Taphophilia.(dot) Com - Funeral Homes Sued For Shutting Out Cheap Caskets

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Funeral Homes Sued For Shutting Out Cheap Caskets

Written by DeadGirl
Friday, 06 May 2005
By Ben Berkowitz May 4, 2005 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A consumer advocacy group has sued three of the largest funeral-home operators and the largest casket maker in the United States, alleging that they conspired to keep discount casket vendors from offering their services to grieving families. The suit, filed by the Funeral Consumers Alliance in federal court in San Francisco on Monday, says the funeral home industry has openly ignored rules set more than 20 years ago by the Federal Trade Commission to suppress competition and keep casket prices artificially high. The defendants are funeral home companies Service Corp. International, Alderwoods Group Inc. and Stewart Enterprises Inc. and casket maker Hillenbrand Industries Inc. Spokesmen for Service Corp. and Stewart would not immediately comment on the suit. Representatives for the other defendants were not immediately available for comment. The Funeral Consumers Alliance bills itself as a nonprofit consumer-rights group for funeral services. The suit cites past cases in which courts found that funeral homes marked up the prices of caskets by as much as 600 percent, as opposed to what are known as "independent casket distributors," who sell their models for much less. The plaintiffs claimed the funeral industry had adopted a three-pronged approach to shutting out independent distributors: a "group boycott" keeping them from selling Hillenbrand's dominant Batesville casket brand; a program of disparaging remarks against independents; and coordinated casket pricing. "(Independent distributors) are foreclosed from competing with funeral homes on a level playing field for these consumers," the plaintiffs said in the suit. CHEAP CASKETS ONLINE The suit also pointed out the example of Costco, the warehouse retailer that has experimented with discount caskets as well as a referral network of funeral home operators offering their services as discounted prices. Caskets on Costco's Web site start at $925, whereas with markups funeral-home caskets can run into the thousands of dollars. "In the industry press describing Costco's entry into the casket market, Costco's planned referral network was highlighted as one of the principal threats to and concerns of funeral homes," the suit said. The Federal Trade Commission's so-called "Funeral Rule," which went into effect in 1984 and was amended in 1994, lays out certain practices to which the funeral industry must adhere and which the plaintiffs say the defendants violated. Among other things, funeral home operators are prohibited from requiring certain items to be purchased as a condition of other services. They also must give consumers an itemized price list for their services. Violators can be fined $10,000 per infraction, according to FTC documents. The suit seeks an order enjoining the defendants from fixing prices or conspiring against independent distributors, as well as damages and restitution. Source: Reuters, Yahoo News

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Taphophilia?

taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)

ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"

DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries

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Have you decided on eternal repose?

	earthen burial
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	cremation
	donation to science
	cyrogenically frozen
	you mean I'm still alive?

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“The memory of most men is an abandoned cemetery where lie, unsung and unhonored, the dead whom they have ceased to cherish. Any lasting grief is reproof to their forgetfulness.”

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