The kindness of strangers
Paul Betts, a former highway designer, heard a radio report last year about the increasing number of unclaimed bodies resulting from the recession. Perhaps the deceased were estranged from loved ones, or perhaps families lacked the funds to provide a proper funeral. Betts understood that Wayne County had a contract with a local funeral home to bury the dead, but the fact that no one was present to mourn their passing troubled him deeply.

A call to the county coroner put Betts in touch with Bill Kiesgen, the funeral director at Perry Funeral Home. The state and county pay the funeral home $700 per cremation or burial, and the funeral home splits the fee with the cemetery. Together, Betts and Kiesgen devised a plan to hold a monthly  prayer service for the deceased who have no one else to pray for them. As Betts saw it, “We’ve got a lot of abandoned buildings we can’t do anything about. Abandoned people, we can at least pray for.”

Although the Unclaimed Friends services, held on the third Wednesday of every month, are open to everyone, most of those who attend are members of the Episcopal parish where Betts is a member. Kiesgen supplies a white rose for each of the deceased – in March, there were 24 white roses – and Betts gives a metal angel to each of the guests. One by one, the names of the deceased are read aloud, and mourners respond, “May he (or she) rest in peace.”

Everyone deserves a farewell
“Everyone deserves some sort of a farewell,” according to Kiesgen, who doesn’t judge the families of the deceased, reasoning that they may have faced a choice of whether to feed their living members or bury the one who died.

Following the service, Betts encourages the guests to pass their angels and roses on to others with a request that they, too, pray for the stranger whose name is on the rose. He thanks everyone for coming and expresses his hope that by participating in the service, they have made Detroit a little kinder place.

Affordable Cremation Urns

The funeral business has always been considered recession-proof. Everyone dies eventually, after all, guaranteeing an endless customer base. And, with the rapid aging of the ubiquitous baby boom generation, the demand for funeral goods and services is sure to rise in the coming years. But demand is only part of the equation; today, more and more families are opting out of the expensive frills that escalate funeral costs.

Only “the best” for your loved one
I was 25 when my father-in-law died suddenly, and although I had no experience in such matters, I was designated to make arrangements. I recall the funeral director steering toward a high-end casket and describing the $10,000 funeral that went with it. “Surely, you’ll want the best for your father?” he said.

A faint smile crossed my lips; not only was my name not Shirley, but this funeral director obviously didn’t know Jack (which happened to be the name of my father-in-law). Jack would drive halfway across town to save a penny on a gallon of gas. When I went shopping – for groceries, clothing, or whatever – Jack, who virtually lived with my family, would ask how much I paid for a given item, eagerly waiting for my reply before he gleefully told me what a sap I was and where I could have gotten it cheaper. A thrifty but lovable curmudgeon, that Jack.

“Can we see something more affordable, please?” I replied. “Best,” after all, is in the eye of the beholder.

Affordable Cremation Urns

Consumers demand flexible, lower-cost funerals
That was many years ago, long before the global recession of the early 21st century. Bargain shopping for funeral goods and services wasn’t yet in vogue, but the lessons I gleaned from that experience made it easier for me to assist my own parents in planning their funerals a decade later.

Today, many factors have influenced the shift in the way we approach funerals. The Federal Trade Commission’s Funeral Rule requires full price disclosure by providers of funeral goods and services, and allows families to choose only those items they want and need. And savvy, cash-strapped consumers are opting not only for “the best,” but also simplicity and cost savings.

Funeral service providers who get it are stepping up to offer discounted goods and services, and they’re thriving as a result. Take Newcomer Funeral Homes in Topeka, Kansas for example. Newcomer, where a casketed funeral costs just $4,000, saw a 10 percent increase in business in 2008. And Barton Family Funeral Service near Seattle charges just $695 for a cremation; they’ve watched their business double every year since 2005, to a point where they’re conducting around 140 funerals a month – more than some traditional funeral homes see in a year.

Practical suggestions for cutting funeral costs
Opting for cremation over burial is just one way families are reducing funeral expenses. Following are some suggestions we’ve heard for having “the best” funeral with the lowest cost:

• Let your fingers do the walking. Call around to funeral homes and ask for their price lists.
• Be wary of package pricing. Choose only the specific goods and services you want and need.
• Buy a casket from a discount supplier. The funeral home is obligated to use the casket you provide, and they can’t charge an added fee for doing so.
• Go natural. Embalming and leak-proof caskets are unnecessary expenses in most circumstances. “Green” funerals are friendly to the environment and the wallet.
• Let the funeral home conduct the burial or cremation, but hold a memorial service at home or in a peaceful outdoor setting.
• Ask friends and family to help with funeral details, from selecting a musical playlist to purchasing flowers to creating a program for guests. You’ll avoid extra charges for these services, and the funeral or memorial service will be far more personal and meaningful.

In Northern California, owners of Skylawn Memorial Park informed workers they would consider selling the San Mateo County cemetery with a magnificent ocean view.

In Littleton, Massachusetts, city officials and residents are at odds regarding how to balance the Westlawn Cemetery budget.

