A Dying Economy?

In today’s tough economy, most folks are cutting costs by foregoing vacations, restaurant meals or the latest electronic gadgets. If you’ve put off buying a new car or a new winter coat, opting instead to make do with what you have, you know what we’re talking about. But no matter how troubled the economy or how deep the recession, some expenses can’t be avoided entirely.

In the case of funerals, there is no “make do” – death, like life, happens. Even in the realm of funerals, however, people are looking for ways to cut costs, and cremation is an increasingly popular and easy way to do that: most estimates put the cost of cremation at roughly $4,500 below the cost of a traditional burial, on average.

According to Cindy Hsu of WCBS-TV, New York is one place where the number of cremations is skyrocketing, due in large part to the faltering economy. In fact, experts estimate that the rate of cremations in New York will rise from the current 27 percent to over 50 percent by 2025.

A similar increase can be seen nationwide, and all those cremations may be contributing to yet another trend ­- the growing number of people who use eBay and other methods to sell burial plots. Some cash-strapped owners are unloading their cemetery real estate at up to 30 percent below cost, according to an ABC News report.