1. | How much does a funeral cost? |
2. | Has this cost increased significantly? |
3. | Why are funerals so expensive? |
4. | Who pays for funerals for the indigent? |
Question #1 | How much does a funeral cost? |
Answer: | The cost of a funeral depends entirely on your wishes for the funeral. Funeral costs are made up of professional services, charges for transporting the body and presentation of the body, casket costs, vehicle charges, and fees for the doctor, minister, or cremation. Personalizing a funeral is also a factor in the cost. While we have many options to help you memorialize your loved one in a meaningful way, those options all have costs attached. |
Question #2 | Has this cost increased significantly? |
Answer: | Funeral costs have increased no faster than the consumer price index for other consumer items. |
Question #3 | Why are funerals so expensive? |
Answer: | Funerals are expensive because they require a lot of work from a lot of people. Funeral directors spend as much as 40 hours working on a single funeral. The funeral home needs to operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to ensure that we’re available when a death occurs. Funeral costs also include merchandise such as the casket or the urn and services such as processing of paperwork, florists and placing the obituary in the newspaper. |
Question #4 | Who pays for funerals for the indigent? |
Answer: | Other than the family, there are veteran, union, and other organizational benefits to pay for funerals. Most funeral directors are aware of the various benefits and know how to obtain them for the indigent. However, funeral directors often absorb costs above and beyond what is provided by agencies to insure the deceased a respectable burial. |
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