WEBVTT - Short Stuff: The Casket Racket 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:06.560 Hey, and welcome to the short Stuff on Josh and 0:00:06.559 --> 0:00:10.239 there's Chuck and this is short stuff. Uh, this is 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:15.760 another funeral edition one um, the never Ending Death Suite, 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:18.760 I guess is what it's a part of. I know, 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:21.119 and I just want funeral directors out there who listen 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:25.080 to know that we don't not like you. Uh, just 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:27.800 because this episode is going to be called the casket Racket, 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:31.520 it doesn't mean we don't like you. But when you 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:34.879 look at the numbers of the price of caskets, the 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:38.040 markup on caskets, it is a little hard to not 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:41.360 think there's got to be a better way. Yeah, a 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:45.040 more fair, humane way that doesn't just completely rip off 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:51.120 the consumer. Okay, So um, I think the average casket 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:54.480 in the United States goes for about bucks, which is 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:58.120 a significant contributor to the overall costs of a funeral, 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:01.760 which can be eight to ten grand on average. That's 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:04.800 like a quarter or more of the total cost, just 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:09.039 as in the casket alone. Um. And apparently that prices 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:13.479 increased dramatically, Chuck, like two fifty increase over the last 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:17.160 thirty years, So you would think, like, okay, that means 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:22.479 that like the the casket making guild has has broken up, 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:25.679 and like they're they're not passing along their knowledge any longer. 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:28.800 The stuff that they used to make caskets have become 0:01:29.000 --> 0:01:31.759 so rare that they we can hardly get our hands 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:36.160 out anymore. What else could could qualify caskets for a 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:40.319 two hundred and fifty increase uh in in price over 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:43.640 the years, which by the way, is twice as much 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:49.680 the inflation rate as the next highest item has has 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:52.440 grown in price over the last thirty years. So what 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:55.280 is it about caskets that has has made them grow 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:59.720 in price so much? Chuck? Well, I mean things that contribute. Certainly, 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:02.880 if you're just shopping for a casket, uh and this 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:05.520 isn't necessarily inflation, but if you're if you're wondering how 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:10.040 you spend you know, six grand on a casket. It's 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:12.520 a piece of it's not furniture, but like it's made 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:14.600 out of wood. If you want a wood when they're 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:17.200 also metal, ones will get into both. But if you're 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:19.680 looking at something made out of wood, obviously the materials 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:21.920 is going to be a big deal. So if you 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:25.520 want the mahogany or the hickory or the walnut casket, 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:27.120 it's going to cost a lot more than like the 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:30.960 Pine box or the oak box. Uh. If you're looking 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:35.680 at metal, the pricey ones are twenty gauge steel, and 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:38.640 you know you can also get copper or bronze and 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:41.040 stuff like that. I think the least pricey ones are 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:43.919 the twenty gauge steel, Like that's their Pine box version 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:46.840 for metal ones. Oh did I say most expensive? I 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:50.560 think I'm at least expensive. Sorry about that. Obviously the 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:52.359 copper and the bronze are gonna be the pricest ones. 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:56.840 But you know, then there's craftsmanship with any kind of um, 0:02:56.880 --> 0:02:59.720 anything made by human hands. If it's got you know, 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:02.240 fancier stuff on it, it's gonna cost a lot more. 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:05.919 If the corners are all rounded instead of welded off, 0:03:05.960 --> 0:03:08.239 it's going to be a lot more. So all these 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:11.920 things go into determining the price. But uh, and of 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:14.399 course what's going on in the inside as well, all 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:18.200 the all the fancy silks and and almost said bunting, 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:23.040 but like that crape interior um is gonna be less 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:27.480 expensive than velvet. So inside and out, the materials matter, 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:30.959 the craftsmanship matters. But and maybe we should well know, 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:33.560 let's go ahead say it before the break. What's really 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:36.680 going on is there are two main casket manufacturers in 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:41.880 the u S. Batesville and Matthews. They have not a monopoly, 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:46.400 but about a two percent share of the distribution. It's 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:48.240 pretty close. And they don't sell the people. They sell 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:51.640 only to funeral homes, so they mark it up by 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:55.600 three or four and then the funeral directors can then 0:03:55.640 --> 0:03:57.640 mark it up as well. So that's where the money's 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:01.920 really going, yes, through the markup, because they have almost 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:04.480 a monopoly. So I say that we take that break 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:08.360 you're talking about, maybe lion repose for a couple of minutes, 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:13.000 and we will come back and get active again. It 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:51.360 sounds good, so Chuck Um. One of the reasons why 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:56.719 the two main manufacturers of caskets can mark their prices 0:04:56.800 --> 0:05:00.320 up as because they sell directly to funeral homes, and 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:04.080 the reason that funeral directors can further mark those up 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:07.799 to whatever they want. It's because most people don't shop 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:11.760 around for not only a casket, but a funeral home. 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:14.800 They probably went to a funeral at the funeral home 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:19.080 they're using before. Maybe they've used that funeral home before 0:05:19.080 --> 0:05:23.280 and their repeat, repeat customer. I would guess that unless 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:26.000 you have a really bad experience with a funeral home, 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:28.080 you're probably going to use the same one over and 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:31.440 over again because you're in the depths of grief and 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:34.680 you're not thinking about your bottom line or your pocketbook. 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:37.640 You're just trying to get through this terrible time. And 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:41.640 funeral directors know that, and they price their prices accordingly 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:45.960 because they have a captive customer. That's right. There's probably 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:50.320 one family member he's really wanting to shop around, Uncle Sal, 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:54.240 but Uncle Stal gets shut down, usually by the other 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:57.000 family members who talk about this is not the time 0:05:57.000 --> 0:05:59.880 to cheap out. So he just loudly complains throughout the 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:03.039 he's that's right. A lot of paroled eyes, a lot 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:06.159 of harrumph, Oh here we go again. How much is 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:09.400 this guest book gonna cost? But you're right, most people 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:10.960 go to the same place and they know they got 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:14.560 you there. Uh. By the way, quick aside, the funeral home, 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:16.479 which I've talked about a lot across the street from me, 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:19.640 they were shooting a movie there yesterday. Oh really, what movie? 