Hey, and welcome to the short Stuff on Josh and there's Chuck and this is short stuff. Uh, this is another funeral edition one um, the never Ending Death Suite, I guess is what it's a part of. I know, and I just want funeral directors out there who listen to know that we don't not like you. Uh, just because this episode is going to be called the casket Racket, it doesn't mean we don't like you. But when you look at the numbers of the price of caskets, the markup on caskets, it is a little hard to not think there's got to be a better way. Yeah, a more fair, humane way that doesn't just completely rip off the consumer. Okay, So um, I think the average casket in the United States goes for about bucks, which is a significant contributor to the overall costs of a funeral, which can be eight to ten grand on average. That's like a quarter or more of the total cost, just as in the casket alone. Um. And apparently that prices increased dramatically, Chuck, like two fifty increase over the last thirty years, So you would think, like, okay, that means that like the the casket making guild has has broken up, and like they're they're not passing along their knowledge any longer. The stuff that they used to make caskets have become so rare that they we can hardly get our hands out anymore. What else could could qualify caskets for a two hundred and fifty increase uh in in price over the years, which by the way, is twice as much the inflation rate as the next highest item has has grown in price over the last thirty years. So what is it about caskets that has has made them grow in price so much? Chuck? Well, I mean things that contribute. Certainly, if you're just shopping for a casket, uh and this isn't necessarily inflation, but if you're if you're wondering how you spend you know, six grand on a casket. It's a piece of it's not furniture, but like it's made out of wood. If you want a wood when they're also metal, ones will get into both. But if you're looking at something made out of wood, obviously the materials is going to be a big deal. So if you want the mahogany or the hickory or the walnut casket, it's going to cost a lot more than like the Pine box or the oak box. Uh. If you're looking at metal, the pricey ones are twenty gauge steel, and you know you can also get copper or bronze and stuff like that. I think the least pricey ones are the twenty gauge steel, Like that's their Pine box version for metal ones. Oh did I say most expensive? I think I'm at least expensive. Sorry about that. Obviously the copper and the bronze are gonna be the pricest ones. But you know, then there's craftsmanship with any kind of um, anything made by human hands. If it's got you know, fancier stuff on it, it's gonna cost a lot more. If the corners are all rounded instead of welded off, it's going to be a lot more. So all these things go into determining the price. But uh, and of course what's going on in the inside as well, all the all the fancy silks and and almost said bunting, but like that crape interior um is gonna be less expensive than velvet. So inside and out, the materials matter, the craftsmanship matters. But and maybe we should well know, let's go ahead say it before the break. What's really going on is there are two main casket manufacturers in the u S. Batesville and Matthews. They have not a monopoly, but about a two percent share of the distribution. It's pretty close. And they don't sell the people. They sell only to funeral homes, so they mark it up by three or four and then the funeral directors can then mark it up as well. So that's where the money's really going, yes, through the markup, because they have almost a monopoly. So I say that we take that break you're talking about, maybe lion repose for a couple of minutes, and we will come back and get active again. It sounds good, so Chuck Um. One of the reasons why the two main manufacturers of caskets can mark their prices up as because they sell directly to funeral homes, and the reason that funeral directors can further mark those up to whatever they want. It's because most people don't shop around for not only a casket, but a funeral home. They probably went to a funeral at the funeral home they're using before. Maybe they've used that funeral home before and their repeat, repeat customer. I would guess that unless you have a really bad experience with a funeral home, you're probably going to use the same one over and over again because you're in the depths of grief and you're not thinking about your bottom line or your pocketbook. You're just trying to get through this terrible time. And funeral directors know that, and they price their prices accordingly because they have a captive customer. That's right. There's probably one family member he's really wanting to shop around, Uncle Sal, but Uncle Stal gets shut down, usually by the other family members who talk about this is not the time to cheap out. So he just loudly complains throughout the he's that's right. A lot of paroled eyes, a lot of harrumph, Oh here we go again. How