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Short Stuff: The Casket Racket · Stuff You Should Know

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the short Stuff on Josh and
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: there's Chuck and this is short stuff. Uh, this is
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: another funeral edition one um, the never Ending Death Suite,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: I guess is what it's a part of. I know,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: and I just want funeral directors out there who listen
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: to know that we don't not like you. Uh, just
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: because this episode is going to be called the casket Racket,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: it doesn't mean we don't like you. But when you
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: look at the numbers of the price of caskets, the
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: markup on caskets, it is a little hard to not
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: think there's got to be a better way. Yeah, a
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: more fair, humane way that doesn't just completely rip off
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: the consumer. Okay, So um, I think the average casket
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: in the United States goes for about bucks, which is
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: a significant contributor to the overall costs of a funeral,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: which can be eight to ten grand on average. That's
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: like a quarter or more of the total cost, just
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: as in the casket alone. Um. And apparently that prices
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: increased dramatically, Chuck, like two fifty increase over the last
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: thirty years, So you would think, like, okay, that means
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: that like the the casket making guild has has broken up,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: and like they're they're not passing along their knowledge any longer.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: The stuff that they used to make caskets have become
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: so rare that they we can hardly get our hands
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: out anymore. What else could could qualify caskets for a
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty increase uh in in price over
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: the years, which by the way, is twice as much
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: the inflation rate as the next highest item has has
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: grown in price over the last thirty years. So what
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: is it about caskets that has has made them grow
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: in price so much? Chuck? Well, I mean things that contribute. Certainly,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: if you're just shopping for a casket, uh and this
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: isn't necessarily inflation, but if you're if you're wondering how
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: you spend you know, six grand on a casket. It's
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: a piece of it's not furniture, but like it's made
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: out of wood. If you want a wood when they're
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: also metal, ones will get into both. But if you're
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: looking at something made out of wood, obviously the materials
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: is going to be a big deal. So if you
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: want the mahogany or the hickory or the walnut casket,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: it's going to cost a lot more than like the
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Pine box or the oak box. Uh. If you're looking
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: at metal, the pricey ones are twenty gauge steel, and
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: you know you can also get copper or bronze and
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: stuff like that. I think the least pricey ones are
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: the twenty gauge steel, Like that's their Pine box version
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: for metal ones. Oh did I say most expensive? I
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: think I'm at least expensive. Sorry about that. Obviously the
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: copper and the bronze are gonna be the pricest ones.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: But you know, then there's craftsmanship with any kind of um,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: anything made by human hands. If it's got you know,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: fancier stuff on it, it's gonna cost a lot more.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: If the corners are all rounded instead of welded off,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: it's going to be a lot more. So all these
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: things go into determining the price. But uh, and of
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: course what's going on in the inside as well, all
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: the all the fancy silks and and almost said bunting,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: but like that crape interior um is gonna be less
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: expensive than velvet. So inside and out, the materials matter,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: the craftsmanship matters. But and maybe we should well know,
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: let's go ahead say it before the break. What's really
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: going on is there are two main casket manufacturers in
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: the u S. Batesville and Matthews. They have not a monopoly,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: but about a two percent share of the distribution. It's
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: pretty close. And they don't sell the people. They sell
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: only to funeral homes, so they mark it up by
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: three or four and then the funeral directors can then
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: mark it up as well. So that's where the money's
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: really going, yes, through the markup, because they have almost
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: a monopoly. So I say that we take that break
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: you're talking about, maybe lion repose for a couple of minutes,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: and we will come back and get active again. It
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: sounds good, so Chuck Um. One of the reasons why
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: the two main manufacturers of caskets can mark their prices
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: up as because they sell directly to funeral homes, and
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: the reason that funeral directors can further mark those up
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: to whatever they want. It's because most people don't shop
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: around for not only a casket, but a funeral home.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: They probably went to a funeral at the funeral home
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: they're using before. Maybe they've used that funeral home before
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: and their repeat, repeat customer. I would guess that unless
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: you have a really bad experience with a funeral home,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: you're probably going to use the same one over and
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: over again because you're in the depths of grief and
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: you're not thinking about your bottom line or your pocketbook.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: You're just trying to get through this terrible time. And
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: funeral directors know that, and they price their prices accordingly
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: because they have a captive customer. That's right. There's probably
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: one family member he's really wanting to shop around, Uncle Sal,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: but Uncle Stal gets shut down, usually by the other
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: family members who talk about this is not the time
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: to cheap out. So he just loudly complains throughout the
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: he's that's right. A lot of paroled eyes, a lot
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: of harrumph, Oh here we go again. How much is
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: this guest book gonna cost? But you're right, most people
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: go to the same place and they know they got
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: you there. Uh. By the way, quick aside, the funeral home,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: which I've talked about a lot across the street from me,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: they were shooting a movie there yesterday. Oh really, what movie?
