Value: The Funeral

Mike Burkhart - Deceased 1948 - 2016

December 30, 1948 - October 21, 2016
It is unfortunate that the "Horn Repair" thread got hijacked. Let's talk about the value of the funeral. For what the public pays for a funeral, and what services they receive is probably the best value of anything that can be bought today. Yes, I have priced and arranged thousands of funerals in my 40 plus years in the Funeral Profession as a Funeral Director, Embalmer, and Funeral Home owner. I feel good about what I do for the community, as does thousands of peers in my profession. If we were not doing an outstanding job and were not trusted, we would not be in business today.

How many times have we helped families out when they needed help the most? And how many times we have helped families financially when no one else would?

I am proud of my profession and all the folks throughout the country that are in this business of helping people.

Mike
 
You resumed my life! I am a funeral director and embalmer because I wanted to help my community. It's the only job that makes people happy when you don't work but I do it for the satisfaction of helping people in the worst time of their life.

I hear yellings sometimes when people see the cost of an organisez funeral but what's the point? You can pay the double (and more) for a wedding organiser.
 
Funeral costs

Well obviously people aren't happy having to pay for a loss. It's the same feeling as paying to have your car stolen or your house burned. People die and you have to pay. Of course, that's not a fair comparison, but that's the general pundit's feeling. They lose a loved one, you shove 'em in a box and bury 'em, and they're out 20K. You can't really tastefully explain all that you do, and all that goes into the events, but that's how the general public sees things sometimes. Could be worse, you could have pre-paid funerals at $4995 like some sleezy place around here.
 
Well obviously people aren't happy having to pay for a loss. It's the same feeling as paying to have your car stolen or your house burned. People die and you have to pay. Of course, that's not a fair comparison, but that's the general pundit's feeling. They lose a loved one, you shove 'em in a box and bury 'em, and they're out 20K. You can't really tastefully explain all that you do, and all that goes into the events, but that's how the general public sees things sometimes. Could be worse, you could have pre-paid funerals at $4995 like some sleezy place around here.

You said you haven't been to a funeral in over 10 years in another post. Perhpas you should educate yourself on what a funeral is all about and how it works. For the reocrd, if you're willing or anyone is willing to shell out 20K for a funeral, call me anytime. For $4995 I can do you right at my place.

Can anyone name a business, any business, that will guarantee their prices for life? A pre-paid funeral can but I'm sure that is just the crook coming out in us!
 
Pre-paid funerals

I think 20k is about right when you factor in the wake, misc fees and then taxes. Those taxes can be killers. Maybe 15k, but still, it's a lot. The thing about pre-paid funerals is how you go about it, and a brightly colored ad in the weeks bargain bulletin probably isn't the way to go. That's what there was around here, right next to the Big Lots ad and a grocery store with ham on sale. Still sure you want your $4995 prepaid all expenses funeral right next to cheap meat? It was badly thought out.
 
You said you haven't been to a funeral in over 10 years in another post. Perhpas you should educate yourself on what a funeral is all about and how it works. For the reocrd, if you're willing or anyone is willing to shell out 20K for a funeral, call me anytime. For $4995 I can do you right at my place.

Can anyone name a business, any business, that will guarantee their prices for life? A pre-paid funeral can but I'm sure that is just the crook coming out in us!

Please read my notation carefully. I said, that's how funeral customers feel. I work with 120 people daily, and I can get an idea of things. I said that was an unfair comparison. It's just that, at a time when people grieve, they have to pay quite a bit. Unless something amazing has happened in the last 7 years since I have been to a funeral, and I don't think you're Lazurus, then I don't see how things may have changed. I'm not in any way being critical of the business, so relax.
 
Boy has this thread gone right into the toilet!

:puking:

I directed a funeral this morning. There was a visitaiton last night with viewing, service today and burial in the cemetery. I paid my staff to be there, had about $250,000 invested in the vehicles we used, a few thousand dollars more in the rest of the equipment, my insurance, phone bills, electric bills, etc. This family paid me about $6000.

After the funeral this morning, I met with another family who lost thier mother this morning. I paid a staff member to go the the nursing home and remove her and bring her to the funeral home using a $60,000 vehicle and a $2000 mortuary cot. They placed her body on a $4000 prep room table in a special room in a 1.2 million dollar building. Monday her body will be placed into a $100,000 crematory in that same building. That family paid $1600.

By the way, in a week, I need to pay $45,000 in property taxes for six months.

