Funeral home prices are fractured. Here’s how the FTC could fix the problem – and why we fear it won’t be enough

It’s been over four years since my father died and I was forced to google “how to plan a funeral”. Unlike every other purchase I can remember, there was no information online. How much can a funeral cost? Which traditions are important? What options do I have? I couldn’t research decisions before entering a funeral home, where instead I had to blindly trust the guidance of someone I’d just met.

Imagine you have to buy a car and your only option is to walk into the dealership and accept whatever the seller advises at face value. I was so outraged by my experience planning my father’s funeral that I quit my job and founded Afterword to help other grieving funeral planners make important decisions online.

Years later, I still have to advocate for change. Funeral information and prices are monitored by funeral homes, leaving few resources online for the three million American families who must plan a funeral each year. To make matters worse, generational renewal is accelerating: 73 million baby boomers will reach age 65 by 2030, leaving their millennial children to make their final arrangements without proper information.

While the funeral industry is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission, the current burial rule — which aims to protect families from unfair burial practices — was enacted in 1982 and is extremely outdated. It mandates transparent pricing in person or over the phone — but not online, as the rule was last changed in 1994 before the mass adoption of the internet.

After nearly 30 years, the FTC is finally reevaluating the funeral rule to require funeral homes to disclose their prices online. Unfortunately, the updates still leave behind pricing information in industry-specific language that consumers are unlikely to understand.

The fight for transparency

As with other major purchases, families will want to compare prices from multiple funeral homes before making a selection. Based on consumer surveys, this is already happening. According to National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) consumer surveys from 2018 to 2022, the percentage of families calling more than one funeral home has increased by more than 25% in just four years. An online price comparison would reduce this burden, as there is no pressure to make personal contact. But in 2023 this is still not possible.

We analyzed every funeral home website in America across 14,358 unique domains. We found that only 18% of funeral homes list their prices anywhere online. If you take into account where the prices are listed e.g. For example, in the navigation menu or footer, only 6% of funeral homes place prices prominently, making it difficult for families to find them on their website. It shouldn’t be too tiring to find the basic information needed to make important purchasing decisions.

Why don’t funeral homes post their prices online?

The current burial rule does not require it. In 2013, California became the only state to require funeral homes to disclose their prices online, but we found that only 77% of California funeral homes comply with this law. Next comes New Hampshire, which voluntarily lists its prices on 40% of its websites. The worst performing states are Alaska, South Dakota, Mississippi, Wyoming and New York, all of which share prices on less than 5% of funeral home websites. Texas is in the middle at 11% and Florida is in the top quartile at 23%.
General Price Lists (GPLs) are confusing. In 2021, the average funeral cost in America was $7,848, according to the NFDA. This does not include additional fees known in the funeral industry as “cash advances” which include third party fees for cemetery grounds, clergy and flowers. The GPL format is mandated by the FTC and uses industry-specific language that families don’t understand.
Funeral directors fear that publishing prices online will drive them down. When we talk to funeral homes, we often hear this feeling. They pride themselves on the care they provide to families and are concerned that the general price list doesn’t explain well enough how their services differ from the competition. However, feedback from families is that seeing prices online builds trust because they understand their options. This is supported by the 2018 NFDA Consumer Survey, which found that the two most important deciding factors when choosing a funeral home were transparent pricing and an easily accessible list of services available. We compared the cost of a traditional funeral across the country and found no meaningful correlation between online price transparency and funeral costs.

While it’s encouraging that the FTC is trying to change the burial rule, putting prices online in the current format doesn’t go far enough. Planning a funeral in California is still just as difficult as it is in New York. The bigger problem is that the format of the general price list hurts families and funeral homes more than it helps them.

Why online prices are not enough

The current funeral regulations describe in great detail how funeral directors should list their prices. The rule is unduly specific, requiring funeral directors to make six specific disclosures and include 16 specific goods and services that they may or may not even provide to families. For example, funeral homes serving Jewish families must include their fee for embalming, even though their traditions prevent embalming.

The burial rule also codifies the names of specific services or objects. Take a look at a general price list and you’ll see that it’s littered with funeral terminology that the average person doesn’t understand, nor should be obliged to. What is a “crypt”? Do I need an “alternate container”? What is included in Other Body Preparation? Having to decipher industry jargon in the face of high costs while you are at your most vulnerable quickly leads to a high-pressure shopping experience that can feel almost cruel to someone coping with grief.

And as much as the funeral rule hurts families, it hurts funeral homes as well. They are forced to list services that their community may not need (or want) to see. They must use FTC-approved language to describe their services, even if that language consistently confuses their customers. They are expected to list all possible charges defined by the FTC without being able to enlighten families in their own words. Simply put, funeral regulations currently make it difficult for funeral directors to provide their services in a sensitive manner – a requirement in their industry.

hope for the future

The FTC’s push for online price transparency Is good for americans. There’s a reason there are 600 comments on this topic – they all come to the same conclusion. Transparent pricing also allows technology companies like ours to help families understand their options in clear and innovative ways. But the Funeral Rule needs to go further if it hopes to solve its core problem: helping families understand their options and creating a pressure-free buying experience. The FTC should completely reconsider the GPL, and we urge them to consider these three pillars in their changes:

1. Focus on consumer education so families can make informed decisions without having to visit or call a funeral home.

2. Use clear and accessible language This allows families to quickly understand their options and easily compare providers.

3. Emphasize the role of technology So the FTC can monitor and enforce burial rules, funeral directors can support all of their communities, and families can make decisions the way they’re used to—via the Internet.

Funerals are a big expense and it takes a lot of work to carefully arrange a funeral. Easy access to prices online will simplify the process for families and restore confidence in the industry. I was planning a funeral when I was 28 – and made my only offline purchase at the worst possible time.

I expected online pricing, information on how to plan a funeral, and the ability to make those very important decisions from the comfort of my own home. The generational change is already happening, and soon all those planning a funeral will be expecting the same. Not much has changed in the past four years. But the FTC has an opportunity to rewrite the burial rule and help millions of Americans. There is hope that this will be the case.

Effie Anolik is co-founder and CEO of Afterword.

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