Winter, 2016
In This Issue:
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Our website hosting service - iPage - is in the process of adding several new tools for website building. We've recently installed one of these new tools: a Search Box (see image above). Don't ask why it took them so long.
We've placed the Search Box just below the masthead on the Home page.
Now you can quickly and easily (we hope!) search the content of the FCA of MN website. For example, below is a partial screenshot of the search results page for "Green Burial."
We've placed the Search Box just below the masthead on the Home page.
Now you can quickly and easily (we hope!) search the content of the FCA of MN website. For example, below is a partial screenshot of the search results page for "Green Burial."
FEATURE:
Find U.S. Funeral Home Prices at Parting.com
Guess How Minnesota Ranks Nationally?
The national Funeral Consumers Alliance and its FCA affiliates have long advocated for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to amend the Funeral Rule to require funeral homes to disclose prices on their websites. (For background, see the FCA of MN Fall 2015 Newsletter article, FCA Releases National Funeral Cost Study.)
Not content to wait for the Fed to act, three enterprising young men in California came up with the audacious plan last year to create a website that would list the funeral and cremation prices for every funeral home in the country. Every funeral home.
Not content to wait for the Fed to act, three enterprising young men in California came up with the audacious plan last year to create a website that would list the funeral and cremation prices for every funeral home in the country. Every funeral home.
Step 2. Your city or zip code search will take you to a page with a brief listing of all the funeral homes in your area with the prices for Traditional Funeral. On the left, under Service Type, click on Cremation Memorial, Immediate Burial, or Direct Cremation to be taken to a page with a similar brief listing of all the funeral homes in your area with prices for that type of service.
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Step 3. Click on one of the brief funeral home listings to be taken to a page devoted to that funeral home. Scroll down the page to view a partial price list for that funeral home. Next to the price list is a Schedule Appointment box which will open a window with the funeral home's address and contact information.
Continue reading below the screenshot. |
Here's how the Parting team describe what they're up to:
We at Parting have one mission: To empower you with the information to easily find the best funeral service providers. Each of us have experienced first hand how this can be an overwhelming task, and our goal is to make even just one portion of this process easier during your difficult time. What does FCA of MN think about Parting? |
We're Impressed
We're excited about this website because it brings transparency, efficiency, and privacy to the task of shopping for funeral services. For the first time. Ever. At Parting, you can compare funeral homes prices in your area, and see the relative cost of four typical funeral arrangements offered by each funeral home: Traditional Funeral, Cremation with Memorial, Immediate Burial, and Direct Cremation.
As we've said, most funeral homes don't post prices on their websites. While the price lists Parting posts for each funeral home are partial, they provide prices for the biggest ticket items:
1)Basic Services of Funeral Director and Staff and Overhead
2) Use of Facilities (funeral home) for various types of services
3) Embalming
(Funeral homes provide separate price lists for caskets and for burial vaults, and these aren't included on the Parting price lists.)
We found a couple of discrepancies in pricing here and there when we spot-checked based on limited information we have. But we're fairly certain funeral homes that know about Parting will contact the team to correct errors.
So How Do Minnesota Prices Compare to Other States?
In our email exchange with one of the Parting team over several days in December, we were told: "According to our data, MN has the HIGHEST prices of any other state, do you know why?"
We didn't.
Parting then sent us a link to an interactive map they're working on so we could see for ourselves where MN stands in comparison to other states. Direct Cremation in Minnesota is especially high. But we already knew that. We've discovered that some funeral homes in the state charge over $5.000 for Direct Cremation.
$5,000! And no, that doesn't include sending a flaming Viking ship down the mighty Mississippi with your body on it. (Which, at any rate, would be illegal in Minnesota.)
To compare the $5,000 price tag, see our 2015 Direct Cremation Price Survey, where we list 10 funeral homes in the Twin Cities area that charge under $1,500 for this service. The Survey also outlines what services are included in a Direct Cremation. (No Viking ships.)
Why Are Minnesota Prices the Highest in the Country?
We didn't know, so we asked the Minnesota Funeral Directors Association (MFDA*), citing Parting's claim. Here's what we found out.
We're excited about this website because it brings transparency, efficiency, and privacy to the task of shopping for funeral services. For the first time. Ever. At Parting, you can compare funeral homes prices in your area, and see the relative cost of four typical funeral arrangements offered by each funeral home: Traditional Funeral, Cremation with Memorial, Immediate Burial, and Direct Cremation.
