CREMATION OPTIONS

Can a funeral home charge consulting fees and remain impartial in making funeral recommendations? That and other questions were sparked by a press release headline posted on the Internet: “Casper Funeral Advisors announced today in Boston, Massachusetts, that they will waive their funeral advisory fees for Boston, Eastern Massachusetts, and Cape Cod Hospice and Palliative Care Families.”

The lead sentence proclaimed: “This service is ideal for members on hospice or palliative care in Boston, Eastern Massachusetts or Cape Cod looking for answers on funeral costs and cremation costs, funeral planning options and funeral arrangements.” David A. Casper, Managing Funeral Director President of Casper Funeral Advisors stated, “During this time of great emotion, stress and deep concern for Boston, Eastern Massachusetts, and Cape Cod hospice and palliative care families, Casper Funeral Advisors will waive our $150 an hour funeral advisory expense. This will provide families a resource to obtain fair, independent, and impartial overview of funeral service options and funeral arrangements.”  After a lengthy description of specifics and some background on the operation, the press release said: “Casper Funeral Services help you review and evaluate a funeral services or cremation services plan customized to your loved one’s individual wishes and needs, in addition to showing you ways to avoid costly items and services you don’t want or need.  Savings in money on funeral arrangements are, therefore guaranteed.”  Funeral Monitor posed the question about impartiality to several prominent members of the funeral industry and independent funeral directors:  Curtis  D. Rostad, executive director of the Indiana Funeral Directors Association, said he’d never heard of the practice: “…at least not as being provided by a funeral home.”  When asked how they can maintain impartiality when they also own a funeral operation, Rostad said, “They can’t.”  His perception of the fee  premise?  “Weird,” said Rostad.  “Haven’t funeral homes always given people their options as a part of what they do?”  Joshua Slocum, executive director of the Funeral Consumers Alliance said, “I find it questionable that a funeral home (or any business in any field) would claim that they’ll give you impartial advice on what to buy, with absolutely no slant that would push the buyer toward their own business.  That’s why people go to Consumer Reports to compare cars, not to the dealership to get ‘educated.’  “They have every right to plug their own business, and argue that their service is superior.  But they can’t claim to be neutrally educating the public,” Slocum continued.  Was this just another way to pad the funeral bill? Slocum said, “My question is how this $150 fee relates to the non-declinable basic services fee the funeral home is almost surely charging for every arrangement.  Or, is this $150 consulting’ service some sort of separate business offering?  Is it charged to families arranging a funeral as part of the basic services fee?  “Too many questions,” Slocum asserted.  “This appears to be nothing more than an attempt to attract more referrals from hospice organizations.  Wise hospice outfits would do their own research to help patients choose among funeral providers.  Having too close a relationship with one funeral home can lead to patients being steered to a funeral home inappropriately.  “A Vermont hospice volunteer called me last week to report that their “funeral home sponsor,’ a mortuary that contributed to the hospice, had pulled out in a huff after the volunteer answered questions on planning for death at a panel discussion that included the topic of home funeral (sans mortuary),” said  Slocam.  She was shocked, but I told her I was shocked the hospice would put itself in such a conflicted position in the first place.  Businesses don’t exist to charitably educate the homeless kitties.  They exist to make money, and pretending otherwise is inappropriate.  “I’ve seen a number of people attempt to open funeral consulting business, but I don’t know of anyone who’s made a real go of it,” Slocam said.  “Funeral consumers Alliance’s 100 or so affiliate groups offer advice and education free (or for a modest donation of about $25).  I don’t know why anyone would pay a consultant $150 (I’ve seen much higher) for this.”  A.J. Daoud, owner of Cox Needham Funeral Home in Pilot Mountain, North Carolina, notes that in “some areas non-licensed persons are able to act as agents for a family and shop for the best price.  If you check some of the other trades, this practice is similar to wedding consultants or planners.  Is it ethical to have a licensed establishment charge?  I would say not.”  Funeral monitor posed similar questions to Joseph W. Casper of Casper Funeral Services, the Boston-based funeral director who posted the press release.  His response was unexpected.  “We set up the Casper Funeral Advisors to deal with cross-country calls we were receiving for international shipping,” said Casper.  “These people would cll us countless times after the shipping had been arranged and done.  We set up the Casper Funeral Advisors (CFA) specifically to address that issue.  We thought it essential to post an hourly charge to discourage people like the man from California who called us about 20 times when we knew he had other plant to ship his family member to Russia  This is but one example of the day and night calls we were receiving.”  The weirdest part of that response is that anyone visiting the Casper Web site is bombarded with a masthead proclaiming:  Casper Funeral Services (on the left side) with a stylized graphic depicting the globe and (on the right) the announcement that its business is “international funeral shipping and cremations.”  Reinforcing that declaration is the text Casper provided for search engines.  When trying to locate the company,  it popped up as the first company on a Google search.  