much is this guest book gonna cost? But you're right, most people go to the same place and they know they got you there. Uh. By the way, quick aside, the funeral home, which I've talked about a lot across the street from me, they were shooting a movie there yesterday. Oh really, what movie? I don't know, but they changed the funeral sign. So if you ever see a movie with a gold horse and F and G funeral home that's across the street from my house. You know, just based on probabilities, there's like a fort chance it was a Marvel movie. Uh sure here in Atlanta. You're right, yeah, because it's a movie, right, exactly right, all right, so they got you in there. They know they can mark it up. But there are online casket retailers now who are who have had enough. They say we want more than an eighteen percent market share because we're going direct to customer. We are selling them cheaper. In some cases you can save you know, seven fred bucks on the casket alone, and some of them deliver overnight. The other ones have them to you in like a few days. And they're like, this is an outdated model that we're using where these you know, we need to move on from this two manufacturers and uh and move into the modern age where you can buy this thing on Amazon or at Costco. Right, which is smart and it makes sense. And if you give any kind of thought to this, or if you'll listen to your uncle Sal, and your uncle Sal has happens to be tech savvy and knows to go on to Amazon to order a casket. You can order one of these caskets and save hundreds, potentially thousands of dollars UM and get pretty much the same casket that you would get from the funeral director. And time was up until not that long ago, that the funeral director would say, sorry, we don't deal in third party caskets. We only uh, we were only able to supply our own caskets, so it's are the only ones we use. And that was what they did. They blocked caskets that were purchased outside um and you had no choice but to buy your casket through the funeral home you were using until get this, until the federal government stepped in and said, funeral industry, you've gotten so bad and so predatory that we, the Federal Trade Commission, are going to enact what's called the Funeral Rule, and we're going to set up a bunch of rules that govern how you conduct your business because you have shown that you can't be trusted to conduct your business fairly otherwise. And one of them is that you have to accept third party caskets. Yeah, and you know that's why it's called the casket racket. That's why this episode is titled that, because it was a racket up until then. The only reason I'm gonna say it's not a racket anymore. Is because of that funeral rule where they do have to accept a third party casket. But there's still as of two thousand nineteen of casket are still purchased through those main manufacturers. Like that's still going on. I think much of that is because people just don't know that there is that funeral rule and that there are other options. Yeah, and the next time that somebody complains to you about big government, you tell them about the funeral rule and tell them to go think about that. Uh, you can get free shipping with some of these, like I said, you can many times get them overnighted or there in a few days, and you can save a lot of money. And like this sounds like we're on a soapbox, but it's just it's a bad time when you're bearing a loved one and it's already expensive. So if we can impart a little wisdom and you can save you know, a couple of grand Like, I think we're doing a service here. I agree wholeheartedly. Um and I think Chuck, we should do an entire episode on the funeral rule. It's pretty it's much more expansive than just making funeral directors, except third party caskets. There's a lot more to it. Yeah, I'm surprised we didn't cover that in any of our anti funeral Yeah. And also we've done an entire episode on caskets, if I'm not mistaken. Remember, Ghana has this awesome tradition of making these super style and cool caskets. So if you have some time to kill right now, go online and do an image search of Ghana caskets and you will be impressed. That's right. And we also did one on cremation and the latest numbers. I think we did this back then, but just to keep everyone updated. Numbers by the n f d A, the National Funeral Director's Association say that the cremation rate now in America is projected to be fifty eight percent and there projecting that out in to drop down to twenty five of burial, so se cremation. Yeah, I don't know that that's going to have an effect on caskets because people who are cremated still often have like viewings and showings and check them outs and all that stuff. You still gonna need to keep poke it for it. So I don't know that that will affect things. But you know, there you go. That's a great way to is Yeah, since everything just petered out yet again, that means the short stuff everybody is out. Stuff you Should Know is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Hey, and