New Britain herald., 1928-02-01
High Cost of Funeral Services
 Is Blamed on Live Competition

'The extravasant charges on the part of certain undertakeEs are largely due to an saort to make . living out Of . very small volume of business." the committee comments, indicating that the clas referred to is made up largely of the broker" type of undertaken who possesses practically no equipment but hires paraphernalia from casket houses or other undertaken.
 Strong condemnation of these hir- ing practices and other merchandis- ing methods of casket companies is voiced by the committee.
 "Middlemen and jobbers have never developed in this branch of the industry" says the report. "The manufacturer deals directly with the retailer. On the face of it, this is an apparent economy. But to reach tho public through the funeral di- rector. certain practices have grown up which are wasteful and lead to many abuses.
 Manufacturers showrooms have multiplied rapidly in the past 20 years. These were originally intend- ed simply to acquaint the public with newer types of merchandise. Gradually, however. undertakers of the smaller type. particularly. brought families to the showroom to select a casket. and the manufac. turer's salesman completed the sale. The manufacturer. in such transac- ticns, sets the retail price. and in doing SO he follows the usual prac- tice of marking-up the wholesale price to cover the funeral directors overhead and yield him a profit on the entire funeral. When tho fun erai director insists on higher mark-up, the salesman leaves the room and permits the undertaken to set his own price. This practice. whether deliberate or not, has made tho casket house the party to un. fair and exorbitant pricing methods of the worst type of undertaken. Undertakers Hire Equipment Similarly. as has already been in- dicated, casket houses in largo cit- les rent paraphernalia and hire per- sonnel to undertakers with no es- tablishment. The prices charged are remarkably low. There is every reason to believe that the casket manufacturer, in making this serv- ice available for q particular type of undertaken, are taking q loss. This loss must eventually be placed on the prices charged for burial goods for all types of undertakers and passed on to the ultimate customer.
 Tt may be fairly questioned. therefore, whether the present methods of merchandising of some of the casket companies are not un- necessarily costly and do not further contribute to a vicious situation by helping small. inefficient undertak- CTS to remain in business"
 Charges also are brought against undertakers who advertise complete funerals at a low cost.
 "The advertisements one sees in newspapers telephone directories, etc., are for the most part mislead- ing and insincere. In every city complete funerals are advertised as low as $l00. with chapel free.' The practice generally Is to use these ad- vertisemcnts as Bait Once the family enters the establishment 1t is importuned. regardless of its fi- nances, to select more expensive funeral than it can really afford"
 Something of the effect of present. day funeral costs on those who have to pay the bill was revealed by tho committee through study of sever al hundred decedents' estates in New York city. Brooklyn. Chicago and Pittsburgh and cases of widows applying to the New York Board of Child Welfare for pensions. and an even larger number of cases of in f1ussffal Msurafcs pskeyhoaers & various sectis6s of the Country From these it was learned that the average expense of burial absorbs 5c per cent of estates under $1, ,Oo0 in New York City tManhattan) and 62 per cent in Brooklyn. For estates of between s1.0oo and $5,Ooo, the percentages of absorption are 1 8 and IS per cent respectively for these cities. Not until the estate reaches $20.o00 are the inroads of funeral costs considered negligible.