The header says:  “Lowest: funeral Shipping, Deceased Shipping, Boston Cremation…”  The text that follows repeats the claim:  “Casper Funeral Services specializes in funeral shipping, deceased shipping, international funeral shipping, Boston cremation, Massachusetts cremation…”  Thus, it’s hard to believe that a company that so actively pushes international shipping would be surprised at, or annoyed by, round-the-clock calls about shipping.  It is, after all their self-proclaimed place in the market.  But, like Alice in Wonderland, things got curiouser and curiouser.  The second part of Casper’s response sounded as though there were two press releases rather than just the one to which Funeral Monitor referred:  “As for the hospice and palliative care press release, we contracted with a company to write and distribute press releases for us to promote Casper Funeral Services, and unfortunately I had not read the piece closely enough before authorizing its release.”  That one is a stumper.  How could the person who approved the release have failed to notice the phrasing in the headline and subhead  “Once the obvious flaws in the piece were called to my attention, I immediately had it removed and have since removed all information about CFA from our Web side because of the unintended way it appeared to suggest that CFA was looking to assist consumers get lower-priced funerals at other funeral homes.”  Does that mean Casper was trying to help patrons get lower-priced funerals only at his location?  “It has always been our intention to try to market our own funeral home in new and different ways,” said Casper.  “In hindsight Casper Funeral Advisors was probably not the best way to go about that.  We have never charged anyone for our assistance or advice and we have since removed all mention of Casper Funeral Advisors.  We never intended this to be any more than a marketing piece for Casper Funeral Services.  Simply put, we were trying to market our business and regret doing it the wrong way.”  Apparently there never was a Casper Funeral Advisors charging $150 an hour.  It was, instead, a deceptive business practice designed to fend off non-area callers while appearing to be concerned about the financial needs of local prospective clients.  With such admitted marketing practices, is ti any wonder that some people consider funeral service to be on an ethical par with used are salesmen?  Surely ethical funeral directors must quiver in frustration at such practices.  Some states have, historically, been prime locales for political corruption.  Among them are New Jersey and Louisiana, but perhaps Illinois should wear the corruption crown.  In addition to the deceased voting in elections, one governor serving time for political corruption, the most recent state COE awaiting indictment and trial – and the state’s newest U.S. senator alleged to have perjured himself to get a job nod – there’s still more.  State Comptroller Dan Hynes is refusing to release records showing what his office did to safeguard a troubled funeral trust fund that has spawned claims of financial mismanagement and fears of bankruptcy from funeral home directors who are on the hook for tens of millions of dollars, says the State Journal-Register, Illinois’ oldest newspaper.  Under state law, the comptroller’s office is responsible for regulating the funeral industry.  The law also gives the comptroller broad auditing power to ensure the safety of money paid by consumers to ensure their funerals are paid for before they die.  Hynes is refusing to release copies of audits and financial reviews of a preneed trust fund formerly administered by the Illinois Funeral Directors Association and believed to be worth $300 million.  Hynes also won’t release correspondence his office received last year from Regions Bank, which considered taking over the trust but backed out.  The newspaper says the records might eventually be released via a lawsuit filed by funeral home directors against the IFDA.   Edward Wallace, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said he intends to demand the records during the discovery process in the Cook County lawsuit.  It shouldn’t take a lawsuit to get the records from the comptroller, according to a funeral home director-turned-lawmaker and an expert on the state Freedom of Information Act.  “Provide the documents, answer the questions,” said state Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, who still holds a funeral home director’s license from the state.  “It’s not only reasonable to ask, it’s imperative to ask.  It’s imperative for some 49,000 Illinois residents who put their trust in the IFDA that they get answers.  Hiding things is the nature of being a politician, but Illinois regulators say the Illinois Funeral Directors Association should never have been allowed to oversee the trust – which it administered for 27 years.  But, as previously reported in Funeral Monitor, according to the State Journal-Register, the IFDA didn’t operate in a vacuum:  “Tens of millions fo dollars melted away despite numerous safeguards in state law designed to keep the money safe, including provisions for annual audits by the state comptroller’s office.  Even after it became clear that deficits were staggering, it took nearly two years for the state to wrest control of the fund from the IFDA.”  According to Wilson Beebe Jr., the executive director of the New Jersey State Funeral Directors Association and a widely regarded expert on preneed funding, the Illinois problem “comes out of the 1987-127 Internal Revenue Service ruling.”  Given that it was a federal government ruling that created the problem and it was the state’s oversight mechanism that failed to adequately detect and correct the problem, one has to wonder who the comptroller is protecting.  Is he protecting his own negligence or that of the Internal Revenue Service?

