Karen Leonard describes the illogical promotion of such upgrades “When you put a body in a protective casket, instead of the natural process of decomposition, drying out and becoming a skeleton, instead you get a slimy, moldy, much slower process and it’s much more gruesome.”
I just spent three minutes looking on the internet and already found a 20 gauge steel casket for $899 and that includes free shipping. I found this source to be very informative about the legal?issues regarding casket sales.
Embalming
Normally embalming the body isn’t necessary unless you are going to have a wake or transport the body out of state. If you don’t plan on having a wake you can leave the body in the funeral homes cooler instead of having it embalmed. The funeral home can then move the body into the casket for transport to the burial site. The funeral home will charge a stiff price for each day the body remains in their possession. The FTC has laws pertaining to funeral homes. One such law requires them to furnish a price list of services and products to buyers. To read about these laws click here.
The Wake
If you decide to have a wake then embalming will, of course, become part of the package. But where you decide to have the wake can make a huge difference in the over all price of the funeral. In the case of my distant cousin, the family saved $1,500 by moving the wake to a local church instead of having it in the funeral home. In this occurrence the body is moved into the casket by the funeral home. The casket is then transferred to the church by the funeral home, where it will remain until the following day of burial. On the day of the burial the funeral home will return with the hearse and transport the casket to the cemetery.
Other considerations
Some people are no longer using caskets at all. In fact this doesn’t seem like a bad idea because a coffin really isn’t even necessary. In “Grave Matters” author Mark Harris follows twelve families as they return their loved ones to the earth in a more natural, less costly and traditional manner. Many loved ones are buried without embalming fluid, caskets, or wakes. The documentary examines this new green burial underground, leading you into natural cemeteries and domestic graveyards, taking you aboard boats from which ashes and memorial reef balls are cast into the sea. He follows a family that conducts a home funeral and delivers a loved one to the crematory, another that hires a carpenter to build a pine coffin. Mark reveals “The goal then and now is the same: to allow the body at death to rejoin the elements it sprang from, to use what remains of a life to regenerate new life, to return dust to dust.”
Cremation is also a less expensive option. In the 20/20 investigation a funeral home director suggested the price of $3,300 for a cremation. Considering that a cremation coffin can be purchased online for $356, I would say that price was a little high. The total cost or a cremation should not exceed $1,000. If the funeral home refuses to give you accurate information report them to the FTC, contact your local newspaper, or even local radio and t.v. stations. MSN Money has an article about cremations “How to Plan a Funeral for $800.”
Donating your body to science is probably the cheapest method. Some universities will “assume all costs involved in procuring the body upon death, cremation of the remains, and returning the ashes to your family. All for free.” (Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity – pg 161).
Although you want the passing of a loved one to be as respectful as possible, it’s foolish to spend money simply for the sake of spending. Wakes, embalming, and expensive coffins are all part of an elaborate ceremony instilled in most communities. But these expensive practices give the deceased no more love or protection than any other form of burial. It’s what we do while our loved ones are alive that matters.
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