Wal-Mart has started offering caskets and urns at prices that are probably cheaper than what you’d pay at your local funeral home. Online casket sales are not a totally new concept as Amazon offers them and so does Costco. But somehow a Wal-Mart casket seems, well, cheap. Take comfort knowing that you didn’t overpay for Mom or Dad to be laid to rest in a specially designed $999 “Dad Remembered” or “Mom Remembered” casket. Wal-Mart even ships coffins directly (embalming sold separately) to the funeral home which I’m sure will cause your local funeral director to be really friendly when you meet with them to plan the viewing that they’re now going to charge you $12,000 for.
Walmart Caskets and Urns via FoxNews
Speaking as a funeral director who owns two small firms (mormanfh.com), if your funeral home isn’t happy that you brought them a casket, you should probably find another firm. The most important thing is for a family to establish a relationship with a funeral home that will serve as a resource to them and not as a salesman to them. That way they can make good decisions.
I want to point out a few things to everyone. While it is illegal for a funeral home to charge a handling fee for a “third party” casket, many funeral homes do offer a discount on their service charge if you purchase a casket from them. A family needs to be aware of what the discount is, as it may be more than the money they save from buying a casket elsewhere. Also many funeral homes already have their casket prices lowered to match third party sellers or will match them.
In our area the average price for a funeral that includes casket, vault, visitation is 3000-4000 less that the 12,000 that you quoted Wayne. This will vary of course by location and type of services and merchandise selected.
I always like to learn from posts … and I certainly just learned stuff now!