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ARLINGTON, VA- The Institute for Justic (IJ) has asked the Fourth U.S. Curcuit Court of Appeals to affrim a lower court decision declaring unconstitutional a Maryland law that arbitrarily restricts funeral home ownership simply to make a privileged cartel of state-licensed funeral directors wealthier from funeral and cremation costs.  The case may set precedent nationwide and has far-reaching implications for entrepreneurs and consumers throughout Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. “All our clients have ever asked for is the chance to exercise their right to earn an honest living by offering consumers the best service at the best price,” said IJ Senior Attorney Clark Neily, who serves as lead counsel.  The national public interest law firm represents four Maryland funeral home entrepreneurs. In October 2007, a federal judge invalidated parts of the Maryland Morticians Act, describing it as “the most blatantly anti-competitive state funeral regulation in the nation.”  The court ruled that the U.S. Constitution does not allow states to create laws that exclude companies and entrepreneurs from other states.  The ruling is now on appeal to the Fourth Circuit. Filed on March 1, 2006, the suit challenges Maryland’s law that allows only licensed funeral directors and a handful of specially favored corporations to own a funeral home.  Institute attorneys will argue today that the U.S. Constitution forbids the government from unreasonably interfering with citizen’s ability to earn an honest living in the occupationof their choice.  The evidence conclusively shows that this law has no public benefits, significantly suppresses competition and drives up the average funeral cost by as much as $800.”The Federal Trade Commission, the Maryland Department of Health and the nation’s leading funeral and cremation services industry economist all agree that this law is a pointless restraint on trade that clobbers consumers,” add IJ Staff Attorney Jeff Rowes.  “The only entity to support this outrageous law has been the industry lobbying group, the Maryland State Funeral Directors Association.” Founded in 1991, the Virginia-based Institute for Justice has represented entrepreneurs nationwide who successfully fought discriminatory government regulation.  These cases include the nation’s leading legal battle to reestablish the American ideal of economic liberty when, on May 16, 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down discriminatory state shipping laws that hampered small wineries as well as their consumers.  IJ also secured the first federal appeals court victory for economic liberty since the New Deal. IJ President and General Counsel Chip Mellor concluded, “Small businesses are the heart of the American economy and the American Dream. Yet across the nation, the power of government is being abused to deny entrepreneurs their right to earn an honest living.  The Insitute for justice will not rest until this fundamental right-the right to economic liberty-is secure for all Americans.”

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N-hexane is now being formulated into some brands of dry wash/cleaning solvents that are available to the embalming industry.  This is a very poor choice of a solvent-type chemical for embalming usage.  I fail to understand the logic of introducing another hazardous ingredient into the chemical mix of embalming, unless absolutely necessary and indispensable.

Such is not the case with n-hexane.  Hexane and other hydrocarbon-style solvents are not far superior or exceptional in their solvent abilities compared to the acetone/alcohol solvent mixtures that are now being used as alternatives to the TCE/PERC (trichloroethylene/perchloroethylene) solvents that have massive exposure and disposal problems. The focus for modern embalming chemical formulation should be on the elimination of hazardous ingredients, if possible, and the reduction of overall total chemical exposure for the embalmer.  There are already enough chemical exposures for embalmers; they do not need any additional exposures or other problems associated with new hazards.