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: I don't know, but they changed the funeral sign. So
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: if you ever see a movie with a gold horse
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: and F and G funeral home that's across the street
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: from my house. You know, just based on probabilities, there's
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: like a fort chance it was a Marvel movie. Uh
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: sure here in Atlanta. You're right, yeah, because it's a movie, right,
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: exactly right, all right, so they got you in there.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: They know they can mark it up. But there are
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: online casket retailers now who are who have had enough.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: They say we want more than an eighteen percent market
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: share because we're going direct to customer. We are selling
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: them cheaper. In some cases you can save you know,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: seven fred bucks on the casket alone, and some of
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: them deliver overnight. The other ones have them to you
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: in like a few days. And they're like, this is
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: an outdated model that we're using where these you know,
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: we need to move on from this two manufacturers and
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: uh and move into the modern age where you can
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: buy this thing on Amazon or at Costco. Right, which
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: is smart and it makes sense. And if you give
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: any kind of thought to this, or if you'll listen
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: to your uncle Sal, and your uncle Sal has happens
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: to be tech savvy and knows to go on to
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Amazon to order a casket. You can order one of
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: these caskets and save hundreds, potentially thousands of dollars UM
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: and get pretty much the same casket that you would
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: get from the funeral director. And time was up until
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: not that long ago, that the funeral director would say, sorry,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: we don't deal in third party caskets. We only uh,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: we were only able to supply our own caskets, so
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: it's are the only ones we use. And that was
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: what they did. They blocked caskets that were purchased outside
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: um and you had no choice but to buy your
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: casket through the funeral home you were using until get this,
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: until the federal government stepped in and said, funeral industry,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: you've gotten so bad and so predatory that we, the
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Federal Trade Commission, are going to enact what's called the
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Funeral Rule, and we're going to set up a bunch
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: of rules that govern how you conduct your business because
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: you have shown that you can't be trusted to conduct
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: your business fairly otherwise. And one of them is that
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: you have to accept third party caskets. Yeah, and you
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: know that's why it's called the casket racket. That's why
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: this episode is titled that, because it was a racket
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: up until then. The only reason I'm gonna say it's
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: not a racket anymore. Is because of that funeral rule
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: where they do have to accept a third party casket.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: But there's still as of two thousand nineteen of casket
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: are still purchased through those main manufacturers. Like that's still
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: going on. I think much of that is because people
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: just don't know that there is that funeral rule and
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: that there are other options. Yeah, and the next time
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: that somebody complains to you about big government, you tell
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: them about the funeral rule and tell them to go
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: think about that. Uh, you can get free shipping with
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: some of these, like I said, you can many times
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: get them overnighted or there in a few days, and
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: you can save a lot of money. And like this
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: sounds like we're on a soapbox, but it's just it's
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: a bad time when you're bearing a loved one and
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: it's already expensive. So if we can impart a little
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: wisdom and you can save you know, a couple of
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: grand Like, I think we're doing a service here. I
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: agree wholeheartedly. Um and I think Chuck, we should do
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: an entire episode on the funeral rule. It's pretty it's
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: much more expansive than just making funeral directors, except third
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: party caskets. There's a lot more to it. Yeah, I'm
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: surprised we didn't cover that in any of our anti
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: funeral Yeah. And also we've done an entire episode on caskets,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: if I'm not mistaken. Remember, Ghana has this awesome tradition
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: of making these super style and cool caskets. So if
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: you have some time to kill right now, go online
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: and do an image search of Ghana caskets and you
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: will be impressed. That's right. And we also did one
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: on cremation and the latest numbers. I think we did
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: this back then, but just to keep everyone updated. Numbers
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: by the n f d A, the National Funeral Director's
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: Association say that the cremation rate now in America is
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: projected to be fifty eight percent and there projecting that
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: out in to drop down to twenty five of burial,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: so se cremation. Yeah, I don't know that that's going
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: to have an effect on caskets because people who are
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: cremated still often have like viewings and showings and check
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: them outs and all that stuff. You still gonna need
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: to keep poke it for it. So I don't know
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: that that will affect things. But you know, there you go.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: That's a great way to is Yeah, since everything just
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: petered out yet again, that means the short stuff everybody
• 11:14
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• 11:20
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