I know funerals can be expensive, but my mother’s funeral cost only about $5,000. That included a nice casket, embalming, a beautiful service and encryption. That was 12 years ago, but even so, not too expensive as funerals go. I never felt pressured to add expensive touches. Dad, on the other hand, wanted to be cremated. He had paid for it in advance and left instructions to have it done in a cardboard box. That’s what they use in a crematorium. There’s no requirement that it be wood.
I asked my siblings to send me to medical school after I go. They think the idea is too grisly, so I opted for scorch and scatter instead. It’s cheap, and it will be just fine for me unless my fat flares up and burns down the crematorium.
I plan on being cremated. Since I’m artsy & craftsy enough, perhaps I’ll even make my own urn out of clay. What a lovely personal touch that’d make, huh?
When Martha Stewart gets out of jail, maybe she’ll do a show on how to make your own urn…
I only had two uncles. One died last year of lung cancer, and the other is a professional potter. The terminal one chose the urn he preferred for his ashes before he died, and it was on display at the memorial service. It really was a nice touch.
Well, besides freezing or cremation (or donating your body to science), there’s always another option…artistic plastination. (WARNING: Link kinda creepy.)
I think I heard that if you don’t have to pay anything extra to donate your body to this guy. And, therefore, you can save money on the funeral.
Kinda? That guy makes me physically ill. I’m not religious, but I still think it’s profane to display actual dead bodies like that.
My grandfather was cremated, and his ashes scattered under the Golden Gate Bridge after a short service on a boat. Total cost was only a couple hundred dollars, and it was far more tasteful than your typical overblown funeral. I plan on something similar for myself, after any usable organs go to someone who needs them more than I do.
Did this make anyone else think of the *Drew Carrey * episode where the guys use the casket in the back yard as a snack tray during the wake? Good times.
I should note that all the plasticized people in the exhibition did volunteer for it. (Unlike that guy who first did something like this, a few hundred years ago…)
And I wonder…if you’re choosing your own post-mortem “fate,” surely ending up as a work of art isn’t that bad. Heck, it’s almost as good as ending up in a major museum, under a glass case, next to a reproduction of your solid-gold death mask.
Yeah, I know. I heard about that exhibition when it first appeared in Europe a few years ago. If people want to display their own carcass and they can get someone to display it for them, well that’s their business I guess. But I wouldn’t be caught dead at that show.
Excuse me- I am a funeral director and I take exception to this statement. Sure there are bad funeral homes and directors out there and a consumer should always be wary, but to characterize the entire industry and the people who work in it as liars, cheaters and a bunch of thieving bastards who take advantage of people is unfair and incorrect.
I have worked in the corporate world in management. Prior to that I was a hearing representative and paralegal at a law firm for many years. My last gig before entering the death care industry was as a unit manager for the Urgent Care Clinic of a major local hospital. I have in those positions earned significantly more than I do as a funeral director, however I never previously felt the level of job satisfaction, and the feeling that I am making an actual difference for the better in the lives of those around me than I do as a funeral director. For me it was a calling, not a move to better my economic position.
Painting everyone in the deathcare industry by such broad strokes as you did is a disservice. Respectfully, I ask that you reconsider labeling people in this way in the future.
In the State of California where I practice it is illegal for a funeral home to require merchandise be purchased through them and it is also illegal for a funeral home to charge handling fees should a consumer purchase a casket or any other merchandise elsewhere.
My funeral home doesn’t operate on commissions so I really don’t care if you buy stuff from me or from someone else. The only concern I have is that the casket you provide is of good quality.
I have little direct personal experience with the Costco Caskets, however I have been informed that they only offer metal caskets and these are manufactured in China. Colleagues from other funeral homes have shared with me some horror stories about Chinese manufactured caskets (side rails snapping off, poor locking mechanisms, bad construction, etc) and while I do not know if these caskets came from Costco I can say that there are affordable American built caskets that rival the appearance and cost of those from Costco.
But yeah, if a family wants to get it from Costco or wherever I say more power to them. At the end of the day it doesn’t really affect me
What the hell are you on about here? I count at least 10 funeral-related threads that you have revived today. Aren’t you getting enough attention in your Ask Me About thread?
This is a 13-year-old thread, and we discourage reviving threads to address old posts like this. Feel free to start a new thread if you wish to discuss.