Properties and Use

Hexane is a clear, slightly oil liquid with a disagreeable pungent gasoline-like odor.  It is derived from crude oil/petroleum as an extract of a gasoline derivative components mix.  It is insoluble in water and lighter in weight; therefore it floats on top of water if spilled. Hexane is also highly flammable and highly volatile, forming an explosive mixture if dispersed into air.  The odor threshold is at least 65 ppm or much higher, which is problematic for sensory detection before overexposure.

The chemical is generally referred to as n-hexane, the straight chain isomer of hexane.  You will also find “commercial hexane” or “petroleum naphtha or ether” and these refer to a complex mix of isomeric hexanes, heptanes, cyclohexane, methylcyclopentane, some smaller gasoline isomers and ketones.  N-hexane usually accounts for 20-80 percent of these mixes.  Gasoline itself contains typically 2-5 percent n-hexane. Hexane reacts vigorously with oxidizers and strong bleaching agents such as sodium and calcium hypochlorite.  It attacks and softens rubber, latex, plastics and coatings.  The vapors are much heavier than air and sink rapidly (vapor density equals 2.97 relative to air) and the vapor pressure is quite high at 150 mmHg, which results in a flammability problem. Several hundred million pounds of Hexane are used every year in the Untied States.  It is predominantly used as a cost-effective extraction solvent for vegetable oils from various soybeans, cottonseeds, flax, corn and peanuts. It is also found in large quantities as a solvent and component of special glues for the shoe industry, roofing materials and leather joining uses. In addition, n-hexane is a cleaner/degreaser solvent in the printing industry, furniture finishing and shoemaking.  It is also popular as a specialty solvent for automotive repair, involving brake shoes and brake pads cleaning and degreasing.  It is used as the liquid in low-temperature thermometers and is present as the solvent in hobby and rubber cements.  It has been used in book binding operations and in glue used to manufacture baseballs but not with cremation services/cremation costs.

Health Effects

In the atmosphere, n-hexane will break down by mostly hydroxyl radical oxidation in a matter of a few days.  Consequently, half-lives in the environment are thankfully short.  Hexane floats on top of water and usually evaporates without any serious pollution problems in surface water.  Such is not the case in underground waters, such as wells and aquifers, where hexane accumulates and lingers. There is no essential soil action, accumulation or bioaccumulation in animals; therefore, the only serious problem is underground water supplies.  The EPA has standardized a HA (Health Advisory Limit) of 4 ppm for water systems.  Any water sources found above this level are advised to be remediated before human use.  The major sources of pollution are leaking underground storage gasoline tanks, industrial spills and excessive releases by users.

The main sources of exposure for individuals are during use (from inhalation), splashing (skin contact) and spills (high level exposures).  Everyone is exposed to some hexane in the air from diverse sources such as automobile exhaust in large cities, industrial emissions and filling up your gas tank on your car. Typically, in a large metropolitan city, the ambient hexane is present at two ppb (two parts per billion).  Hexane is on four Federal Regulatory Lists and the TRI (Toxic Release Inventory).  The main exposure problem areas for individual human exposures to hexane are refineries, shoe and leather factories, petrochemical lab technicians, typesetters and printers, tire and rubber workers and auto mechanics. After inhalation, hexane appears rapidly in the blood stream and is broken down and eliminated in a few days.  Hexane is excreted in urine, along with its metabolites, and also exhaled back out of the lungs.  Hexane does not bioaccumulate in the body. One of the metabolites of hexane, 2, 5-hexanedione, is more dangerous than hexane itself and is tracked in human urine as a bio-indicator of hexane exposure. 2, 5-hexanedione is the probable cause of the serious nerve damage and paralysis that can occur with high exposures to hexane. 2, 5-hexanedione will appear at four to five mg/L in urine of workers who have been exposed to 50 ppm hexane, which is over five times the amount found in the general population. Early symptoms and effects of hexane inhalation or exposure include vertigo, giddiness, headache and sensory impairment.  Long term or high does exposures manifest several serious health effects that encompass paralysis, numbness of the feet, hands, and lower legs and various paresthesias.  The medical diagnosis for this syndrome of symptom manifestation is generalized peripheral neuropathy, wherein definite nerve damage has occurred and paralysis is the result, if not corrected.  Fortunately, in exposed workers the numbness and paralysis is usually recoverable and reversible within six months to one year after elimination of exposures.  The cases of serious hexane exposures have drastically declined over the years due to elimination of hexane in many industries, reduced use and improved worker protection.  Shoe workers were the most affected in the past, with very high numbers of overexposures reported. Serious overexposures reports are thankfully now rare, even in this high-use industry. Cancer has never been found to manifest in animal or human studies and most agencies do not consider it classifiable as a carcinogen.  Testicular damage has been noted in high-exposure to rats and lung lesions in rabbits and mice.  N-hexane is currently under review by the EPA for carcinogenic potential. Teratogenic (birth-defect causing) effects have not been consistently found and n-hexane is not classed as a teratogen, but as a chemical of interest in causation.  A prenatal solvent exposure study found a correlation between n-hexane and other organic solvents to color vision defects in newborns of mothers that were exposed.