welcome to the short Stuff on Josh and there's Chuck and this is short stuff. Uh, this is another funeral edition one um, the never Ending Death Suite, I guess is what it's a part of. I know, and I just want funeral directors out there who listen to know that we don't not like you. Uh, just because this episode is going to be called the casket Racket, it doesn't mean we don't like you. But when you look at the numbers of the price of caskets, the markup on caskets, it is a little hard to not think there's got to be a better way. Yeah, a more fair, humane way that doesn't just completely rip off the consumer. Okay, So um, I think the average casket in the United States goes for about bucks, which is a significant contributor to the overall costs of a funeral, which can be eight to ten grand on average. That's like a quarter or more of the total cost, just as in the casket alone. Um. And apparently that prices increased dramatically, Chuck, like two fifty increase over the last thirty years, So you would think, like, okay, that means that like the the casket making guild has has broken up, and like they're they're not passing along their knowledge any longer. The stuff that they used to make caskets have become so rare that they we can hardly get our hands out anymore. What else could could qualify caskets for a two hundred and fifty increase uh in in price over the years, which by the way, is twice as much the inflation rate as the next highest item has has grown in price over the last thirty years. So what is it about caskets that has has made them grow in price so much? Chuck? Well, I mean things that contribute. Certainly, if you're just shopping for a casket, uh and this isn't necessarily inflation, but if you're if you're wondering how you spend you know, six grand on a casket. It's a piece of it's not furniture, but like it's made out of wood. If you want a wood when they're also metal, ones will get into both. But if you're looking at something made out of wood, obviously the materials is going to be a big deal. So if you want the mahogany or the hickory or the walnut casket, it's going to cost a lot more than like the Pine box or the oak box. Uh. If you're looking at metal, the pricey ones are twenty gauge steel, and you know you can also get copper or bronze and stuff like that. I think the least pricey ones are the twenty gauge steel, Like that's their Pine box version for metal ones. Oh did I say most expensive? I think I'm at least expensive. Sorry about that. Obviously the copper and the bronze are gonna be the pricest ones. But you know, then there's craftsmanship with any kind of um, anything made by human hands. If it's got you know, fancier stuff on it, it's gonna cost a lot more. If the corners are all rounded instead of welded off, it's going to be a lot more. So all these things go into determining the price. But uh, and of course what's going on in the inside as well, all the all the fancy silks and and almost said bunting, but like that crape interior um is gonna be less expensive than velvet. So inside and out, the materials matter, the craftsmanship matters. But and maybe we should well know, let's go ahead say it before the break. What's really going on is there are two main casket manufacturers in the u S. Batesville and Matthews. They have not a monopoly, but about a two percent share of the distribution. It's pretty close. And they don't sell the people. They sell only to funeral homes, so they mark it up by three or four and then the funeral directors can then mark it up as well. So that's where the money's really going, yes, through the markup, because they have almost a monopoly. So I say that we take that break you're talking about, maybe lion repose for a couple of minutes, and we will come back and get active again. It sounds good, so Chuck Um. One of the reasons why the two main manufacturers of caskets can mark their prices up as because they sell directly to funeral homes, and the reason that funeral directors can further mark those up to whatever they want. It's because most people don't shop around for not only a casket, but a funeral home. They probably went to a funeral at the funeral home they're using before. Maybe they've used that funeral home before and their repeat, repeat customer. I would guess that unless you have a really bad experience with a funeral home, you're probably going to use the same one over and over again because you're in the depths of grief and you're not thinking about your bottom line or your pocketbook. You're just trying to get through this terrible time. And funeral directors know that, and they price their prices accordingly because they have a captive customer. That's right. There's probably one family member he's really wanting to shop around, Uncle Sal, but Uncle Stal gets shut down, usually by the other family members who talk about this is not the time to cheap out. So he just loudly complains throughout the he's that's right. A lot of paroled eyes, a lot of harrumph, Oh here we go again. How