According to CBS article a recent survey by the Funeral Consumer Alliance and Consumer Federation of America shows that funeral and cremation pricing at establishments owned by funeral giant Service Corporation International are, in general, higher than independently owned funeral establishments.

It seems to us at Funeral Director Daily that we seem to see news of this situation almost monthly.  CBS also notes that the price differences are not easy to spot because of the way funeral prices are disclosed.  The Funeral Consumer Alliance believes the the federal “funeral rule” really needs to be updated to be more transparent to the consumer according to the report.

The survey points out that for a simple cremation service, the 35 SCI funeral homes checked had an average charge of $2,700 and the 103 independents had an average charge of $1,562.  Full service funerals at the SCI firms averaged $7,795 and $5,241 at the independents.

The article also shows an interesting fact that SCI owns about a 16% share of the funeral/cremation market in America.  Approximately about 5% of the market is held by other regional consolidators and 79% of the market is held by independent operators.

Funeral Director Daily take:  I entered the profession in 1980 when the FTC Rule was just taking effect.  Funeral homes seem to worry about price disclosure all the time, but I think it is good for the independents.  Also, I’m still gratified to have worked in a profession where about 80% of the market is handled by owner/operators.  I believe that in the funeral industry smallness and flexibility can be great assets to a business.