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:22.760 I don't know, but they changed the funeral sign. So 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:25.200 if you ever see a movie with a gold horse 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:29.560 and F and G funeral home that's across the street 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:32.240 from my house. You know, just based on probabilities, there's 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:36.760 like a fort chance it was a Marvel movie. Uh 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:40.200 sure here in Atlanta. You're right, yeah, because it's a movie, right, 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:43.360 exactly right, all right, so they got you in there. 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:45.760 They know they can mark it up. But there are 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:51.479 online casket retailers now who are who have had enough. 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:55.480 They say we want more than an eighteen percent market 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:59.760 share because we're going direct to customer. We are selling 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:02.960 them cheaper. In some cases you can save you know, 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:07.760 seven fred bucks on the casket alone, and some of 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:09.960 them deliver overnight. The other ones have them to you 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:12.360 in like a few days. And they're like, this is 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:15.600 an outdated model that we're using where these you know, 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:19.559 we need to move on from this two manufacturers and 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:21.800 uh and move into the modern age where you can 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:24.840 buy this thing on Amazon or at Costco. Right, which 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:27.560 is smart and it makes sense. And if you give 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:29.640 any kind of thought to this, or if you'll listen 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:32.000 to your uncle Sal, and your uncle Sal has happens 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:33.680 to be tech savvy and knows to go on to 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:36.160 Amazon to order a casket. You can order one of 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:41.600 these caskets and save hundreds, potentially thousands of dollars UM 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:44.640 and get pretty much the same casket that you would 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:48.320 get from the funeral director. And time was up until 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:51.160 not that long ago, that the funeral director would say, sorry, 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:54.960 we don't deal in third party caskets. We only uh, 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:59.080 we were only able to supply our own caskets, so 0:07:59.120 --> 0:08:01.440 it's are the only ones we use. And that was 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:05.120 what they did. They blocked caskets that were purchased outside 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:07.400 um and you had no choice but to buy your 0:08:07.440 --> 0:08:11.360 casket through the funeral home you were using until get this, 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:16.080 until the federal government stepped in and said, funeral industry, 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:20.440 you've gotten so bad and so predatory that we, the 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:23.480 Federal Trade Commission, are going to enact what's called the 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:25.679 Funeral Rule, and we're going to set up a bunch 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:29.600 of rules that govern how you conduct your business because 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:32.520 you have shown that you can't be trusted to conduct 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:35.760 your business fairly otherwise. And one of them is that 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:39.080 you have to accept third party caskets. Yeah, and you 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:42.160 know that's why it's called the casket racket. That's why 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:45.600 this episode is titled that, because it was a racket 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:48.839 up until then. The only reason I'm gonna say it's 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:52.240 not a racket anymore. Is because of that funeral rule 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:55.080 where they do have to accept a third party casket. 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:59.959 But there's still as of two thousand nineteen of casket 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:03.840 are still purchased through those main manufacturers. Like that's still 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:06.120 going on. I think much of that is because people 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:09.120 just don't know that there is that funeral rule and 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:11.880 that there are other options. Yeah, and the next time 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:14.600 that somebody complains to you about big government, you tell 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:16.640 them about the funeral rule and tell them to go 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:20.080 think about that. Uh, you can get free shipping with 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:22.640 some of these, like I said, you can many times 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:25.080 get them overnighted or there in a few days, and 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:28.400 you can save a lot of money. And like this 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:31.280 sounds like we're on a soapbox, but it's just it's 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:34.040 a bad time when you're bearing a loved one and 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:37.240 it's already expensive. So if we can impart a little 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:41.480 wisdom and you can save you know, a couple of 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:44.480 grand Like, I think we're doing a service here. I 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:48.120 agree wholeheartedly. Um and I think Chuck, we should do 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:51.040 an entire episode on the funeral rule. It's pretty it's 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:55.240 much more expansive than just making funeral directors, except third 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:57.839 party caskets. There's a lot more to it. Yeah, I'm 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:01.160 surprised we didn't cover that in any of our anti 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:05.840 funeral Yeah. And also we've done an entire episode on caskets, 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:09.520 if I'm not mistaken. Remember, Ghana has this awesome tradition 0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:13.199 of making these super style and cool caskets. So if 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:15.840 you have some time to kill right now, go online 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:19.120 and do an image search of Ghana caskets and you 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:21.720 will be impressed. That's right. And we also did one 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:24.920 on cremation and the latest numbers. I think we did 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:28.000 this back then, but just to keep everyone updated. Numbers 0:10:28.720 --> 0:10:32.160 by the n f d A, the National Funeral Director's 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:37.120 Association say that the cremation rate now in America is 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:42.720 projected to be fifty eight percent and there projecting that 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:48.120 out in to drop down to twenty five of burial, 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:52.080 so se cremation. Yeah, I don't know that that's going 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:54.400 to have an effect on caskets because people who are 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:58.040 cremated still often have like viewings and showings and check 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:00.600 them outs and all that stuff. You still gonna need 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:02.920 to keep poke it for it. So I don't know 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:06.600 that that will affect things. But you know, there you go. 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:11.400 That's a great way to is Yeah, since everything just 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:14.440 petered out yet again, that means the short stuff everybody 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:20.120 is out. Stuff you Should Know is a production of 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:23.440 I Heart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:26.280 the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:27.640 listen to your favorite shows.