The casket war has also hit South Carolina, where a judge recently struck down the requirement that casket dealers have embalming rooms, chapels and hearses. To sell caskets, however, a person must still be a licensed funeral director. And in August, a federal judge ruled that Tennessee's funeral director law violated the 14th Amendment's protection from arbitrary regulation. A federal court also recently tossed out a Georgia law prohibiting casket sales by any entity other than a funeral home, calling the law a blatant restraint of trade. We advertise on TV about 60 times a day.
People are tired of being dictated to by the funeral industry.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' consumer expenditure survey, funeral spending is on the decline, dropping an average of 7 percent annually since the mid-1980s. Some industry experts say the high cost of dying is why cremation is on the rise nationwide, even in the South, where traditional burial is usually preferred. Cover up with a Salon T-shirt this summer. Extra goodies and great services in Salon Plus Sponsored Links RackSpace Managed Hosting Easy to build Web Sites from VeriSign. How a group of e-vigilantes, furious at profiteers attempting to cash in on the WTC tragedy, fought back.