Archive for the ‘Funeral Homes’ Category

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Education Requirements and Licensing for the Funeral Industry

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

Columbia Funeral Home in Seattle, Washington.

Columbia Funeral Home in Seattle, Washington.

If you are seeking a career opportunity in the funeral industry, you have numerous sources available to you to learn about educational requirements and licensing. The following information includes a summary of basic educational requirements for most states. You always can contact the funeral service college or check this list of State Funeral Directors Associations at the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) to learn more about specific education guidelines for each state.

With career opportunities in over 20,000 funeral homes across the U.S., you may find a need for a well-trained funeral service professional. Demand is greater for graduates who have prepared themselves for management positions by selecting business and communications courses as part of their college program.

Generally, you will need:

  • A high school diploma or equivalent (GED).
  • An Associate Degree, or its credit hour equivalent, a portion of which is in funeral service education, from an accredited educational institution.
  • Passing a state and/or national board licensing examination.
  • An internship or apprenticeship ranging from one to three years.
  • Many states require that funeral directors meet continuing education requirements to maintain licensure. (See State Boards and Licensing Requirements Information)

The funeral service curriculum, approved by the American Board of Funeral Service Education (ABFSE), the United States’ funeral service accrediting agency, includes courses in:

  • Public Health and Technical Area — microbiology, anatomy, chemistry, pathology, restorative art and embalming.
  • Business Management Area — business management, funeral arranging, funeral merchandising, funeral home management, computer applications, Federal Trade Commission Funeral Rule and accounting.
  • Social Science Area — sociology of funeral service, psychology of grief, funeral directing, history of funeral service, communication skills and counseling.
  • Legal, Regulatory and Ethical Area — business law, funeral service law and regulation and professional ethics.

To learn more about current jobs available in the funeral industry, visit the newest jobs available list at the NFDA’s Funeral Career Center.

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Posted in Deathcare Careers, Deathcare Training, Funeral Homes | No Comments »

Georgia Funeral Home Goes Green

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

White Columns Web site

Soenso Energy president, Roger K. Cone, announced late last year that work is complete on the installation of a solar photovoltaic (PV) system on the roof of White Columns Funeral Chapel in Mableton, Georgia. This is believed to be the first installation of clean, renewable solar power on a funeral home in the state of Georgia. The 5.8kW system is designed to offset approximately 40 percent of the annual electricity energy needs of this facility in south Cobb County.

White Columns Funeral Chapel’s new solar PV array consists of twenty-eight 210W Schuco-USA solar PV modules mounted on a south-facing portion of the funeral home’s roof. The PV modules generate DC power that is fed into a 5000W SMA-America inverter. The inverter converts the DC power to AC power. The AC power is fed into the electrical panel of the building where it is dispersed wherever needed throughout the facility. The building uses this solar-generated electricity first and, if needed, seamlessly and automatically pulls from the utility grid to keep the facility fully powered.

Currently there are generous Federal and Georgia financial incentives in place for commercial installations of renewable energy. For commercial solar PV installations the Federal incentive is a 30 percent income tax credit or grant, and the Georgia incentive is a 35 percent income tax credit or rebate. There are published maximum limits on Georgia renewable energy incentives.

Owned and operated by the Gene Davis family which has been serving Mableton, Austell, Powder Springs, and Lithia Springs, Georgia, since 1964. On the Web: http://www.whitecolumnsfuneralchapel.com, Phone: 770-948-0113, Location: 1115 Clay Road, Mableton, GA 30126.

Senseo Energy is located in Marietta, Georgia, near Atlanta. they are a leading supplier and installer of commercial and residential renewable energy products – solar thermal hot water systems, solar photovoltaic (PV) for generating electricity and small wind turbines for generating electricity. These renewable energy technologies qualify for Federal and Georgia clean energy income tax credits. On the Web: http://www.soenso.com.

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Funeral Homes and More Deathcare on Twitter

Monday, December 7th, 2009
Oh for Twitter in 1900!

Oh for Twitter in 1900!

A few months ago we posted a list of Twitter users who focused on deathcare; but, we did not post funeral homes, as only two were listed at the time. As you can see from the list shown below, the funeral home business is catching on to Twitter! Many of these businesses have discovered that Twitter provides a great format to post links to obituaries.

The links lead to the Twitter page for each user. You need a Twitter account to respond to these users, but you do not need an account to read their “Tweets,” or their posts on their Twitter pages. The list is categorized and each link is listed alphabetically to show that we do not favor one resource over another.

