New book gives saving tips on funeral costs
Melbourne barrister Robert Larkins has listed the potential traps that families should try and avoid in his new book Funeral Rights – What the Australian ‘Death Care’ Industry doesn’t want you to know.
They include mark-ups on wooden coffins which can be as high as 250% to 500%, memorial books recording attendance at funerals which can cost up to $200 and can be bought at a newsagent for $10, and funeral directors providing a printed order of service with the deceased’s photo which can be prepared much more cheaply by the family.
Although funeral directors will offer to organise floral tributes it is again much cheaper for family members to make arrangements, and costs will be much less for refreshments if run by the family rather than being outsourced professionally by funeral firm staff.
It is also recommended that several quotes are obtained for the funeral with a friend being delegated if it is too emotional a task.
Robert Larkins said he hadn’t aimed to denigrate the funeral industry but said he was “simply trying to give people the information they need. Funeral directors are running a business and therefore they are trying to make a profit”.
He said that “people don’t realise they can make their own coffin, or use a station wagon as a hearse. They don’t realise they can make an application to be buried on their own property if they have enough land”.
