[0xfeba]

Well, seriously though, they are expensive because the industry* takes advantage of people who are grieving.

*Service Corporation International namely, and other companies that buy up local funeral homes to basically price fix the area.

[pc86]

Yes those evil corporations, making a profit by providing a service!

[0xfeba]

> Yes those evil corporations, making a profit by providing a service!

Pretty low quality comment. Perhaps you misread. There are funeral homes that provide a service. Then there is SCI, which buys up the local homes and just increases prices. And they get away with it because they take advantage of people when they are mourning, aka emotional, and state regulations on the death industry vary widely.

The whole industry needs some heavy federal baseline regulations, IMO.

> SCI charges $6,256 on average (excluding casket and cemetery plot), 42 percent more than independents. [1]

And then there's numerous cases of SCI just overselling plots, skipping embalming regulations, etc.

[1] - http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-24/is-funeral-h...