Before you get in a huff about not being mentioned in the list below, we posted links to Twitter users who have posted within the past month and who have more than one Tweet on their page…if that description doesn’t fit you, then you weren’t listed.

Funeral Homes

  • Amos Family Funeral: Located in Shawnee, Kansas, this is a family-owned funeral home with on-site crematory. This funeral home also provides ShawneeObits (which we think is a great idea!).
  • Amos Pet Crematory: We had to make this a separate listing, although it seems that Amos is famous for taking care of lifeless bodies (see above).
  • Bannan Funeral Home: You can get all your obits from Alpena, Michigan through this Twitter site.
  • Barranco Funeral: This is a family-owned funeral home located in Severna Park, Maryland.
  • Baue Funeral Home: The folks in St. Charles, Missouri, can count on this funeral home to offer plenty of local news and photos.
  • Corey Gaffney: Mr. Gaffney is the general manager and funeral director at Gaffney Funeral Home in Tacoma, Washington.
  • Fisher Funeral Home: This funeral home, located in Logansport, Indiana, publishes links to obits as well as some great observations.
  • Funeral Queen: Muneerah Warner is the funeral director of Warner Funeral Home and CEO of Eternal Enterprises, Inc.
  • Gaffney Funeral Home: Located in Tacoma, Washington, this site focuses on seminars and holiday observations.
  • Hans Funeral Home: This funeral home also publishes obits. They are located in Albany, New York.
  • Herr Funeral Homes (Sunset Hill): This funeral home puts the “fun in funeral home!” They are located in St. Louis metro east.
  • John W. Evans: This guy goes by the Twitter ID, “Gottagosometime.” He’s currently the owner of Evans Funeral Home in Norwalk, Ohio and Secretary and Treasurer-elect for the Ohio Funeral Directors Association.
  • Miller Funeral Home: Located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, this funeral home provides some interesting facts and quotes.
  • NewportFunerals: Brown Funeral Home has been serving families in Newport and Cocke County, Tennessee for over 78 years. Now, they’re on Twitter!
  • Roberts Funeral Home: This funeral home is located in Forest Lake, Minnesota, and they post obits.
  • Ryan Funeral Home: This funeral home is located in De Pere, Wisconsin.
  • Searcy Funeral Home: Located in Enterprise, Alabama, this funeral home offers local obituaries.
  • Sunset Funeral Home: Sunset Funeral Homes Memorial Park and Cremation Center is located in Danville, Illinois.
  • The Pet Funeral Home: This Canadian pet funeral home provides readers with pets as well as with pet funerals.

Other Deathcare Twitterers

  • Cross-Lanes Floral: Although not necessarily focused on funerals, it’s nice to see a florist become involved with Twitter. This florist is located in West Virginia.
  • Funeral Home Jobs: If you want to work in a funeral home, you might want to follow this Twitter user.
  • MrFrost71: A Kentucky-based funeral home employee Tweets away (he also Twitters about other things).
  • Sacred Crossings: This Twitter user represents the Los Angeles-based business that helps users practice at-home funerals.

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Posted in Cremation, Funeral Flowers, Funeral Homes | No Comments »

Death and Comedy – Chelsea Lately Plans a Funeral

Friday, September 25th, 2009

One way to deal with death is through comedy. Chelsea Lately, an American late night comedy talk show host on the E! network is notable for her sarcastic approach to anything serious – including death. Chuy Bravo, her assistant, participates with Lately in this particular episode, where Lately tries on a casket on for size as well as some funeral make-up.

Outside the slapstick (and bad lipstick in the second half of the video), note that the funeral director suggests cremation rather than burial (to which Chuy responds, “I told you before – I’m afraid of fire.”), an option that many funeral homes today are pushing. In this video, however, Lately seems to push the funeral director almost into fits of laughter, if not into downright shock.

The final decision is a casket, along with a DJ and pony rides for kids. Unfortunately, the funeral director states he has no control over a slight drizzle or rain as a mood setter for the funeral, nor does he have a rain machine. But, he did make it through the comedy routine.

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Posted in Cremation, Death & Dying, Funeral Arrangements, Funeral Homes, Plan Your Own | No Comments »

Funeral Director, Mortician and Undertaker: Any Difference?

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009
The Undertaker was borrowed from European tradition.

The Undertaker was borrowed from European tradition.