Scenarios like these are unfolding in communities across the country – cemeteries fighting for their lives against numerous financial threats.

In many cases, the grim financial outlook cemeteries face is attributed to one or more the following:

• More people – up to 70 percent in some western regions – are opting for cremation rather than burial, and many people who choose cremation do not buy a plot to bury a cremation urn. With fewer gravesites, per-site maintenance costs escalate.
• Pre-need sales are in decline as consumers reserve cash for current needs.
• Costs of labor, maintenance, water, etc. continue to rise as revenue sources shrivel.
• Endowment funds have dwindled due to collapsing stock prices, leaving cemeteries in a quandary as to how they will cover future maintenance costs.
• Local governments, facing their own financial crises, lack the resources to cover cemetery budget shortfalls. Government-owned cemeteries that can’t be made self-sufficient are vulnerable to sale or service outsourcing.

Cemetery funding: common problem, no clear solution
Cemetery boards, owners and local governments are working hard to come up with creative solutions to preserve and maintain cemeteries. Some talk about adding cremation services to keep up with market demand and provide consumers with “one-stop shopping,” While others encourage green burials, which result in lower costs for both the consumer and the cemetery.

An attempt by the Cemetery Commission overseeing Westlawn Cemetery to allow construction of a cell phone tower on cemetery property – a move that would have added $1600 per month to the cemetery’s coffers – died under backlash from residents. And when the Littleton Town Administrator suggested working “in common within our other public works departments” to help lower costs, one Commissioner retorted: “We’re not open to the highway department taking over the cemetery. You have to have people who know how to run the cemetery. Digging a grave is not plowing a street or digging a sewer hole. It is an art. It’s not just the action of the physical hole. It’s a process.”

Short of a bailout, finding a solution could take awhile.

The FCA supports its affiliates by
•    providing advice and guidance,
•    monitoring national funeral industry trends and exposing abuses,
•    advocating for legal and regulatory reform,
•    serving as a credible resource for information on death and dying, and
•    referring consumers to affiliates and appropriate regulatory agencies.

The modern-day affiliate organizations that make up the FCA were established as Memorial Societies in the late 1930s in response to the Great Depression and the rising cost of funerals. Today, FCA affiliates survey local funeral home prices and, where possible, negotiate member discounts at participating funeral homes. They also provide objective advice regarding legal rights and options available to funeral consumers.

In prosperous times, most people have enough cash to meet expenses and even put aside something for a rainy day. They hold onto their assets or sell them for major, one-time wants or needs, like funding a year of college or a luxury vacation.

But now the rainy day has come, and for many it’s turning into a torrential downpour. Financially squeezed families are looking to cut costs any way they can, and funerals are one area they target, foregoing limousine rides, expensive caskets and elaborate tombstones in favor of simpler and less costly services and merchandise, according to funeral experts. With bills piling up, “luxuries” like burial insurance premiums tend to land on the bottom of the stack, and that tiny piece of real estate in the cemetery suddenly represents a mortgage payment or food on the table for a month or two.

If you’re thinking of selling burial plots for some quick cash, though, keep in mind that while the proceeds from the sale of cemetery real estate may keep the lights and telephone on for a few more months, selling a burial plot is definitely not a money-making proposition. As in the broader real estate market, many sellers and few buyers have driven down prices, creating a buyer’s market for cemetery plots. And according to  Ken Brant – marketing director for GraveSolutions, a multi-listing website for the sale of cemetery property – sales can be slow, with plots taking up to 15 months to move.

In response to this growing need, Macksoud recently opened his business, Simple Funerals, with three locations in the metro Detroit area. He also maintains a website for people who prefer to shop online for funeral goods and services.

Macksoud does not own a funeral home; instead, he uses the facilities of a local licensed funeral home on a contract basis to prepare a body for burial or cremation. He also eschews visitation hours, hearses and limousines, significantly reducing his overhead costs and passing on the savings to families who can’t afford a costly funeral.

For a standard fee of $835, Macksoud will transport a body from the hospital or medical examiner’s office to the funeral home, prepare the body, complete all necessary paperwork, guide families in choosing an inexpensive casket or cremation urn, and transport the body to the cemetery or deliver the cremains to the family.

Macksoud readily acknowledges that “this isn’t for everyone,” but Simple Funerals provides a dignified alternative to a high-priced funeral for families in need.

Medical schools and researchers rely on donations of human bodies, organs and tissues to study diseases, develop medications and treatments, and educate the doctors of tomorrow. To encourage donations, many programs offer cremation at little or no cost. Should you choose to make a donation, you’ll not only save on cremation costs, but also enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that your gift will continue to help others after you’re gone.

To learn more about making an anatomical donation, call a medical school near you, or contact a program – such as Life Quest Anatomical or MedCure – that matches donors with appropriate schools or research projects based on the condition of the body and the medical history of the deceased. They’ll answer your questions and tell you how to preregister for donation. When death occurs, a simple phone call will set the wheels in motion, and the receiving organization will arrange transportation of the body. Following study, the body will be cremated and the cremated remains returned to the family upon request.

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.