Discounts in the Death Business

July 11, 2005 — -- A price war is shaking up the staid, somber business of burying a loved one.

Caskets have long been an expensive part of a funeral, but an increasingly aggressive band of retailers is working hard to give mourning families more affordable options.

Discount retailers like Jeff Burch, who owns Quality Discount Caskets and Funeral Services in Decatur, Ill., say the funeral home industry has inflated prices for years, often charging up to five times the wholesale price for caskets.

"They call guys like me 'discounters,' but the only way that we sell at a price that's a discount is that basically we're the only ones not ripping people off," Burch said.

Burch sells caskets that range from $680 to $1,390, a far cry from the thousands often charged by more traditional funeral homes. Industry wide, discounters mark caskets up about 50 percent above the wholesale price -- more than enough to make a profit, they say.

Quality Discount also organizes full funeral services for about $3,000, Burch said. That's less than half the estimated $6,500 paid for the average U.S. funeral, according to the National Funeral Directors Association.

"It's way below the norm, and the people that we've served have been very happy about what we're doing. The only people that aren't happy are the funeral homes," Burch said.

Many discounters have foregone the somber funeral home business model for a more direct marketing approach. Burch's bright storefront displays caskets in a window that is lit 24 hours a day near a busy intersection in Decatur. And others have found that, as with many products, there is a strong customer base willing to shop for discounted caskets online.

But despite the lower prices, discounters have had a tough time breaking into the market. Most say the reason is twofold: consumer ignorance coupled with a decades-old effort by funeral homes to dissuade families from price shopping for their arrangements.

Larger, established funeral homes and mortuaries tout their service and convenience when explaining why their rates might skew higher. They say families looking to put funerals together in a matter of days find it easier to make all their arrangements under one roof and are willing to pay for that convenience.

The prospect of finding different vendors for every portion of a funeral, they say, is difficult on families already stressed in dealing with the loss of a loved one. Many also believe discounters are unable to guarantee the quality of the caskets they sell.

But discounters say those are just excuses to bilk people out of money.So in addition to selling caskets, the discounters believe their goal is simple: to make people aware that caskets and funerals should be priced and purchased the same way as any other item.