Good Housekeeping
By Penny Musco
August 15th, 2023
When someone we love passes, most of us don’t know where to start…
“Know Before You Go: A Consumer’s Guide to Planning a Funeral”
After her husband died, my mother-in-law was determined to keep her children (my husband and his siblings) from footing the bill for her viewing and cremation, so she paid in advance and stopped by the funeral parlor often to make sure everything was taken care of. Each time they assured her it was.
But when she passed away, we were told the casket she chose wasn’t available. Instead, we were shown several pricey alternatives, and decided to rent the most affordable one they did have in stock. For this and other expenses not covered under her contract, we had to fork over $1,690 — on top of the thousands she had already paid.
As my husband noted, this was the same funeral provider used by a lot of people in the neighborhood and, more importantly to her, her church. Did his thrifty mother even think about checking out others in the area to compare prices? Nope.
But that’s not uncommon, says Josh Slocum, Executive Director of the Funeral Consumer Alliance (FCA), a nonprofit dedicated to protecting consumers’ rights in funeral planning. “Most funeral directors assume that [as soon as] they get a client, everybody else in that family, in every generation, is going to keep coming back to that funeral home instead of shopping around.”
The National Association of REALTORS® reports home buyers visit an average of 10 properties over 10 weeks before putting in an offer. Wedding planning often goes on for months, if not years. We research car makes and models, then take a test drive before making a purchase. So why do we neglect preparing for death — an occasion that, as Benjamin Franklin noted, we’re as certain to face as taxes?
Funeral preparations aren’t a comfortable subject to discuss. But it’s important to acknowledge that death is a part of life and think about preparations with a consumer mentality.
Just like with other significant purchases, we have to educate ourselves before we buy…
In the same way weddings, homes and cars have a hefty price tag, so do funerals — and it’s often an amount that may seem staggering to those of us who have no experience planning one. A 2021 National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) study found that the median cost of an adult funeral with viewing and burial is more than $7,000; one with viewing and cremation averages slightly less. Tack on hundreds or thousands more dollars for expenses like a fancy burial container, flowers and a repast for the mourners.
Penny Musco, Contributing Writer, Good Housekeeping
