Comments on: FuneralHomes.com Gets Some Competition From An Unlikely Source, Walmart.com

By: mortuaries lakewood co

mortuaries lakewood co — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:45:35 +0000

That is sad that Wal-Mart is even getting into this market. I know that Costco has a few caskets that they offer online, but i think it just goes too far when wal-mart goes into this business as well. I hate wal-mart and really wish that they would just die, they really are a pain and sure they have good deals, but i try to avoid going there as much as possible.

By: LSM

LSM — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:20:23 +0000

Funerals are one thing where I don’t want to agonize about details and am perfectly OK with just spending the damn money and letting the Funeral director take care of it. During times like those, I have better things to do with my energies than shaving nickles around the edges.

Does the funeral business make a lot of money because of this sentiment? Yes.
Do I care? No.

You won’t see me or mine being buried in Wal Mart caskets any time soon.

By: Paul Lochstampfor

Paul Lochstampfor — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:56:30 +0000

While many of you feel it will drop prices in caskets, which it may do, it does not change the high overhead that a funeral home has and the cost of operations. It means that the overhead gets moved from Merchandise to servcies. This has been going on in Europe for years and has only driven up the botton line price of funeral services. You may be able to buy your casket on line, but you still have to have professional licensed fuenral directors to handle the services and in some states like Pennsylvania that means cremation services also. The public wants to cry out loud when something like Tennessee crematory happens, but then they want to shop alla cart for funerals. Now thing, alla cart at resturants is more $$$$ than buying an entray. Hello, the same is true with funeral servcies. You bring the merchandsie, you will pay higher service fees. Auto repair service charges and cost went up when people started bringing parts to them. Its got to. They have to recover their cost of operation. Current cost of a new funeral home building 2.5 Million dollarls. New Hearse, 120,000.00 Fleet of cars that don’t run on the road everyday but they have to have. Average number of man hours per funeal runs 80 to 12 hours and they do this in 3 to 4 days.

By: Paul Lochstampfor

Paul Lochstampfor — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:46:18 +0000

Two things. One, they are only selling metal caskets on line. Second, read the small fine print on shipping, it starts at $500.00 and may be as much as $1,000.00 and that only gets it to the funeral homes door. Many funeral homes require that we have to be there when it is delivered and sign for it. Lastly, check with your funeral home. While they are required to accept it and use it, they don’t have to sign for it and many funeral homes discount their itemized service charges if you buy the casket from them. This is legal per a US Federal Court Judges ruling in Mississippi. Lastly, ask your self what you are going to do if the casket arives damage since it takes two days to get to the funeral home. What are you going to do. Hold up the funeral while you wait for a new one? Add the shipping cost, and the loss of discount on service charges and add in the headaches that come with for both you and the funeral home are you really saving and do you really want the headaches that come with being a contractor.

By: MHB

MHB — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:30:43 +0000

I saw tombstones being sold years ago at a flea market in North Carolina

Talk about planning ahead

By: Ray

Ray — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:16:49 +0000

Steve said: “So, not only will Walmart caskets be available at greatly reduced prices versus those available at Funeral Homes; but more importantly it will serve to ‘inform’ people that there ARE alternative places (other than their chosen Funeral Home) to buy cremation & funeral-related items! Double Whammy!”

Speaking of alternative places there is some guy selling caskets at the local swap meet here.

By: dnClips.com - More than just domain Feeds

dnClips.com - More than just domain Feeds — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:51:28 +0000

Selling caskets online is not anything new. Costco already is sellign caskets online.

By: sorabji

sorabji — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:37:26 +0000

A company called Casket Direct tried this approach some years ago. i remember they had a showroom near me. They seem to have failed but Wall Street liked the company, which cut out the middleman and reduced casket prices by over half. Check out this hilarious Amazon user review of the 20 Gauge Steel Funeral Casket http://bit.ly/jV19x

By: Steve M

Steve M — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:20:42 +0000

MM: “Another import from China…”

Finally a product from China unlikely to be the subject of recalls and/or lawsuits over the use of illegal chemicals.

By: MHB

MHB — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:24:20 +0000

Tim

I think that would violate most state health codes