Unless you work for a funeral home, or unless you have an obsession about death and dying practices, you may wonder if there is a difference between a funeral director and a mortician or a mortician and an undertaker. For all intents and purposes today, there is no difference – especially if the funeral home is a small family operation. But, in larger funeral home operations, you might see a slight difference in what each job traditionally entails.

The “Undertaker” is a traditional European term that described the person who would transport the body, prepare it for burial and interact with the survivors on funeral preparations. When the colonies were formed in the New World and burial services were needed, often church and family members would take over the job of the undertaker. During the Civil War, when embalming practices became popular among the growing funeral profession, the title of the person handling the affairs became the “Mortician” over the last decades of the nineteenth century:

“The word ‘mortician’ is a recent innovation due to a need felt by undertakers for a word more in keeping with, and descriptive of, their calling.” ["Literary Digest," Jan. 16, 1915]

A mortician often carried out all the duties of the undertaker as the body was transported and prepared for burial. As the funeral profession grew with the U.S. population over the following century, the term, “Funeral Director” became popular. The funeral director, however, often dealt directly with the family as they developed burial plans. The mortician, on the other hand, handled the body of the deceased and prepared that body for the funeral.

Today, a funeral director may deal with families, take care of the body with an assistant’s help and handle the business as well. Or, the funeral director may operate from an office in another location as managers and morticians work in various funeral homes operated from the home office. But, in most cases, each funeral home has a funeral director who interacts directly with the bereaved family.

So, to answer the question about which term is correct to use today, in most cases, you would use the term, “funeral director” – at least for the person who deals directory with the family.

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Greenwashing in the Cremation Industry

Sunday, September 6th, 2009
The cremator, where bodies are cremated in the Western world.

The cremator, where bodies are cremated in the Western world.

The Cremation Association of North America (CANA) is a Chicago-based industry group that has projected that 38 percent of all deaths this year will finalize in cremation. This is a 12 percent increase since 2000. Additionally, cremation rates are expected to rise to 50 percent over the next fifteen years.This news may prompt many funeral directors to expand their cremation services for those individuals who seek a simpler death care process that is less expensive than a traditional burial. But, for those funeral directors to tout this death care service as ‘green’ is – to put it bluntly – “greenwashing.”

Jay Westerveld coined the term, “Greenwashing,” in a 1986 essay that focused on the hotel industry. In this essay, Westerveld pointed to the hotel industry’s practice of placing green placards in each room that promoted reuse of guest-towels, ostensibly to save the environment. Instead, the hotels avoided recycling and used this green marketing to increase profits.

“Greenwashing” is a term that combines the words, “green” and “whitewash,” or a term used to describe the corporate practice of spinning products, services and policies as environmentally friendly when, in reality, that marketing is a veneer designed to fool consumers.

Cremation is a way to conserve land use, as some cemeteries will allow two bodies in one space when both are cremated. Or, the cremated remains can be placed in a building on cemetery property. Finally, the survivors of the deceased may take the deceased’s cremains to conserve them in a home, in a family garden or to scatter the cremains. Cremation also eliminates other, more traditional burial items that have been tagged as contaminants. These items may include caskets, vaults and the act of embalming.

Additionally, cremation allows for future conservation to a degree. Centennial Cemetery chief executive Bryan Elliott explains:

“This is because we must look after the gravesite for a number of years by watering and mowing the surrounding lawn area and maintaining the concrete beam on which the headstone is placed,” Elliott said. “Burial is a more labor and resource intensive process, consumes more fuels and produces larger quantities of waste than cremation” added Elliott.

But, the cremation process is not totally environmentally friendly, as crematory emissions include nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, mercury, hydrofluoric acid, hydrochloric acid and some persistent organic pollutants. These emissions are created by three major sources – combustion, incomplete combustion and the volatilization of metals in the human body.

Nicholas Albery, Natural Death Centre director and an editor of The New Natural Death Handbook, wrote, “Anyone with green pretensions should think twice about cremation.” A portion of the air pollution created during cremation comes from the foam rubber mattress, polyester fabric, urethane finish and composite wood of conventional caskets.

With all this said, there are options that anyone can choose help to eliminate some of this pollution if cremation is the individual’s funeral option. Stay tuned over the next few days to learn more about how you can choose a more environmentally-friendly cremation option for your funeral. When you know your options, your chances of being “greenwashed” can become more limited.

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Posted in Alternatives, Cemeteries, Cremation, Funeral Arrangements, Funeral Homes, Plan Your Own | 2 Comments »

Plumage, Social Means and Funeral History

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009
T&I Stockman provides a horse drawn hearse, the traditional dark horses with their plumes and an ornate Victorian carriage.

