Taking time to collect information on varying costs and calmly choosing funeral arrangements ahead of time can protect the family from any possible sales pressure, intended or not, at the time of extreme emotional crisis. In this way, you can carefully choose the specific items you want and need and can compare prices offered by one or more funeral providers. By considering all the options available now, the family eliminates the possibility of making hasty, often expensive, decisions later. Preplanning can place the funeral provider and the funeral consumer on a more equal footing. The inexperienced consumer who makes arrangements at the time of need can be extremely vulnerable.
Prior knowledge helps the consumer decline certain services and purchase only what is wanted.
The consumer can decide the type and cost of the funeral or other disposition rather than someone else. If death occurs unexpectedly, it is a good idea to have a non-family member or clergy accompany the family when making funeral arrangements to provide emotional support and to help the family make decisions more clearly. Funerals can be simple or lavish. Many Americans are beginning to question the value or need of a traditional funeral. Actually, the modern American funeral only dates back to the Civil War, when a Brooklyn doctor invented the idea of embalming bodies of soldiers so that they could be shipped home.