I would suggest anyone who "thinks" they know about the funeral industry do some real homework. Yes, one funeral may be $15,000 but the next 25 funerals are less than $10,000.
 
I think to some degree the cost of a funeral and everything that accompanies it depends on the area that you are in. I priced out my own funeral arrangements and for professional services, embalming, casket, use of facilities for viewing and funeral, staff, vehicles, transprtation to cemetery, sealed vault, and everything else that would go along with that, the price I came up with was $7,370. That figure was arrived at by choosing what I wanted out of the funeral home price list. And the funeral home isn't some storefront in a shopping center, it is a stand-alone, independantly-owned funeral home. In fact, it is 1 of the 2 nicest in town. Again, the price I arrived at was for a full service viewing, funeral and burial. Nothing was skimped on.
 
And tell me, where else, with one phone call, can you mobilize 20 - 30 people to serve you, according to your wishes, all within 3 - 4 days time. Let's see a wedding planner do that! Funeral home staff, florists, delivery people, cemetery workers, vault company, church workers and clergy, obituary editors, etc. - count 'em up. A funeral is so much more than just a box .
 
I think 20k is about right when you factor in the wake, misc fees and then taxes. Those taxes can be killers. Maybe 15k, but still, it's a lot. The thing about pre-paid funerals is how you go about it, and a brightly colored ad in the weeks bargain bulletin probably isn't the way to go. That's what there was around here, right next to the Big Lots ad and a grocery store with ham on sale. Still sure you want your $4995 prepaid all expenses funeral right next to cheap meat? It was badly thought out.

There there are clearly regional differences in costs, when I hear someone say something like, "wake, misc fees and then taxes" it just makes it clear to me someone has little idea what they are talking about. The Federal Trade Commission makes it very clear what your General Price List should include. These items require itemization, of which "wake" or "Viewing" as considered by the FTC, "misc fees"? must be cash advances, and then taxes (which vary from state to state) are just a portion of what the FTC considers.
My average runs around $7500 for a traditional service, casket, outer container, grave opening/closing and state taxes. I recently had a service for $9300 but that happens about twice a year here. Regional, urban, and rural differences can dictate this.
When I bought the firm in 1998, I read an article that said the average Funeral Director had a million dollar mortgage. Yep, those buildings, property, specialized equipment, specialized vehicles, and professional staff come with a price.
Not in my twenties anymore, I rarely care to jump into a fray with words like, "shove 'em in a box and they're (the family) out $20,000.00."
Years ago, someone created a neat thing called LIFE INSURANCE... and most folks should have some...

Snap.
 
By prearranging and pre-paying for your funeral services you are assured of getting exactly what you want when you pass away. However, with interest rates as they are and have been, the funeral home will probably not accrue enough interest over the years to cover the cost increases for the services and merchandise selected due to inflation. The mortuaries honor these prearrangement and, as a result of inflation, usually do so at a slight loss.
 
A funeral director wears many hats, but perhaps the biggest one involves presenting OPTIONS to the families who call upon him or her for service. There is a big difference between PRICE and VALUE. The funeral service profession is like any other; regardless of the amount of money spent; consumers expect to receive value in return.

Consider these two scenarios:

1. Guy A arranges for a direct cremation for his mother. Pays the funeral home, say, $1,500. Even though he was presented with options across the board, ranging from traditional funeral followed by either cremation or earth burial, to direct cremation with a memorial service, he opted for what he perceived as the "most simple and economical" service: direct cremation with no ceremony.

Well, after all the initial "pomp and circumstance" of mother's death was over, Guy A realized that by selecting the type of service he did, there was something lacking in the way of closure and grieving. He spoke with others who had opted for viewing of their loved one (or some type of ceremony) who reaffirmed that this helped greatly ease the burdon of losing a loved one. They were able to properly say goodbye and, by having a ceremony, allowed friends and family to make expressions of sympathy and support (and allowed for their own need for grieving and closure.)

In the end, Guy A realized that, sure, he saved some money, but did not get true value for what he did spend.

2. In this scenario, Guy B arranges for a traditional service for his father. Open-casket visitation, church service, procession to the cemetery...all of the aspects of a funeral that one would consider "traditional." Guy B selects a nice casket and burial vault for dad and wants to personalize the service with special music and military honors at the cemetery since dad was a Veteran of the military.

Well, the funeral director was nice enough to work with, the funeral home was a beautiful and comfortable facility, the cars were late-model and clean, and the merchandise (casket, vault, register book, memorial folders, etc.) were all fine. However...