T&I Stockman provides a horse drawn hearse, the traditional dark horses with their plumes and an ornate Victorian carriage.

We’ve written about motorcycle hearses and have eluded to the hearse in general throughout this blog. But, the history of the hearse is just as fascinating, as horse-drawn hearses basically have gone the way of other practices that fell to the industrial age and the automobile. However, horse-drawn hearses have a particular short-lived history – at least in America – that was based upon social class.

Hearses came to the forefront of social acceptance in the early to mid 1800s, when undertakers began to manage death. Along with the establishment of funeral “parlors” and funeral homes, the funeral director created an entire montage of services that catered to the deceased’s survivors. Included in these services was the undertaker’s carriage, which transported the deceased with mourners following on foot at first, and later in carriages as well. The addition of carriages to the funeral procession often depended upon the wealth of the deceased.

Another sign of the deceased’s wealth included the plume, or a feather-like appendage that often was attached to the top of the hearse carriage and that may also have been attached to the horses’ heads as well. In the Memoir of DeWitt Clinton, written in 1829, a description of such a funeral hearse is found (page 525):

The hearse, covered by a superb canopy, surmounted with black plumes, drawn by four white horses; their heads also decorated with black plumes…

In 1869, James M. Shanahan illustrated a variety of these hearse plumes in his Illustrated Catalogue of Undertakers’ Hardware and Trimmings. You can view a page from this catalog at the Smithsonian to see the variety of plumes offered, including hearse plumes with white movable tops.

Hearse plumes were dramatic, and they indicated the wealth of the individual by the number of plumes displayed. A poor person did not deserve plumes, and two plumes indicated modest financial circumstances. Three to four plumes meant the deceased was fairly well-to-do, and five to six plumes indicated the deceased was well off, indeed. The highest regard was paid to the wealthiest of funeral clients, with a display of seven plumes or more.

This is how, in classic literature, you can determine the wealth of the individual in the story. For instance, in the Memoir of DeWitt Clinton, readers can learn that the deceased had at least five or more plumes decorating the funeral hearse, including the horses. This meant that the deceased was at least well-to-do if not wealthy. These plumes were based upon much earlier practices in Asian and European countries and brought to this country by story and then by practice in a social scene that included other funeral frivolities that were meant to keep Victorian-era surviving family members busy after a loved one’s death.

Other pieces of literature mention horse plumes, or funeral plumes, and these mentions indicate the story was written in the nineteenth century or it is a story about the nineteenth century. Among these are O Henry’s “Confessions of a Humorist,” written before 1910 (when O Henry died); the current Anthology of Chinese Literature: Volume I: From Early Times to the Fourteenth Century, and Edgar Allal Poe’s “King Pest,” written in 1835.

Motorized hearses replaced horse-drawn carriages in the early 1900s, and few if any literary references are made about plumes during the twentieth century unless those stories used historic references. However, many funeral companies today are reviving the horse-drawn funeral hearse for anyone who cares to use such transportation to the grave. One of these companies is T&I Stockman in the UK. An image of their hearse with plumes on the horses is seen above.

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Motorcyclists – What a Way to Go!

Thursday, August 6th, 2009
Garland "Crabb" Crabb pulls a flag-draped coffin in his motorcycle hearse.

Garland "Crabb" Crabb pulls a flag-draped coffin in his motorcycle hearse.

Are you a motorcycle enthusiast? No matter your two-wheeled proclivities, as this week is Sturgis week in South Dakota. In honor of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, Deathcare.com offers some interesting ways to pass to the great Motocross in the sky.

Hope Cemetery, located in Barre, Vermont, is located in granite territory, so odd tombstones are normal here. Artisans have sculpted tombstones of automobiles, easy chairs and one of an old man on a motorcycle. Other motorcycle tombstones include a laser-cut image of a motorcycle on a stone in southern California, a cycle without a rider in this image and another riderless cycle in what seems to be a European location.

