Shop before You Drop

                                              ---what you need to know to find a meaningful and affordable funeral--



Late-night ads scream it at us: DID YOU KNOW THE AVERAGE FUNERAL COSTS $10,000!?

Guess what? You don’t have to spend anywhere near that to get a funeral that fits your needs and your

family's budget.


Funeral Consumers Alliance has a video workshop on basic funeral planning. You’ll learn:

        --How to find a reasonable price by shopping around

        --All the things you don’t “have” to buy that pad the bill

        --Whether it’s a good idea to prepay your funeral, And why local FCA groups like FCASC are your

        best friend for affordable funeral planning

Recording of the workshop available on the Funeral Consumers Alliance website:

            https://funerals.org/2020/11/16/videos/

Cost: $10.00


We think you will find this program from our national organization, the Funeral Consumers Alliance,

informative and useful.  Take its lessons to heart, and you will save your family both money and stress.



​​Funeral Rule Up for Revision


The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is considering possible revisions to the Funeral Rule, which

protects consumers by requiring funeral homes to follow standard practices and disclose prices.  The rule

was first issued in 1984 and revised in 1994, before the introduction of the Internet and digital

telecommunications.  It definitely needs updating now that the public is doing more and more shopping

online.

I
There are three main reforms that our national organization, the Funeral Consumers Alliance, would like to

see made to the Funeral Rule.  They are:
​
  • Funeral homes that maintain websites should be required to post their General Price Lists (GPL) on them.  This would make it much easier for consumers to shop and compare prices without having to call or visit funeral homes.  We at FCASC believe also that funeral homes should be required to use a standard format for their GPLs, which also would facilitate comparisons.​
  • Funeral homes should be required to clearly state the price of a cremation on their General Price List if they use third-party crematories.  Sometimes funeral homes will list a price for a direct cremation that does not include the cost of the cremation itself.  If a separate fee is charged, it should either be added to the quoted price of the direct cremation or listed in conjunction with the quoted price.  There should be no hidden fee.
  • The Funeral Rule should be expanded to include cemeteries, which are not now included.  Cemeteries also should be required to have written General Price Lists and to itemize prices.  The current situation makes it much more difficult for consumers to deal with cemeteries than with funeral homes.