As we've said, most funeral homes don't post prices on their websites. While the price lists Parting posts for each funeral home are partial, they provide prices for the biggest ticket items:
1)Basic Services of Funeral Director and Staff and Overhead
2) Use of Facilities (funeral home) for various types of services
3) Embalming
(Funeral homes provide separate price lists for caskets and for burial vaults, and these aren't included on the Parting price lists.)
We found a couple of discrepancies in pricing here and there when we spot-checked based on limited information we have. But we're fairly certain funeral homes that know about Parting will contact the team to correct errors.
So How Do Minnesota Prices Compare to Other States?
In our email exchange with one of the Parting team over several days in December, we were told: "According to our data, MN has the HIGHEST prices of any other state, do you know why?"
We didn't.
Parting then sent us a link to an interactive map they're working on so we could see for ourselves where MN stands in comparison to other states. Direct Cremation in Minnesota is especially high. But we already knew that. We've discovered that some funeral homes in the state charge over $5.000 for Direct Cremation.
$5,000! And no, that doesn't include sending a flaming Viking ship down the mighty Mississippi with your body on it. (Which, at any rate, would be illegal in Minnesota.)
To compare the $5,000 price tag, see our 2015 Direct Cremation Price Survey, where we list 10 funeral homes in the Twin Cities area that charge under $1,500 for this service. The Survey also outlines what services are included in a Direct Cremation. (No Viking ships.)
Why Are Minnesota Prices the Highest in the Country?
We didn't know, so we asked the Minnesota Funeral Directors Association (MFDA*), citing Parting's claim. Here's what we found out.
MFDA's only source of funeral/cremation price data is the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA). The NFDA's data is collected regionally, not state by state. (Minnesota is one of 7 states in the West North Central District.)
We were then told: The cost of doing business in any field has risen in the past 10 years so it is not unusual. It appears that the Midwest is higher based on NFDA’s data and I cannot explain exactly why. |
Bottom line: no one knows. FCA of MN is continuing to explore Minnesota's distinction as being the highest priced place to die. We're currently mapping out parts of the state where the price of Direct Cremation is ridiculously high, and where consumers have no alternative within 100 or more miles. We'll report more on this topic in a future issue of the FCA of MN Newsletter.
*MFDA is a membership organization of licensed funeral directors whose mission is “to enhance and support funeral service excellence through our programs, legislative representation and service to Minnesotans.”
NEW BOOK:
Greening Death: Reclaiming Burial Practices and Restoring Our Tie to the Earth, by Suzanne Kelly
At last: a book-length, in-depth treatment of the Green/Natural Burial movement in North America.
But this is no how-to treatment, though there is much practical wisdom in this book to inspire and motivate. Rather, Greening Death: Reclaiming Burial Practices and Restoring Our Tie to the Earth, is a deep reflection on the fundamental issues of death; dead bodies and our relationship to them; the role of bodies in the circle of life and death; our recovery of the millenia-old practice of caring for our own dead; and our responsibility to care for the only home we know: our earthly environment. The list price of Greening Death is $34.00. Fortunately, it's available at a number of libraries throughout the state. Look for an article in the Spring issue of the FCA of MN Newsletter exploring issues Suzanne Kelly raises in Greening Death as they relate to the state of the green burial movement in Minnesota. What reviewers are saying about Greening Death: |
By far the most engaging examination of the our culture's growing desire to integrate death and life. (Joe Sehee, founder of Green Burial Council)
In her new book Greening Death, author Suzanne Kelly explores the myths that drive many of our standard, environmentally damaging burial practices. Kelly unpacks the funeral industry's environmentally destructive and alienating methods and gives voice to a growing movement seeking to reckon with decay and restore lost knowledge to the living. Detailing how embalming and encasing the dead in caskets and then in grave-lining vaults have little to do with limiting health risks or ensuring adequate sanitation, Kelly argues that these practices are not only destructive to the environment, but worse, they dishonor the necessity of dissolution, while reinforcing human beings' separation from nature. But this is changing. A movement to green death is gathering momentum, and Kelly is one of its most ardent allies. (Lorna Garano, Truthout)
A scholar who successfully led a community's efforts to establish a green cemetery, Suzanne Kelly has written the most insightful, provocative, and important account of the North American recovery of natural burial. Richly informed by feminist environmental philosophy, Kelly brilliantly unfolds the wisdom of the human body's membership in the community of the land, coming to profound and compelling expression in burial practice. This book is about death, but it is a poetic guide to where we hope to live: a green, flourishing earth on which humans are at home. (Benjamin M. Stewart, Associate Professor of Worship, The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago)