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Small business owners are very consistent in how they respond to challenges.  Typically, they are pragmatic when answering urgent situations - whether it’s a business opportunity or threat. A prime example is a funeral home owner’s attitude toward facilities.  With a close eye on the maintenance of their existing facilities, owners often take action long before a physical weakness becomes a major problem. They see beyond the scope of work. Growing neighborhoods are seen as potential locations for new buildings.  Observing rising ethnic populations become routines to build community contacts and gain an edge on future business. Small businesses however, typically do not respond well to long-term challenges.  We watch a situation unfold for many years without taking effective action.  Why?  Because the challenge never rises to a level of urgency. Funeral home owners have watched the cremation rate rise from a small 2 percent to 5, 10, 20 - and even 50 percent in varying markets.  But with the increase, some owners not taken a pragmatic approach to resolving the problem?  It’s a challenge that cannot be resolved quickly. To become a cremation-oriented funeral home, you need a sustained focus.  Every facet of the funeral firm’s operation is critical - including staff training, arrangement procedures, first call, promotional efforts and messages, safety and operational procedures, and cremation costs.  You have to make structural changes in a funeral home’s business to make cremation a constructive product.  One way to get there is with a 10-point cremation audit. When auditing a business, the auditor will have a checklist.  Evaluate your firm based on this audit with the objective of determining whether your firm is oriented to cremation.  (There are many operational issues that should be addressed in becoming a cremation-oriented funeral business, but they fall outside this scope.)

5-Point Cremation Audit:

1. Incorporate the word cremation or crematory in the name of your firm.  Its not necessary to go any further with the audit if this hasn’t been accomplished.  It’s impossible to imagine a funeral home name that doesn’t include either funeral or mortuary, neither of which tells the consumer the business serves cremation families.  MKJ Marketing polled individuals to identify if specific funeral homes provide cremation services for funeral homes nationally.  Results state roughly 35 percent of consumers responded that they are not certain.  Another 10 percent indicated they are absolutely certain the mentioned funeral home does not provide cremation services.  How many consumers in your community are not positive your firm provides cremation services?
2. Designate at least one funeral director as the cremation arrangement specialist.  Most funeral homes have ore-need counselors, aftercare counselors and first-call technicians.  Many larger firms divide their licensed staff between embalmers and arrangers.  And most funeral homes have a particular person just to do hair.  Why would we expect every arranger on staff to be equally knowledgeable and capable at making cremation arrangements?
3. Install a crematory.  Regardless of state laws, no funeral business would attempt to operate without embalming capability.  A funeral home operating its own crematory will increase volume.  Above all, consumers are willing to pay more for cremation services when they know the firm provides comprehensive service.
4. Conduct regular consumer cremation seminars.  Invite the public in to inspect your crematory.  Ask questions and learn about memorial options available with cremation.
5. Add cremation advertisements to your marketing mix.  Cremation advertising does not promote cremation as a form of disposition; it promotes services and products as a means of tribute.  Targeted advertising attracts business while educating consumers of their service options and facilitating the arrangement.  A funeral home that does not advertise will not get its share of the cremation business.  Families preferring cremation are not traditional funeral home customers.  Because they are uncharacteristic, they’re unlikely to read obituaries. Cremation advertising must run on non-traditional media.

