In the United States , thecost of a traditional funeralis between $ 8,000 and $ 10,000 on average , and that does n’t let in the price of the burial plot and other cemetery fee . A coffin alone pass $ 2,500 on average , making it the big unmarried expense of saying goodbye to a loved one .
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , the price of casket has skyrocketed over the past 30 class ( a 250 - pct increase ) , outpacing the pretentiousness rate for other consumer ware by more than double .
So why exactly do caskets cost so much ? Is it simply the toll of the materials , or are funeral family taking vantage of aggrieve customers who are n’t in the mood to shop around ?
What many people do n’t recognise is that they do n’t have to corrupt a casket from their funeral home . In fact , it ’s a federal lawthat funeral homes must consent all outdoor caskets , including I that are bought on-line or fromCostco .
To learn more about the humanity ofcasketsand coffin prices , we spoke with a second - generation funeral home director and the co - beginner of an on-line casket company aiming to " interrupt " the funeral diligence .
There’s a Wide Range of Casket Styles and Prices
Douglas " Dutch " Nie is the chief executive officer and funeral director atNie Family Funeral Home and Cremation Servicesin Ann Arbor , Michigan . Nie and his six sisters grow up in a home above the sept business , and he and his married woman purchased the funeral home from Nie ’s parents in 2000 . Nie ’s own fry now go there , too .
When it comes to the price of a jewel casket , Nie says there are a lot of variables , which is why he says he can offer family a no - trumpery casket for as low as $ 900 to a high - end coffin that runs $ 6,000 or more . The biggest differentiator is the material with which the jewel casket is build , and there are two master type of casket material : wood and metallic element .
" With a wood coffin , you’re able to match it to furniture , " says Nie . " A mahogany , hickory or walnut coffin is going to cost far more than true pine or oak tree . "
For alloy caskets , the less expensive models are made of 20 - gauge steel , while the priciest are constructed from semiprecious metals like atomic number 29 or bronze . For both wood and metal caskets , the quality and details of the craftsmanship — rounded corners instead of welded , for illustration — will also determine the price .
Then there are other considerations like the material inside of the jewel casket . A crape Interior Department is live on to be less expensive than velvet . For a military burial , the mob might need to customise the Department of the Interior with an Army or Navy seal . All of those upgrades and details can add together up .
Nie insists that despite the in high spirits average cost of a casket , most funeral home carry a range of caskets to meet the budget of everyone in their community .
" No one is live on to say , ' We only deal Cadillacs here , not Chevrolets , ' " says Nie . " We have something for everyone . "
Taking On ‘Big Casket’
But there could be other reasons why caskets have catch so expensive . Josh Siegel and Scott Ginsberg are co - founder ofTitan Casket , an online casket retail merchant , and they debate that an outdated byplay model — they call it " vainglorious casket " — is to find fault for the high toll of most funeral home caskets .
" In the U.S. , there are two large casket manufacturers [ Batesville and Matthews ] that control 90 percent [ editor ’s note : it ’s actually 82 pct ] of the distribution and they exclusively sell to funeral homes , " articulate Siegel . " Because of that structure , they pit up their caskets 300 to 400 percent . "
Thecasket monopolyis only one part of the problem , the Titan hombre argue . Funeral director turn around and tack on their own markup because they know they have a " intent client . "
" For the most part , consumers in these situations do n’t shop , " says Ginsberg . " They go to the same funeral domicile they ’ve always blend to . It ’s not right or wrong ; it ’s just what people do . And funeral directors sympathize people do n’t shop , which is why they can charge twice as much for the same coffin . "
The modal metallic element coffin costs $ 2,500 , and the intermediate wooden jewel casket price $ 3,000,according to the National Funeral Directors Association . Titan ’s Siegel says that their bestselling model is theOrion serial , which retail for $ 1,099 and that a funeral rest home would sell the equivalent model for between $ 1,800 and $ 2,400 .
Your Rights Under the ‘Funeral Rule’
What many Americans do n’t know is that you have the right hand to provide your own casket for a loved one ’s funeral . In 1984 , the Federal Trade Commission enactedthe Funeral Rule , which take aim to add greater transparency to funeral pricing . The dominion also made it illegal for a funeral home to deny to cover a jewel casket that a client purchase from a third - company retail merchant , which now includes online sales .
For a lot of sorrow sept , they ’re simply not interested in shopping around for a better deal on a casket , and that ’s apprehensible . That ’s one of the understanding why 82 percentage of caskets were still buy through funeral homesas of 2019 . But companies like Titan think that if consumers bonk how easy it was to purchase a casket online — and potentially a lot less expensive — then more citizenry would buy caskets outside of the funeral home .
Titan , for example , provide free merchant vessels for all of its caskets and say it can reach any goal in the U.S. in one to three days . Another company , aptly namedOvernight Caskets , ensure detached all-night shipping to all 50 states . Titan and other coffin company also sell their merchandise through Costco and on Amazon .
The Decline of the Casket Business
Nie , who was past president of the Michigan Funeral Directors Association and is an at - big circuit card fellow member of theNational Funeral Directors Association , says that funeral home are well-chosen to abide by with the FTC ’s funeral rule .
" Families can opt to purchase something online and there ’s not an issue at all , " say Nie . " Our business organization model is to provide services to families and the casket is just one of the items that can be chosen to control that the service is conducted the means a class wants . "
Besides , Nie says , fewer people are take a traditional burial anymore . According to a2021 reportby the National Funeral Directors Association , thecremationrate of Americans is projected to be intimately 58 per centum while the burial charge per unit is projected around 37 per centum by the end of the year . By 2030 , traditional burial is expected to drop to just 25 percent of all funeral .
With cremation , the body is placed in an cheap plywood or composition board container that is also ingest in the fire . Nie says that maybe in his beginner ’s solar day , funeral homes relied more heavily on marked - up merchandise to make money , but not today .
" With few people choosing burial over cremation , it does n’t make good sense for a funeral home base to bank on a commercial enterprise fashion model based on coffin sales , " says Nie . " If that was the focussing of the line of work , then you ’d probably see more Titans and other third - party retailers . "
