Having recently been in the position of dealing with the death of a relative, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the how exploitative the whole funeral industry appears to be.

We have a tendency to avoid thinking of things like funeral expenses until we’re suddenly confronted with a death in the family. I decided to try to get a little perspective on things and found this interesting article on the history of the American funeral industry. I also found this entertaining little look at the business of death:

In recent years there have been more and more people expressing concerns that funeral industry exploits the grieving.

This site on funeral rip-offs was featured on the SHOWTIME series Penn & Teller’s Bullshit! in an episode entitled “Death, Inc.“. This epsidode is available in three parts on YouTube and you can watch it here: Penn & Teller’s Bullshit- Death, Inc., part 1

While death and funerals is a grim topic that no one particularly enjoys discussing, its a good idea to take the time to learn something about the funeral industry and many of the funeral customs we have adopted here in America. This is one estimate I found for funeral costs:

Average cost of funeral in U.S.: $6,500
Typical cost of funeral plus burial: $10,000
Average cost of cremation, including casket/container: $1,800

 

Here are some of the expenses that you can face:

$ Professional Service Charge

$ Embalming

$ Other preparation (cosmetology)

$ Visitation/Viewing

$ Funeral at funeral home

$ Transfer to funeral home

$ Hearse (local)

$ Service car or van

$ Acknowledgment cards

$ Casket

$ Burial Vault

$ Cemetery Plot

$ Other expenses (digging and refilling grave)

 

You need to look at what type of funeral arrangements you’d like for yourself and your loved ones and then investigate the costs together. Its important to have frank discussions with your loved ones now so you or they don’t get caught unawares and are put in the position of having to make decisions about death expenses while grieving. The last thing you want is for your burial to be a financial burden on those you leave behind or to be put in the position of weighing what you can afford against what you feel obligated to spend on a loved one’s funeral.

As hard as it can be to talk about such things, once you have, you’ll find that there’s a certain peace of mind that comes with knowing that you and your family won’t have to struggle with such issues at the worst possible time.