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In January 2008, Starmark Funeral Products launched our first cremation consumer survey and published the results in a series of three groundbreaking articles. However, the 2008 survey did not allow us to compare responses from states with high cremation rates to those with low rates. In this 2009 survey, we compared the differences to assist marketers in better predicting consumer behavior in their own markets. All respondents expressed a preference for cremation with low cremation costs instead of burial upon death. About 80 percent were between the ages of 55 to 64 and nearly 20 percent were between 65 and 75. Roughly 99 percent of respondents finished high school and 82 percent attended college. States were segmented into five groups according to their cremation rates.*

State Group #1 (Cremation rate over 50%)

Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oregon and Washington

State Group #2 (Cremation rate from 40 to 49.99%)

Idaho, Minnesota, New Mexico and Wyoming

State Group #3 (Cremation rate from 30 to 39.99%)

Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Michigan, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin

State Group #4 (Cremation rate from 20 to 29.99%)

Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia

State Group #5 (Cremation rate under 20%)

Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee

The following survey questions are just as they were presented to participants. Combined responses are shown along with the responses of individual groups when they demonstrated a statistically significant variance. Occasionally, commentary is added to better explain questions and responses. Every cremation requires a container or casket to hold the body. In question #23 through #25 we asked participants to suggest retail pricing for each container and/or casket. In question #26 we asked individuals to rank each product by preference. (Question #1 through #22 were included in Part I featured in the spring issue of The Cremationist.)

Question 23. Kraft cardboard cremation box. This Kraft corrugated paper box holds the body as it is transported and consumed during cremation.

National average, $62.50

Question 24. Wood-grain printed paper corrugated container. With its simple interior and mattress, this container is used for transportation and private family viewings. It is consumed during cremation.

National average, $179.24

Question 25. Blue cloth-covered cremation container. This container includes a simple interior and mattress and is used by families to spend private time with the deceased. It is typically not used for public viewings.

National average, $257.57

Question 26. Assuming you are having a private family viewing of the deceased, please rank the following in order of preference. Indicate your favorite with a 1 and your least favorite with a 4.

Cardboard container, $60.00, Wood-grained container, $200.00, Blue cloth-covered cremation container, $350.00, blue cloth-covered casket, $550.00, Kraft cremation container, $60.00

Preference (at this price):
First, 39%
Second, 7%
Third, 13%
Fourth, 40%

Wood-grained container, $200 Preference:
First, 25%
Second, 52%
Third, 23%
Fourth, less than 1%

Blue cloth-covered cremation container, $350 Preference:
First, 19%
Second, 34%
Third, 47%
Fourth, less than 1%

Blue cloth-covered cremation casket with wood handles, $550 Preference:
First, 18%
Second, 6%
Third, 17%
Fourth, 59%

We know from both the 2008 and 2009 surveys that 25 to 30 percent of cremation consumers would choose the lowest-priced products and services. So it’s no surprise that 39 percent of those holding a private family service choose the rock-bottom priced container. A far more important finding is that without the Kraft box option, consumers overwhelmingly select a wood-grained ($200) or blue cloth-covered container ($350). The simple strategy of eliminating the Kraft box increases every minimal cremation profit margin by more than $100, not including added revenues from private services.

Question 27. Do you know that rental caskets are available to families wanting more traditionally oriented services including a viewing prior to cremation? (Response is nearly identical to our 2007 survey.)

Nationally: Yes, 34%; No, 66%

By State Group                (1)          (2)         (3)       (4)      (5)
Yes                                 29%       40%      44%    28%    30%
No                                  71%       60%       56%    72%    70%

The third group, which has significantly more Catholics as a percentage, knows about rental caskets. For years, we’ve known that funeral homes serving Catholics use rental caskets more frequently. They easily increase product profit margins by $400 to $1,000 every time they’re used. Another benefit to both service providers and families is that the use of an attractive rental casket can facilitate a full and inspirational service. Most respondents suggested that each of the four rentals we showed should rent for less than $500. Keep in mind that the majority feel everything associated with a funeral is too expensive. In our 2007 survey articles we suggested that rental caskets should cost about the same as cloth-covered burial caskets and respondents overwhelmingly concur. We also recognize that rentals with crepe interiors are often retail priced at $800 up to $1,300. Regardless of where you land on the pricing scale, every time you rent a casket, you’ll likely generate a robust profit margin as well as additional service revenue. We began the next section by describing how rental caskets are used. These solid-wood rental caskets are available to families having public funeral services followed by cremation. With each use, the section holding the body and fabric surrounding the body is replaced with a new, combustible cremation insert, after the service, the corrugated cardboard cremation insert and interior are removed and transported to the crematory where they’re consumed along with the body.

