Cost of Cremation

[ExFlyBoy5]

Both my Mom and Dad had a "prepaid" policy from the local cremation society for direct cremation. Total cost including 10 death certificates were $800 for each of them. No frills...they picked 'em up at home (both died at home in hospice care), cremated them within 24 hours and I picked up the cremains a few days later. We had memorial services at our home...just the way they would have liked, no funeral home required.

They purchased the insurance in 2011 and were "redeemed" in 2013 and 2018, respectfully.

 

[Pluperfect]

I was just trying to wrap my head around how a cremation and small family service could cost 10K.

Funeral homes are required to have (and adhere to) a General Price List, which must be available to the public. A few funeral homes put theirs on their website, but most don't. However, since this funeral home is local, you can just drop in and ask for their General Price List and be on your merry way. It's likely prices have gone up since the funeral your friend bought, but it can give you a ballpark.

The General Price List has a standard format, which lists all the services a funeral home offers, along with the price for each service. Chief among them is "services of funeral director and staff," which you will be charged no matter what. Depending on the funeral home, the charge for services of funeral director and staff can be fairly substantial. Then you pick and choose among all the other services and products (although funeral homes can have policies that require embalming or refrigeration in certain situations, and if you're one of those situations, you have to pay for it even though you wouldn't have chosen it).

They can (but don't have to) offer "packages" like direct cremation or cremation with a service. The General Price List will show it, along with what is included in the package.

It's conceivable that your friend went to a funeral home that doesn't offer packages, and was paying for various line items like services of funeral director and staff, embalming, use of the funeral home for the service, etc. It would still be hard to get up to $10,000 for the type of funeral you said she had.

Now I'm guessing that the cost of the entire thing was around 10K but I'm thinking that the local place is padding everything else to makeup for the fact they didn't sell a big fancy casket.

No, the prices are what they are whether you buy a casket or not. Which makes me wonder--are you sure your friend didn't buy a casket?

This funeral home has its General Price List on its website. Obviously prices vary among funeral homes, but it can illuminate how funerals are priced. And you'll note that this funeral home offers "cremation caskets" in addition to regular caskets, so cremating with a casket is apparently a thing. Perhaps if people have services with the body present, or even open casket services.

https://callawayjones.com/price-list

Do you think a town of 20K would have a facility to cremate bodies or do some larger funeral homes contain crematoriums....in my friends case (the 10K bill) there might have been a body transport fee to the site...which probably is 50 to 100 miles one way.

If there is, it would have to be on the General Price List. However, if all their cremations have to be transported to this distant site, that cost is probably included in their charge for cremation.

 

[ivinsfan]

I did not know that funeral homes were required to have price lists. That is very useful information. I don't know exactly what my friend and would probe about it anyway..which is why I came here to ask you folks.


Thank you for taking time to post and we hope to hear from you in the future.

 

[SecretlyFI]

We used DFS Memorials for a family member in 2020. I think I recall it being recommended by Clark Howard. The goal was low-cost, direct cremation, no extras, like described in many posts here. It's a nationwide network of cremation providers: dfsmemorials.com

The one in our area happened to be a funeral home, but the price was as stated on the website (you choose state & city and it gives you the price). In our case, $995 all in. I contacted them initially when our family member was on hospice. One simple phone call to pre-register and they took down all the normal info they would need for death certificates. When she passed, it was one quick phone call to them and they handled it all within hours. They contacted the nursing home and picked up her remains. Took care of the cremation. Asked me how many death certificates we wanted - I said 10 - no extra charges even then. They notified me when the death certificates had arrived and gave me the choice of coming to pick up both the cremains and the certificates, or they would mail both to me - no extra charge. I chose to just go get them.

 

[SecretlyFI]

http://dfsmemorials.com/
Attempting to post the actual link, let's see if this worked.

 

[ncbill]

http://dfsmemorials.com/
Attempting to post the actual link, let's see if this worked.

Works fine for me...$1,375 for my area.

 

[Skyward1]

$1500 for cremation, urn and burial plus 5 official death certificates and 5 copies, all arranged by a funeral home in Virginia.

 

[Pluperfect]

Check it out: I posted upthread about how funeral homes have to maintain a general price list and give it to people who show up at the funeral home. Now the Federal Trade Commission is considering changing that rule to require them to post their general price list on their websites. Huzzah!

https://www.npr.org/2022/10/26/1131038577/funeral-homes-could-soon-have-to-post-prices-online

I also found an action by the FTC regarding practices by cremation companies, where they claim to be local but actually aren't (and have websites specifically designed to make you think they're local and to appear in search engine results as local), charge prices that are higher than advertised, and have threatened to or actually refused to return the loved one's remains if someone balks at paying the increased prices.

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidan...panies-exploit-grieving-consumers-alleges-ftc

So you might want to rethink your reliance on that search for "crematory near me."