much is this guest book gonna cost? But you're right, most people go to the same place and they know they got you there. Uh. By the way, quick aside, the funeral home, which I've talked about a lot across the street from me, they were shooting a movie there yesterday. Oh really, what movie? I don't know, but they changed the funeral sign. So if you ever see a movie with a gold horse and F and G funeral home that's across the street from my house. You know, just based on probabilities, there's like a fort chance it was a Marvel movie. Uh sure here in Atlanta. You're right, yeah, because it's a movie, right, exactly right, all right, so they got you in there. They know they can mark it up. But there are online casket retailers now who are who have had enough. They say we want more than an eighteen percent market share because we're going direct to customer. We are selling them cheaper. In some cases you can save you know, seven fred bucks on the casket alone, and some of them deliver overnight. The other ones have them to you in like a few days. And they're like, this is an outdated model that we're using where these you know, we need to move on from this two manufacturers and uh and move into the modern age where you can buy this thing on Amazon or at Costco. Right, which is smart and it makes sense. And if you give any kind of thought to this, or if you'll listen to your uncle Sal, and your uncle Sal has happens to be tech savvy and knows to go on to Amazon to order a casket. You can order one of these caskets and save hundreds, potentially thousands of dollars UM and get pretty much the same casket that you would get from the funeral director. And time was up until not that long ago, that the funeral director would say, sorry, we don't deal in third party caskets. We only uh, we were only able to supply our own caskets, so it's are the only ones we use. And that was what they did. They blocked caskets that were purchased outside um and you had no choice but to buy your casket through the funeral home you were using until get this, until the federal government stepped in and said, funeral industry, you've gotten so bad and so predatory that we, the Federal Trade Commission, are going to enact what's called the Funeral Rule, and we're going to set up a bunch of rules that govern how you conduct your business because you have shown that you can't be trusted to conduct your business fairly otherwise. And one of them is that you have to accept third party caskets. Yeah, and you know that's why it's called the casket racket. That's why this episode is titled that, because it was a racket up until then. The only reason I'm gonna say it's not a racket anymore. Is because of that funeral rule where they do have to accept a third party casket. But there's still as of two thousand nineteen of casket are still purchased through those main manufacturers. Like that's still going on. I think much of that is because people just don't know that there is that funeral rule and that there are other options. Yeah, and the next time that somebody complains to you about big government, you tell them about the funeral rule and tell them to go think about that. Uh, you can get free shipping with some of these, like I said, you can many times get them overnighted or there in a few days, and you can save a lot of money. And like this sounds like we're on a soapbox, but it's just it's a bad time when you're bearing a loved one and it's already expensive. So if we can impart a little wisdom and you can save you know, a couple of grand Like, I think we're doing a service here. I agree wholeheartedly. Um and I think Chuck, we should do an entire episode on the funeral rule. It's pretty it's much more expansive than just making funeral directors, except third party caskets. There's a lot more to it. Yeah, I'm surprised we didn't cover that in any of our anti funeral Yeah. And also we've done an entire episode on caskets, if I'm not mistaken. Remember, Ghana has this awesome tradition of making these super style and cool caskets. So if you have some time to kill right now, go online and do an image search of Ghana caskets and you will be impressed. That's right. And we also did one on cremation and the latest numbers. I think we did this back then, but just to keep everyone updated. Numbers by the n f d A, the National Funeral Director's Association say that the cremation rate now in America is projected to be fifty eight percent and there projecting that out in to drop down to twenty five of burial, so se cremation. Yeah, I don't know that that's going to have an effect on caskets because people who are cremated still often have like viewings and showings and check them outs and all that stuff. You still gonna need to keep poke it for it. So I don't know that that will affect things. But you know, there you go. That's a great way to is Yeah, since everything just petered out yet again, that means the short stuff everybody is out. Stuff you Should Know is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.