Question 28. Solid-oak hardwood rental casket. If you are going to have a public service, how much are you willing to pay to rent this casket?

National average, $536.39

Question 29. Solid-pine rental casket. If you are going to have a public service, how much are you willing to pay to rent this casket?

National average, $530.12

Question 30. Solid-poplar wood rental casket. If you are going to have a public service, how much are you willing to pay to rent this casket?

National average, $543.13

Question 31. Solid-cherry hardwood rental casket. If you are going to have a public service, how much are you willing to pay to rent this casket?

National average, $584.82

By a slim margin, consumers would pay the most for a cherry rental casket, followed by poplar, oak and pine.

Question 32. What do you expect to pay for a traditional funeral service followed by cremation using a rental casket?

National average: $2,975

Group averages:
Group 1, $2,975
Group 2, $2,781
Group 3, $3,056
Group 4, $3,081
Group 5, $3,056

Question 33. Most hardwood caskets can be used for cremation. They’re typically sold to families at a price range of $1,600 to $4,000 or higher. How likely are you to purchase a hardwood casket priced at $1,600 or higher for cremation?

Definitely consider: Nationally, 1.71%
Group: 1, 1%; 2, 3%; 3, 0%; 4, 1%; 5, 4%

Definitely not consider: Nationally, 50.49%
Group 1, 61%; 2, 45%; 3, 49%; 4, 46%; 5, 53%

Need to see products to decide. Nationally, 17.56%
Group: 1, 16%; 2, 20%; 3, 11%; 4, 15%; 5, 28%

Prefer a rental casket: Nationally, 30.24%
Group 1, 22%; 2, 33%; 3, 40%; 4, 38%; 5, 16%

Question 34. Nearly all funeral providers advertise. Assuming there are multiple funeral homes in your area, which advertising messages or images are your top four reasons for choosing a funeral provider?

Low prices, 59%
Web site (additional information), 55%
Good reputation, 52%
How long in business, 33%
Private family services, 30%
Convenient location (s), 28%
Testimonials, 26%
Free planning video (CD), 17%
Ads with local hospice, 13%
Ads with church, temple or synagogue, 12%
Casket/cremation product photos, 10%
Organ/piano and chapel photos, 6%

Responses indicate that promotion of low prices, an informative Web site and your good reputation may be key messages to increase call volume. Your location(s), years in business and the availability of private-family services are among the six most important messages chosen from our survey.

Question 35. Some funeral providers own cremation equipment while others use outside services. Which cremation-service provider is your choice based on ownership of cremation equipment?

Doesn’t matter who owns/operates equipment, 71%
Prefer funeral provider owns/operates equipment, 29%

With regard to question #36, some funeral providers track the deceased body by discretely including a small, non-destructible tracking disc from the time the body is picked up, through identification, services (if any) and cremation. This same numbered disc is included with the cremated remains when returned to the family.

Question 36. Is it important that your funeral service provider takes every reasonable measure to avoid mistaken identity?

Yes, a tracking system should be used, 72%
No, it really doesn’t matter, 28%

Using sequentially numbered cremation tracking discs adds less than 50 cents per cremation. Most respondents feel it is very important to track their loved one. Ironically, few service providers offer a non-destructible tracking system.

Question 37. How much do you expect to spend for all funeral expenses including cremation?

National Average, $2,797.20

Group averages:
1, $2,461;
2, $2,492;
3, $3,109;
4, $2,602;
5, $3,322

For more insight into each group, we arranged group responses in ascending dollar amount from lowest to highest. Each group was divided into three, equal sub-groups and averaged their responses. The chart below shows an average of how much the lowest spending third, middle third and the highest third expected to pay for a cremation service.

