Call for clearer pricing as USA funeral costs rise

November 24, 2015

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USA & CANADA – Funeral costs in America have increased by over 28% in the last decade according to the NFDA.

The average cost of a funeral with a viewing and burial in a metal casket was $7,181 in 2014, up from $5,582 a decade before. This represents a 28.6% increase. Within these fees, the biggest percentage increases are for removal of the body to a funeral home (59%) and basic memorial printed package (63.2%).

 

National Median Cost of an Adult Funeral with Viewing and Burial: 2004 vs. 2014
Item	2014*	2004*	% Change
Nondeclinable basic services fee	$2,000	$1,460	37.0%
Removal/transfer of remains to funeral home	$310	$195	59.0%
Embalming	$695	$498	39.6%
Other preparation of the body	$250	$174	42.9%
Use of facilities/staff for viewing	$420	$339	23.9%
Use of facilities/staff for funeral ceremony	$495	$395	25.3%
Hearse	$318	$225	41.1%
Service car/van	$143	$100	42.5%
Basic memorial printed package	$155	$95	63.2%
Metal casket	$2,395	$2,100	14.0%
Median Cost of a Funeral With Viewing and Burial	$7,181	$5,582	28.6%
Vault	$1,327	$998	33.0%
Total with vault	$8,508	$6,580	29.3%
2004 prices have not been adjusted for inflation. * Median Price – The amount at which half of the figures fall below and half are above.

 

A funeral with a viewing and cremation averaged at $6,078 in the same year. These figures are based on 1,046 responses to the National Funeral Directors of America (NFDA) survey conducted in June 2015 and released by the NFDA in October 2015.

 

National Median Cost of an Adult Funeral with Viewing and Cremation
Item	2014*
Nondeclinable basic services fee	$2,000
Removal/transfer of remains to funeral home	$310
Embalming	$695
Other preparation of the body	$250
Use of facilities/staff for viewing	$420
Use of facilities/staff for funeral ceremony	$495
Service car/van	$143
Basic memorial printed package	$155
Cremation fee (if firm uses a third-party)**	$330
Cremation casket	$1,000
Urn	$280
Median Cost of a Funeral with Viewing and Cremation	$6,078
* Median Price – The amount at which half of the figures fall below and half are above. **65% of respondents use a third-party crematory (i.e., the funeral home does not own a crematory)

 

Meanwhile the Cremation Association of North America (CANA) reports in its Cremation Statistics Annual Report that the US cremation rate has almost doubled in the past 15 years.

The highest percentage of cremations in 2014 took place in Nevada (75.9%), Washington (75.2%), Oregon (73.9%), Hawaii (72.6%) and Maine (71.2); the majority of residents in these states don’t identify with organized religion and are open to more personal and non-traditional ways to remember their loved ones.

The lowest percentage of cremations in 2014 occurred in Mississippi (19.7%), Alabama (22.9 percent), Kentucky (24.6 percent), Louisiana (27.6 percent) and Utah (29.7 percent); the majority of residents in these states are affiliated with a religion, which typically leads to a more traditional view of memorialization.

In 2014, nearly one in two Americans (46.7 percent) selected cremation as an alternative to burial. This compares to only about one in four people (24.8 percent) who chose cremation in 1999.

“Americans are choosing cremation as a way to remember their loved ones more than ever before,” said CANA Board President Sheri Stahl. “Cremation is becoming the new normal, primarily because people can personalize the way they want to memorialize friends and family, and because it is perceived as a more affordable, better value for memorialization.”

CANA also predict that the cremation rate in Canada will rise to 73% by 2019, while the US rate will rise to 52.9% by the same year.

At the same time consumer advocacy group the Funeral Consumer’s Alliance reiterates its call for transparency in funeral costs. In a recent interview with Connecting Directors‘ Funeral Nation, Josh Slocum, executive director of the FCA, stated that

We’re simply asking for transparent prices online as a first step so that consumers who use the internet to search for consumer services and retail goods all the time can do the same thing with a transaction that means an awful lot and might be very expensive, we really don’t think this is an extraordinary thing to ask for, and It’s not adversarial it’s about fairness.

We want the same things for consumers that any ethical funeral home wants. We want fairness, we want freedom of choice, and we want good information all around. An informed customer is more likely to be a satisfied customer.

The FCA, along with the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), is calling on the US Federal Trade Commission – the FTC – to update antiquated disclosure rules following the publication of its survey on funeral costs which revealed significant price differences inadequately price disclosure.

The issue of funeral costs has also been raised in the UK where a significant number of charities has signed up to the Funeral Poverty Alliance (FPA) which is campaigning for affordable funerals and to end funeral poverty.

 

 

Statistics: NFDA, CANA, FCA

Author: E. Melinn, aftering.com