In her new book Greening Death, author Suzanne Kelly explores the myths that drive many of our standard, environmentally damaging burial practices. Kelly unpacks the funeral industry's environmentally destructive and alienating methods and gives voice to a growing movement seeking to reckon with decay and restore lost knowledge to the living. Detailing how embalming and encasing the dead in caskets and then in grave-lining vaults have little to do with limiting health risks or ensuring adequate sanitation, Kelly argues that these practices are not only destructive to the environment, but worse, they dishonor the necessity of dissolution, while reinforcing human beings' separation from nature. But this is changing. A movement to green death is gathering momentum, and Kelly is one of its most ardent allies. (Lorna Garano, Truthout)
A scholar who successfully led a community's efforts to establish a green cemetery, Suzanne Kelly has written the most insightful, provocative, and important account of the North American recovery of natural burial. Richly informed by feminist environmental philosophy, Kelly brilliantly unfolds the wisdom of the human body's membership in the community of the land, coming to profound and compelling expression in burial practice. This book is about death, but it is a poetic guide to where we hope to live: a green, flourishing earth on which humans are at home. (Benjamin M. Stewart, Associate Professor of Worship, The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago)
More..... Read an excerpt from Greening Death: "What will it take to improve the death care industry?" Read an interview with author Suzanne Kelly in Truthout: "Ecological Burial Practices: Overcoming the Myth of the Infectious Corpse" |
“Embracing Death” - a TEDx Talk by Caleb Wilde
Our Spring 2015 Newsletter carried a link to a blog post titled "10 Reasons Why Embalming Is Dying," by Caleb Wilde, a sixth generation Pennsylvania funeral director who blogs at Confessions of a Funeral Director.
Caleb's great-great-great grandfather Isaac, a furniture maker, emigrated from England to Pennsylvania where he set up shop in the 1840s. Like other furniture makers, Isaac also made coffins. By 1888 the business changed from cabinet shop to "Furniture Dealer and Undertaker." Two things caused the transition from full-time furniture maker to full-time undertaker: the industrialization of the furniture industry, and the popularization of embalming during the Civil War.
Here's how Caleb describes his talk: The North American leap from a culture of healthy death acceptance to a culture of death denial has been no leap at all. It’s been a journey of small steps. And this journey has, in part, been enabled by both the professionalization of death and the funeral industry. In this talk, I explore options that help us pursue death acceptance by taking back death care responsibilities. |
Although embalming established itself during the Civil War, the actual number of soldiers who were embalmed was small. The difficulty of identifying bodies and contacting families meant that only about 40,000 of the 650,000 Civil War dead were embalmed. By the end of the 19th century, some states began to require licensure for embalmers, thus creating the funeral industry and the professionalization of death care. The professionalization of death care has rendered the rest of us death amateurs. |
Building Your Own Coffin/Casket
Someone recently contacted FCA of MN asking if it's legal in Minnesota to make your own coffin/casket. She was told it's not. We replied that, on the contrary, it is legal, and we sent her some information we thought we'd pass along.
In Minnesota, it's lawful for you to build your own casket. Here's the relevant paragraph in the state health department's Consumer Information Manual from the Mortuary Science Section: (The Mortuary Science Section regulates and enforces Minnesota Statute 149A - Funeral Industry Law.) |
Caskets
Minnesota law allows consumers to purchase a casket from a funeral home or from other providers such as a casket store, buying club or on the internet. You may also make your own casket if you wish. A funeral home cannot charge a handling fee when you do not purchase the casket from them.*
Minnesota law allows consumers to purchase a casket from a funeral home or from other providers such as a casket store, buying club or on the internet. You may also make your own casket if you wish. A funeral home cannot charge a handling fee when you do not purchase the casket from them.*
Instructions for building your own casket:
Northwoods Casket Company in Beaver Dam WI has a webpage with instructions for building your own CASKET HERE, and for building your own COFFIN HERE. Yes, there's a difference.
Mother Earth News has instructions and plans for building your own casket HERE.
Regional makers of unassembled casket kits have either discontinued selling them or have gone out of business.
HELP US IMPROVE OUR RESOURCES We'd love to hear from anyone who knows of other resources for unassembled casket kits, or instructions on how to build your own casket/coffin. Contact us at info@fcaofmn.org.
Northwoods Casket Company in Beaver Dam WI has a webpage with instructions for building your own CASKET HERE, and for building your own COFFIN HERE. Yes, there's a difference.