No matter how you mark your grave, the point is how you’re going to get there. The following list contains five companies located throughout the U.S. that can supply you with a motorcycle-drawn hearse. These firms also are members of the American Motorcycle Hearse Association (AMCHA), a group of independent motorcycle hearse companies striving to be the most professional motorcycle hearses in the United States. The hearses range from the simple to the sublime, and the histories of these companies are just as interesting as their vehicles:

  • Black Diamond Motorcycle Hearse Service: Garland “Crabb” Crabb, owner, and Kenny “Krazylegs” Rosati handcrafted the hearse that is carried by a 1992 Electra Glide that was converted into a trike in January 2006 (see image above). That’s when business started in Bryan, Texas. Their mission is to never “disrespect our customers memory of their loved one by offering our hearse for anything except what it was created for…’A Ride To Remember.’” Thanks to Crabb for permission to use that photo.
  • Cournoyer Funeral Home: This one is unusual, as this is a funeral home that owns New England’s only tombstone hearse. It can be used by any family, at any funeral home in New England, with as little as 24 hours advance notice. Known as the Series III, a three-wheeled cycle carries a hearse with a laminated deck floor with cut mohair trim and crushed velour curtains that line the decoratively etched safety glass windows. It is an exact replica of a horse drawn hearse from the 1800’s – the only difference is, of course, the modern day “horse” hitched to the front of it.
  • Iron Hearse Destinations: Located in Des Moines, Iowa, this funeral option was built by Lloyd Robbins, Harley rider of three-plus decades. He built a glass-sided caisson to pull with a Harley-Davidson Electra Glide trike and in June 2008 launched his business. Robbins took nine months to build the $5,000 caisson he uses out of the same materials used in road signs. He painted “Final Journey” on it and bolted a “JURNY” license plate on the rear. Robbins wears a white shirt buttoned to the top, a black vest and one spur on his riding boots while on duty.
  • Lone Spur Hearse: This company, located in St. Louis, Missouri, is a newly established D.A.V.-owned-and-operated Motorcycle Hearse Service. Their standard attire throughout our duties includes black pants, boots, vest, armband and – of course – a lone spur. If desired, biker leather can be an alternative attire. Their services will begin in September this year.
  • Ride to Eternity, LLC: Big Bill and Judie use a Gold Wing to pull you into eternity. They are located in Tarpon Springs, Florida and serve west-central Florida. The hearse is equipped with a clear custom ceremonial urn display case that can be used at the memorial ceremony and then carried by four pall bearers to the coach. They also carry infant, standard, oversized, and pet caskets.

Look through the sites above and through other member sites to learn more about each company and about the company they keep. You’ll discover other motorcycle hearse companies that may not be members of the AMCHA – at least not yet. And, you may discover funeral homes that are friendly to bikers.

From what we can see, almost every biker dedicated to carrying his biker bethren to biker heaven also is dedicated to military veterans and to helping you find a funeral home that will work with your wishes. So, take you time and find a motorcycle hearse company in your region and follow up on a biker’s last dream.

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Posted in About Tombstones, Cemeteries, Funeral Arrangements, Funeral Homes, Plan Your Own | 1 Comment »

What is the Order of the Golden Rule?

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
Order of the Golden Rule
Order of the Golden Rule

Fraternal organizations and secret societies may make you think about the DaVinci Code or the Knights of the Round Table (if not your alma mater). With this variety of memory, it’s possible that organizations, or brotherhoods, might exist for just as many reasons. Thus it is with the International Order of the Golden Rule (OGR).

OGR is a leading funeral association that serves the needs of independent funeral homes. They establish guidelines and standards that these funeral homes must adhere to as expressed in the Golden Rule credo, “Service measured not by gold, but by the Golden Rule.”

OGR is so sincere about its mission that it offers awards and scholarships to its membership. For instance, the The Awards of Excellence Scholarship Program provides scholarships to students based on strong academic performance, funeral service experience and the strength of their essay that exemplifies a commitment to serving grieving families with compassion, fairness and dignity. Applicants must be enrolled in a degree program at an accredited mortuary science school or college; be scheduled to graduate after Jan. 31; have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher.

Other awards and scholarships reflect OGR members’ terms of commitment to their profession, their families and their communities. To help members achieve the highest awards, OGR offers vast resources to their members, including information on how to prevent mishaps and misunderstandings during a cremation or burial call, publications that offer advice on dealing with grieving family members and other products and services that help independent funeral homes run a smooth and efficient business.

Along these lines, the organization pushes the independent funeral home owner to remain “exceptional” in its services to the community. Annual conferences, educational forums, invitationals and audio seminars all are open to members for the exchange of ideas and innovations. Additionally, the organization has created many programs for the independent funeral home owner, including a program called, “Family Contact.”

This family connection program encourages the independent funeral home owner to contact family members after the funeral to find indications of success. Family feedback (including evaluations) then is shared with staff to help smooth out any problems and to encourage top-notch service.