Details seemed lacking. When Guy B first viewed his dad, he had some concerns about dad's appearance; a little too much cosmetic was used, he felt, and when he approached the funeral director about this, he was met with a blunt "Fine. We'll try to fix it." Later that evening, there was a young person whom they called a "night attendant" overseeing the visitation. This person seemed to care more about sitting in the office, playing on the computer, than noticing that the wastebasket by the water cooler was overflowing or that the supply of memorial folders was running low. The next day, at the funeral, nobody bothered to speak to the pallbearers, briefing them before the service. Instead, the funeral directors seeemd to "wing it", instructing the bearers as they went. Nobody had attempted to play the CD of special music before the service, so there was commotion in getting the specific tracks to play correctly. At the cemetery, there was a miscommunication about the Honor Squad, who were only instructed to do a flag presentation, not perform Full Military Honors.

In the end, Guy B started to wonder why he had spent (let's say $10,000) for that funeral, thinking that maybe a direct cremation would have been better. Guy B spent more money and tried to memorialize his dad the best way he knew how, but did not receive value for his money.

The point is, when examining funeral service costs, it is important to look beyond the actual prices and physical objects. You're not necessarily paying $10,000 because the firm happens to have a new 2011 hearse or needs money to update their chapel. Like many other SERVICE-ORIENTED professions, it is important to consider the time-investment that is made by the funeral director and staff, making sure that you, the consumer, is presented with information by which you can use to make educated decisions that result in value. Then following-up by providing the service that reaffirms those decisions.

:myopinion:
 
We provide a nice service for 4995. Between two small towns we average 65 calls a year. Both of our buildings were built in th last 10 years to replace our old buildings. The cost of the two buildings alone were 800k. I am sure the boss lady would like to get 20k for a funeral, which is possible, but not two many of our families could afford that.
 
I'll tell you a little story about my Phillipine funeral service last Saturday. It was a Catholic service and rarely are you allowed to have an open casket in a Catholic church but on this occassion we did. Casket was open in the vestibule one-hour before the service. Why? Because that is what the family wanted.

It was a very rainy day with the wind blowing like crazy so the owner of the funeral home decided to set the mausoleum up for the cemetery service thnking he was helping the family. After I talked with the family they made it very clear they wanted to go to the grave whether it was raining or not. So the grave it was to be.

When arriving at the cemetery the cemetery staff motioned me over to come to the mausoleum. I stopped by and informed them we were going to the grave. The staff that can't happen everything is set here. I told them too bad and drove off. The cemetery staff arrived and had that look on their faces which reflected they were not happy. Well just too freaking bad for them I was there to fullfill the needs of the family.

The family stayed through it all even stayinguntil the last bit of dirt had been covered up. It's what they wanted and my job as a funeral director was to make sure we made it happen according to their traditions.

You never saw a more happy family, as happy as one would expect under the circumstances, but they got want THEY wanted.

I thnk Tony said it quite well. Price does not provide service and in our place irregardless of what we do for you, you will get the very best service possible.
 
I think Tony Karsnia and Richard Vyse both have some very good points here as I have been on both ends of a funeral service myself many times. For me personally I have given my choice of funeral director a copy of what I want done and merchandise I want used. I payed no money knowing price would change over the years and I have insurance so not worried about that just wanted to take some of the burden off the family and get what I wanted even though I won't know anything about what they do but feel they will funfill my wishes. I probably put too much thought into this whole ordeal but seeing what I have over the years I just wanted things done a certain way. I know Tony and RIchard well enough to know they would do what ever necessary within reason to make sure families got what they wanted in time of need.
 
I think Tony Karsnia and Richard Vyse both have some very good points here as I have been on both ends of a funeral service myself many times. For me personally I have given my choice of funeral director a copy of what I want done and merchandise I want used. I payed no money knowing price would change over the years and I have insurance so not worried about that just wanted to take some of the burden off the family and get what I wanted even though I won't know anything about what they do but feel they will funfill my wishes. I probably put too much thought into this whole ordeal but seeing what I have over the years I just wanted things done a certain way. I know Tony and RIchard well enough to know they would do what ever necessary within reason to make sure families got what they wanted in time of need.

Hey Danny, you know you will need to assign an excuter to handle those arrangements. The funeral home should be on the paperwork since they are accepting payment as an insurance assignment. You can let the funeral director do that but I'm sure there will be funds not used so need to determine who gets what's not used.

This has happened a few times at our place where someone has done exactly what you have arranged only to have the next of kin change the arrangements so they can get more insurance money. Shameful!!
 
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