General Price List
Under the funeral rule, every funeral home is required to have a general price
list. The general price list must include the following categories. Basic
Services of Funeral Director and Staff; Transfer of Remains to Funeral Home;
Embalming; Other Preparation of the Body; Facilities Charges and Staff Services;
and Automotive Equipment.
The Trade Commission does not regulate what individual
funeral homes charge for these categories. Therefore there can be substantial
differences in service charges between funeral homes in the same area. The
general price list must also include a price range for caskets; vaults;
cremation urns; charges for paper products (register book, memorial folders and
acknowledgment cards).
Next,select the merchandise you are interested in, a specific casket; for example an 18 Ga. Steel Neopolitan Blue manufactured by Batesville Casket Company; and a Venetian burial vault manufactured by Wilbert Vault Company, or a Universal Urn, manufactured by Wilbert Vault Company etc. and make a direct comparison of the exact services and merchandise at another funeral home. This can be done in person or over the phone. Accommodation items should also be included in the total. These would include outside services that a funeral home agrees to pay for you. These items would include grave opening at the cemetery, minister, organist, vocalist stipends, luncheon expense, flowers, obituary notices,
monument engraving etc. These items should be the same between firms unless the funeral home charges a fee for cash advances.
Also included on the price list is the charge for Direct
Cremations; Forwarding Remains to Another Funeral Home; and Receiving Remains From Another Funeral Home. A funeral home is required to give you a copy of their General Price List for your retention any time funeral arrangements are discussed in person. Funeral homes must also give you the information on the
price list over the phone.
Price Comparisons
The Federal Trade Commission Rule allows consumers to compare prices between
funeral homes due to the standardization of pricing structure throughout the
country. Obviously, price comparisons must be done prior to need. As with any
business or profession the old adage, “you get what you pay for” does not
always hold true. The highest priced funeral home may not be the best. The
prices a funeral home charges should not be the most important or only factor used to determine which firm to place your trust in. Experience, honesty, professional skill, facilities, and caring compassionate service should all be factored in. In order to compare prices between funeral homes, you need to
consider the total price of the services and merchandise you require. Some
funeral homes will have a higher than normal service charge but offer their
merchandise at a lower price than a competing firm. Others may be just the
opposite with a low service charge and higher merchandise charges. The best way to compare prices is to select the specific type of funeral service you are
interested in (traditional funeral service; funeral service with visitation the
same day; traditional cremation service; immediate cremation with memorial
service; etc.) and determine the price for those services.
Packages
Under the funeral rule, funeral homes can package services as long as they itemize the individual charges on their price list. Look at these closely. Sometimes the package price will be higher than if you selected the items of service separately. This is especially common with cremation packages. The funeral home or cremation society may have an artificially low immediate cremation price but if you add any type of service, graveside, memorial etc. The price is higher than if you selected that particular service from the general price list.
In calling funeral homes you will need to compare prices for each one.
Check with several funeral homes to compare costs below. (But
remember a funeral home does NOT have to be involved in a funeral and it will save your family thousands of dollars if you do your homework beforehand!) (Wouldn’t you rather your family have the money instead of a funeral home. It is literally throwing it into the ground!)
“Simple” disposition of the remains:
- Immediate burial (If you have your plot already you can do this but you must contact the health dept to find out about a permit to transport the body as a funeral home has VERY expensive fees if they are involved in any part of this process. )
- Immediate cremation
(Call directly to a cremation business and avoid the funeral home.) If the cremation process is extra, how much is it? (It usually is if you use a funeral home who acts as a “middleman” to get the body to the crematorium. Cut out the middleman!) - Donation of the body to a medical school or hospital? See links on right of this
- Basic services fee for the funeral director and staff (usually $695-$3,000) and this is in addition to the following fees
- Minister, organist, vocalist stipends, luncheon expense, flowers, obituary notices, monument engraving, (register book, memorial folders and acknowledgment cards) etc.
- Pickup of body (yes, this is in addition to the above fee!!!)
- Embalming (very expensive, gruesome and not needed!) No process or products have been devised to preserve a body in the grave indefinitely. The Funeral Rule prohibits funeral providers from telling you that it can be done. For example, funeral providers may not claim that either embalming or a particular type of casket will preserve the body of the deceased for an unlimited time.
- Least expensive casket costs
- Description, including model #
- Outer Burial Container (vault) costs
- Description
- Visitation/viewing costs plus cost for staff and facilities. (You will be told you have to have the body embalmed to do this. Avoid the viewing if at all possible.)
- Funeral or memorial service costs — staff and facilities. (You are better off doing an immediate direct burial and having a memorial service later, without a funeral director and their staff there charging you outrages prices for every small thing they do!)
- Graveside service costs , including staff and equipment. (This is billed to you as a separate service from the church or memorial service!)
- Hearse costs
- Other vehicles, such as the cost of the family using a funeral home owned to go to the cemetery.
“Traditional,” full-service burial or cremation will be much more expensive:
Other preparation of body such as makeup, fingernails, hair, dressing the body.
- Forwarding body to another funeral home
- Receiving body from another funeral home
- Cost of lot or crypt (if you don’t already own one) We do not suggest that you do a pre-planned funeral but it is best to at least have a lot before you die, if you are not going to be cremated.)
- Perpetual care costs
- Opening and closing the grave or crypt costs.
- Grave liner, if required by the cemetery
- Marker/monument (including setup) costs
Total
Other Services:
- Calculating the Actual Cost
The funeral provider must give you an itemized statement of the total cost of the funeral goods and services you have selected when you are making the arrangements. If the funeral provider doesn’t know the cost of the cash advance items at the time, he or she is required to give you a written
“good faith estimate.” This statement also must disclose any legal, cemetery or crematory requirements that you purchase any specific funeral goods or services.
Unfortunately, the Funeral Rule does not require any specific format for this information. Funeral providers may include it in any document they give you at the end of your discussion about funeral arrangements.
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