Americans sell burial plots, scale back funerals

[LuxLiving]

Americans sell burial plots, scale back funerals


Americans sell burial plots, scale back funerals | North America > United States from AllBusiness.com

[disneysteve]

I think this is great and long overdue. The amount of money that people literally throw into a hole in the ground is obscene. Caskets can cost $20,000 and more for a box that will be buried in the ground for eternity. What a scam.

Ideally, I think we should all be cremated but short of that, we should be laid to rest in a plain wooden box. That is actually what is done in Orthodox Judaism. The caskets run a few hundred dollars and are designed to degrade in the earth - ashes to ashes, dust to dust. We are not Orthodox, but I've already told my wife that that is what I want when I die. No spending 10 grand or more on a funeral. A few hundred for the box. A few hundred more for the ceremony. Maybe 2 or 3 thousand tops for the whole process.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

For me and mine: please, keep it simple, keep it biodegradable.

[mom-from-missouri]

Here you can "rent" a casket for the service, then be transferred to a cardboard one. The rental fee is around $300.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by mom-from-missouri

Here you can "rent" a casket for the service, then be transferred to a cardboard one. The rental fee is around $300.

Even better. What I actually told my wife was to put me in a refrigerator box but I'd settle for the pine box if she wanted something a bit classier.

[LuxLiving]

Interesting disneysteve. I did not know that there was that option. I just went recently with my Mom to preplan a funeral for my somewhat indigent brother*. There were none of those price caskets out on the display floor. It would sure be nice to have known to ask about them.

*I would not have handled it the way she did, but whatever!

mom-from-missouri, another interesting option if you know to ask about it.

[disneysteve]

Here's one for $500.
$506.00 - Jerico Pine

[PrincessPerky]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

Even better. What I actually told my wife was to put me in a refrigerator box but I'd settle for the pine box if she wanted something a bit classier.

ditto!

Cremation is actually a rather high polluting process, omve I learned that I decided to go with the simplest box one could manage.

Personally I prefer the 'memorial gardens' of many sci-fi books (remains simply buried and flowers planted over. A memorial wall or benches in the general area is used instead of headstones.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

used caskets on craigslist.
some of those rentals?
YSaC, Vol 471: BRAAAIIINSSS! | You Suck at Craigslist

[cptacek]

Thanks, Joan. I just spent 2 hours looking at that site!

[LuxLiving]

A low to zero cost option just mentioned in the AARP magazine? Donating body to science. It is stated that the person received the ashes of their loved one back after a period of time.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I read recently of people who've made arrangements to donate their body to medical schools being sent letters telling them that if they should die of Alzheimers, then their body will not be accepted. I'm guessing they are getting so many such donations that they need other causes of death bodies for the sudents.

For some period of years I had read that the schools get more offers of bodies than they can use. Don't know if that is currently true, but I bet it is up this year. Anyway, I think everyone needs to think about a back-up plan if they are hoping to donate to science.

My Mom has sent paper work to a historically Black med school near her, and this is something she has always wanted to do (along with eye donation), but we children understand that we may be making other arrangements if that falls through.