More than 50%             40-49%        30-39%         20-29%        Less than 20%
By State Group            (1)                     (2)                 (3)                  (4)                  (5)
Lowest third               $631                   $931          $1,410          $1,014           $1,377
Middle third              $2,048              $2,352           $2,962          $2,450           $2,754
Highest third             $4,704              $4,460           $5,280          $4,517           $6,200

Group 1’s lowest third indicated it expects to spend an average of $631. The middle third expects to spend $2,048, and the highest third expects to spend $4,704. We might expect the lowest third from each group to represent the price expectation for an immediate cremation through a cremation society or similar service. The middle results may represent the expected cost for private-family services and the upper third represents the expectation for full traditional services with a rental casket. Nationwide, cremation can be pared down to three levels of service: immediate/direct cremation; private-family viewing; and more-traditional service using a rental casket. We understand that in some lower-volume cremation markets, funeral homes occasionally sell a hardwood casket for cremation, along with traditional services. However, we also see that once seriously low-priced competition arrives, average prices for cremation services tend to migrate downward.

Question 38. Do you think crematory operators take great care to return the actual cremated remains of your loved one?

Yes, 46.34%
No, 11.46%
Don’t know, 42.2%

Question 39. Which of the choices below best describes your thoughts about burial?

Spend the money on something better, 68%
Too expensive, 62%
Why preserve body—it’s dust-to-dust for me, 58%
Don’t like buried casket taking up space forever, 43%
Don’t need to see a body to accept death, 40%
Makes no sense to me, 36%
Don’t like open caskets at funeral, 17%
Don’t have close relatives so why bother, 6%
Funeral homes are creepy, 4%
Religion or beliefs forbid burial, less than 1%

Question 40. Nearly all funeral providers have merchandise selection rooms or displays. Of the choices below, which method do you prefer?

See actual products in a selection-room display, 58%
Select from photo CD in the comfort of our own home, 29%
Select from photos or electronic display at service provider’s location, 14%

Question 41. Have you met with any funeral service professional to specifically discuss your cremation arrangements?

Nationally: Yes, 11%; No, 89%

By State Group                  (1)            (2)          (3)          (4)            (5)
Yes                                   11%          5%           8%        17%         13%
No                                    89%         95%         92%       83%         87%

Question 42. Some cremation or memorial societies charge a $25 nominal fee to become a registered member. Are you currently a registered member of a cremation society?

Nationally: Yes, 3%; No, 97%

By State Group                 (1)             (2)           (3)         (4)            (5)
Yes                                  10%           1%           4%         1%           0%
No                                   90%           99%         96%      99%      100%

Question 43. if you’re planning to have a memorial service, when will it likely occur?

Before cremation, 24%
During the cremation, 1%
Soon after the cremation, 24%
Doesn’t matter, any time, 51%

Question 44. Which type of cremation-service provider would you most trust to handle cremation arrangements?

Nationally: Cremation society, 48%; Funeral home, 52%

By State Group                  (1)          (2)        (3)        (4)       (5)
Cremation Society             56%        61%     40%     39%     48%
Funeral Home                    44%        39%     60%     61%     53%

Question 45. Which type of service provider would you expect to charge less for a cremation?

Funeral Home, 12%
Cremation Society, 45%
Don’t really know, 43%

By State Group                (1)             (2)          (3)         (4)            (5)
Funeral Home                  7%            11%       13%       14%        14%
Cremation Society          59%            41%       40%       42%        44%
Don’t Really Know         34%            48%       48%       44%        43%

Question 46. Are there cremation societies active in your area?

Nationally: Yes, 16%; No, 5%; Don’t know, 79%

By State Group              (1)                (2)           (3)           (4)          (5)
Yes                               29%              30%        11%         5%          6%
No                                4%                 1%          6%          5%          9%
Don’t Really Know       67%              69%        83%         89%        85%

Question 47. In a few words, please tell us why you chose cremation as a means of final disposition?

Nearly 35 percent said their decision was based on the high cost of burial. Others included: waste of space; don’t want to care for a gravesite; no need to preserve a dead body; and cremation is easier for family members.

Question 48. What one or two new things have you learned from taking this survey?

Twenty-two percent indicated that the idea of a cremation society was interesting or something they would look into. Twenty-four percent learned about the availability of rental caskets. Others commented that they did not know there were so many cremation-container choices. Some were surprised that bodies were cremated in plain, cardboard boxes.

Question 49. If you could tell the funeral industry one thing, what would it be?

We certainly got an earful of responses with this question. Nearly 59 percent were frustrated to downright angry that funerals are so expensive. Others indicated that they felt emotionally vulnerable. Some reported that their local funeral directors were fantastic and showed great compassion in their services.

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