OGR is divided into seven Districts, with each encompassing several states and/or provinces. A regional chairperson represents each state or province within a district and also assist with recruiting and retention efforts and onsite investigations of firms that apply for membership.

While an organization that consists solely of independent funeral homes may upset your equilibrium, remember that funeral homes are businesses, and independent business people need all the support and help they can muster. It might sooth you to think that these folks are open to innovation, including green funerals. The Green Burial Council works closely with this group as well as with other groups to help establish a standard for green funerals nationwide.

The next time you think of fraternal organizations, maybe you’ll be more open to the existance of one that consists of independent funeral homes. While this group may not seem ‘natural’ to you, think again. There’s nothing more natural than death.

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Funeral Homes and the Funeral Law – RIP or Rip-off?

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

According to a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report filed in March 2009, approximately one-fourth of the funeral homes investigated by undercover federal investigators violated the Funeral Rule significantly during 2008. These federal investigators visited 104 funeral homes in seven states, part of an undercover inspection of funeral homes conducted every year to help ensure compliance and maintain consumer confidence.

The Funeral Rule requires funeral homes to provide consumers with an itemized price list of products and services at the start of a discussion at the home of funeral arrangements, and to show them a casket price list before they view any caskets. This ruling also allows consumers to purchase only the funeral arrangements they want. Consumers also have the right to buy separate goods (such as caskets) and services (such as embalming or a memorial service).

Funeral homes found to have significant violations can choose to enter the Funeral Rule Offenders Program (FROP) as an alternative to the prospect of a lawsuit that could lead to a court order and civil penalties. The FROP is a three-year compliance training and monitoring program run by the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA). Funeral homes that participate in the program make a voluntary payment to the U.S. Treasury in place of a civil penalty, and they pay annual administrative fees to the NFDA.

According to the FTC press release, “Annual undercover investigations serve two purposes,” said Eileen Harrington, Acting Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “They help ensure that funeral homes are playing by the Funeral Rule, and they protect consumers, who can shop for a variety of funeral goods and services with confidence. The Rule – and these undercover investigations – make it possible for people to compare prices and buy only those services they want or need.”

Here are some of the FTC findings:

  • In Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska, two of 11 funeral homes inspected had significant violations; five had minor compliance deficiencies.
  • In Northeastern Arkansas, 11 of 15 funeral homes inspected had significant violations; four had minor compliance deficiencies.
  • In Orange County, California, two significant violations were found among 18 funeral homes inspected; nine had minor compliance deficiencies.
  • In Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, one of 16 funeral homes inspected had significant violations; seven had minor compliance deficiencies.
  • In Nassau County, New York, two of 18 funeral homes inspected had significant violations; three had minor compliance deficiencies.
  • In Toledo, Ohio, one of 15 funeral homes inspected had significant violations; nine had minor compliance deficiencies.
  • In San Antonio, Texas, seven of 11 funeral homes inspected had significant violations; one had minor compliance deficiencies.

Funeral homes that participate in the FROP program receive compliance training, legal review of price list disclosures required by the Funeral Rule, and regular testing and compliance monitoring. When investigators find minor compliance deficiencies, the funeral home receives a notice requiring it to provide evidence that it has corrected the problem.

In general, the Funeral Rule requires:

  • Funeral homes to give consumers an itemized General Price List (GPL) at the beginning of an in-person discussion of funeral arrangements, and show them a Casket Price List before they view caskets.
  • The Rule also prohibits funeral homes from requiring consumers to buy any item, such as a casket, as a condition of obtaining any other funeral good or service. By requiring itemized prices, the Rule gives consumers the ability to compare prices among funeral homes and buy only the goods and services they want.

Since the FROP program began in 1996, the FTC has inspected more than 2,150 funeral homes and referred more than 300 funeral homes to the FROP program. In conducting these enforcement sweeps, the agency has benefited from the assistance of several state attorneys general and the AARP.

In addition to its law enforcement efforts, the FTC educates consumers in English and Spanish about their rights under the Funeral Rule, and provides guidance to businesses in how to comply. During 2008, the agency responded to requests for more than 100,000 copies of three of these publications: “Paying Final Respects: Your Rights When Buying Funeral Goods & Services,” “Funerals: A Consumer Guide,” and “Complying with the Funeral Rule.” Consumers also have accessed information about the Rule more than 138,000 times during 2008 from the FTC’s Web site, www.ftc.gov.

The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,500 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s Web site provides free information on a variety of consumer topics.

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