And I have to say, the FTC does write pretty entertaining reports about its actions. In this one, about Vonage, the advice to businesses at the end is couched in terms of lyrics to Hotel California.

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2022/11/checking-out-ftcs-100-million-settlement-vonage

It includes a description of what Vonage made people do to cancel the service. Yikes! But they don't hold a handle to what the Hubble contact lens people were doing. Truly stunning. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/complaint_filed.pdf)

 

[Bamaman]

We lost a relative this morning at 99 years and 4 months old. She's going to be cremated. She escaped Hitler's wrath and arrived on Ellis Island Thanksgiving Day, 1938. Inge was swimming a mile a day until about age 95.

Her husband was also cremated, and his ashes are in a Crown Royal Bag buried in his garden.

 

[W2R]

We lost a relative this morning at 99 years and 4 months old. She's going to be cremated. She escaped Hitler's wrath and arrived on Ellis Island Thanksgiving Day, 1938. Inge was swimming a mile a day until about age 95.

Her husband was also cremated, and his ashes are in a Crown Royal Bag buried in his garden.

So sorry to read that you lost your relative this morning, Bamaman! Sounds like she lived a long, adventuresome, and active life. Still sad to hear, though.

 

[O2Bfree]

I had my mom, 93, cremated in August. Cost was $973, which included a nice biodegradable container. The container was required because I'd arranged to drop her ashes off in the middle of the local ferry run, which is where we put dad in 2014. The ferry system is very accommodating, they'll stop the boat, blow the horn, and give you five minutes for a brief service, with several crew members standing respectfully nearby. Then they give you a print of a pretty scene from the run that includes your loved one's name, the date, and the coordinates where the ashes were committed to the water.

The service on the ferry was free when my dad died. Now it's $150, which is ok I guess, considering the cost of other types of memorial services.

 

[Lsbcal]

We lost a relative this morning at 99 years and 4 months old. She's going to be cremated. She escaped Hitler's wrath and arrived on Ellis Island Thanksgiving Day, 1938. Inge was swimming a mile a day until about age 95.

Her husband was also cremated, and his ashes are in a Crown Royal Bag buried in his garden.

Impressive to escape Hitler and exercise so well until 95.

 

[Gallaher]

I had my mom, 93, cremated in August. Cost was $973, which included a nice biodegradable container. The container was required because I'd arranged to drop her ashes off in the middle of the local ferry run, which is where we put dad in 2014. The ferry system is very accommodating, they'll stop the boat, blow the horn, and give you five minutes for a brief service, with several crew members standing respectfully nearby. Then they give you a print of a pretty scene from the run that includes your loved one's name, the date, and the coordinates where the ashes were committed to the water.



The service on the ferry was free when my dad died. Now it's $150, which is ok I guess, considering the cost of other types of memorial services.

What a beautiful tribute and service. Brings me to tears.

 

[Koolau]

We lost a relative this morning at 99 years and 4 months old. She's going to be cremated. She escaped Hitler's wrath and arrived on Ellis Island Thanksgiving Day, 1938. Inge was swimming a mile a day until about age 95.

Her husband was also cremated, and his ashes are in a Crown Royal Bag buried in his garden.

I hope you wrote down all the stories she shared - to be passed along. Memories like hers must never be forgotten.

DW treasures a brief diary her dad kept when he fought in WWII. She only ran across it in her mom's things after her passing. Sometimes, stories like these (Inge and my FIL) make me realize how little I have accomplished. Well, there were those three kids that are now productive and independent, and lots of grand kids to spoil. I'll take that as a win.

 

[badatmath]

Check it out: I posted upthread about how funeral homes have to maintain a general price list and give it to people who show up at the funeral home. Now the Federal Trade Commission is considering changing that rule to require them to post their general price list on their websites. Huzzah!

https://www.npr.org/2022/10/26/1131038577/funeral-homes-could-soon-have-to-post-prices-online

I also found an action by the FTC regarding practices by cremation companies, where they claim to be local but actually aren't (and have websites specifically designed to make you think they're local and to appear in search engine results as local), charge prices that are higher than advertised, and have threatened to or actually refused to return the loved one's remains if someone balks at paying the increased prices.

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidan...panies-exploit-grieving-consumers-alleges-ftc

So you might want to rethink your reliance on that search for "crematory near me."

And I have to say, the FTC does write pretty entertaining reports about its actions. In this one, about Vonage, the advice to businesses at the end is couched in terms of lyrics to Hotel California.

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2022/11/checking-out-ftcs-100-million-settlement-vonage

It includes a description of what Vonage made people do to cancel the service. Yikes! But they don't hold a handle to what the Hubble contact lens people were doing. Truly stunning. https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/complaint_filed.pdf)

Who knew FTC was so entertaining

 

[racy]

Seems this topic should be in a sub-forum named Death After FIRE. (Or, Fire After Death).