Mother Earth News has instructions and plans for building your own casket HERE.
Regional makers of unassembled casket kits have either discontinued selling them or have gone out of business.
HELP US IMPROVE OUR RESOURCES We'd love to hear from anyone who knows of other resources for unassembled casket kits, or instructions on how to build your own casket/coffin. Contact us at info@fcaofmn.org.
* SOURCE: Minnesota Department of Health, Mortuary Science Section manual "Choices" - Information on the regulations and requirements of the final disposition of a dead human body in Minnesota (p. 8)
A New Member of the FCA of MN Board of Directors
We’re happy to announce that Elizabeth Beckman was elected to the FCA of MN board of directors in mid-December, and officially joined the board at its January 9 meeting. Elizabeth’s talents and skills – as well as her fresh perspective and keen insights – are already being put to work in service of the FCA of MN mission.
Elizabeth applied for a board position after seeing our notice in the Fall Newsletter seeking applicants to the board. Because of the success of that Fall Newsletter notice, we’re running it again. (Why wouldn’t we?)
If you’d like to apply to the FCA of MN board, are thinking it over, or simply want more information about what being a board member entails, please read the following notice.
Elizabeth applied for a board position after seeing our notice in the Fall Newsletter seeking applicants to the board. Because of the success of that Fall Newsletter notice, we’re running it again. (Why wouldn’t we?)
If you’d like to apply to the FCA of MN board, are thinking it over, or simply want more information about what being a board member entails, please read the following notice.
Still Wanted: New FCA of MN Board Members
Do you envision a future where all of us have information about and access to death care options that reflect our personal values and resources?
Are you concerned that most people aren't aware of their rights as consumers of after-death products and services, and haven't yet heard of the many choices available to them after death?
Are you concerned that most people aren't aware of their rights as consumers of after-death products and services, and haven't yet heard of the many choices available to them after death?
Funeral Consumers Alliance of Minnesota is seeking 2-3 people
to serve on our Board of Directors in the coming months.
You don't have to be an expert. You need only be willing to give of your time and energy to help us promote consumer choice for after-death arrangements.
Board members are expected to:
- Attend monthly 90 minute meetings on the 2nd Saturday of the month, from 9-10:30 AM.
- Take on one or more ongoing task requiring 4-5 hours per month.
- Participate in organizational planning and development (usually at Board meetings).
- Keep informed about consumer issues and related to the funeral (death-care) industry.
Board members are expected to:
- Attend monthly 90 minute meetings on the 2nd Saturday of the month, from 9-10:30 AM.
- Take on one or more ongoing task requiring 4-5 hours per month.
- Participate in organizational planning and development (usually at Board meetings).
- Keep informed about consumer issues and related to the funeral (death-care) industry.
Will you join us?
We're a non-profit, all-volunteer, low budget organization with a commitment to helping people make wise, meaningful, and affordable choices in after-death arrangements. For more information, send us an email at info@fcaofmn.org. Put Board Interest in the Subject line. |
Invite an FCA of MN Speaker
A speaker with Funeral Consumers Alliance of Minnesota (FCA of MN) is available to provide detailed information about the growing number of choices, including:
▪ Traditional Funeral
▪ Cremation
▪ Green Cremation
▪ Home Funeral
▪ Green/Natural Burial
Your speaker will also address:
▪ how to make after-death arrangements more affordable
▪ the environmental impact of after-death choices
▪ Traditional Funeral
▪ Cremation
▪ Green Cremation
▪ Home Funeral
▪ Green/Natural Burial
Your speaker will also address:
▪ how to make after-death arrangements more affordable
▪ the environmental impact of after-death choices
To arrange for a speaker, go to our Contact Us page.
Thank You... and Please
It was a holiday pleasure to send thank you letters to supporters who donated to FCA of MN before the 1st of the new year.
Again: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Plans for 2016 Every call and email we receive convinces us of how vital our assistance, support, advice, and guidance is. And so the board of FCA of MN plans to expand our reach by being present at a number of events in the Twin Cities area over the coming year. Some events require a registration fee. At all events we'll be handing out printed materials. |
Will You Help?
To reserve a table or booth at an event such as a conference or festival requires a registration fee. Such events draw people in great numbers. Even the printing of a simple, small card to pass out with our name, purpose, web address, and phone number on it will add to our normal expenses. Please consider a donation of $5, $10, $20 (or more) to help us expand our presence in 2016. |
Remember: we provide families and individuals with a breadth and depth of information about after-death choices unavailable any place else in Minnesota.