fcai.fortboise.orgFuneral Consumers Alliance of Idaho

. Home Membership Join Comparative Price SurveyResources: Current Newsletter Publications Links Find us on Facebook:Contact Us Phone: (208) 426-0032 Email: fcai-info@fortboise.org Mail: PO Box 1919 / Boise ID 83701-1919 Protecting the consumer’s right to choose alternatives for simplicity, dignity, and economy in funeral arrangements News and information Newsletter and Price Survey Our 2018 Newsletter is available, and our comparative price survey of funeral services was updated in 2019. Your Funeral Consumer Rights in Idaho The Funeral Ethics Organization offers the pamphlet Your Funeral Consumer Rights in Idaho , summarizing your rights in making funeral arrangements, choices for disposition of remains, veteran and Social Security benefits, and the pros and cons of prepaying for a funeral. The PDF is available via that link at no charge. No more Idaho Cemetarians It doesn’t sound like there ever were licensed Cemetarians, but now there won’t be, for sure. With authorization to study occupational licensing and certification laws in the state, the executive and legislative branches cooperated to find 10 programs to eliminate (or merge with others). Cemetarians were at the top of the (alphabetical) cut list . "The Idaho legislature established the Board of Cemeterians in 1989, however, in the past 3 decades, no members have been appointed to the board, nor have there been regulations for the industry. No licenses have been issued." "None of this happened the way you think it did" The cover story of the June 10, 2019 High Country News . "For years, the clients of a Colorado funeral home kept their loved ones’ cremated remains. Then the FBI called." A natural burial ground in Tennessee NPR’s Weekend Edition for March 11, 2018, featured a story on Larkspur Conservation in Sumner County, Tenn. , offering "natural burials" in a 112 acre setting protected by a conservation easement through the Nature Conservancy. No embalming, no concrete vaults, no rows of tombstone and monuments, and no plastic flowers. Shopping online isn’t as easy as it should be NYT "Your Money" item, Funeral Homes Slow to Put Prices Online refers to a new analysis from the Funeral Consumers Alliance and the Consumer Federation of America that showed only 1 in 6 funeral homes in small and midsize state capitals have their prices on their website. FCA of Idaho’s latest survey shows 25 funeral homes with websites in the state, ten of which have their general price list (GPL) online; 13 funeral homes in the Treasure Valley (Boise, Garden City, Meridian, Nampa, Caldwell) have websites, and five have GPLs online. Investigating the industry NPR’s Morning Edition did a two-part examination of the state of the Funeral Rule in early 2017: You Could Pay Thousands Less For A Funeral Just By Crossing The Street , and Despite Decades-Old Law, Funeral Prices Are Still Unclear . "A kind of strategic ambiguity about prices is part of the business model." Death with Dignity? The national Funeral Consumers Alliance and the Consumer Federation of America teamed up to report on SCI/Dignity Memorial’s high prices and refusal to disclose them online . Service Corporation International (SCI), with its principle brand of "Dignity Memorial" is the nation’s largest and fastest growing provider of funerals and other “death-care” products. Having absorbed several of the largest death-care services in the past decade, it now operates more than a thousand funeral homes and cemeteries in the U.S. The FCA and CFA surveyed and compared the prices of 103 independent funeral homes and 35 SCI funeral homes in ten major metropolitan regions, and found SCI prices averaged 44 to almost 50% higher than independent businesses. The full report from March, 2017, is available at funerals.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/3-6-17-Funeral-SCI_Report.pdf Investigating the deathcare industry NPR’s All Things Considered ran a feature of their investigation into pricing and marketing in the funeral business: You Could Pay Thousands Less For A Funeral Just By Crossing The Street , and Despite Decades-Old Law, Funeral Prices Are Still Unclear . (February, 2017) Funeral Directors’ Happy Hour in D.C. The 2017 National Funeral Directors Association’s annual advocacy summit in Washington D.C. included "an evening at the Trump International Hotel alongside one of President Trump’s most steadfast allies, former House speaker Newt Gingrich," the Washington Post reported in late April. "A happy-hour reception, a formal dinner and a keynote address by Gingrich were on the agenda for the gathering Thursday. Two tiers of tickets were sold: $99 for the reception or $200 for the entire event. Proceeds benefited the political ­action committee of the National Funeral Directors Association." Funeral Industry Seeks Ways to Stay Relevant As more Americans opt for cremations, funeral homes branch into ‘multisensory’ rooms, weddings and upscale services. The November, 2016 Wall Street Journal article requires a subscription. The funeral trade site ConnectingDirectors.com has a version of the story on their free site. One chief executive of a group that owns 50 funeral homes and 9 cemeteries in 14 states says "we don’t call it a funeral service; we call it a gathering ." Also on Connecting Directors, a look inside the the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association’s 2017 convention from the "Disrupt Media" guy, who specializes in digital "storytelling for funeral companies.” WE DON’T SELL CONTENT, WE TELL YOUR STORY | FUNERAL Hustle Episode 006 . The blurb tells us “This isn’t a smash and grab – we are all about driving leads and ROI for our clients, plain and simple. Listen to Ryan layout the plan and process we use with clients to drive over $20,000 a month in Preneed leads through results driven Facebook marketing.” New Vatican Instruction: Cremation Allowed But Conditions Apply The National Catholic Register reports on the document issued in response to an increase in the number of cremations and ideas "contrary to the faith" that have become widespread. (Oct. 2016) The Outdated Funeral Rule Consumer groups call on FTC to require online price disclosure . The national Funeral Consumers Alliance and the Consumer Federation of America petitioned the Federal Trade Commission to revise the “Funeral Rule” so consumers can obtain vital price information on the Internet. A nationwide survey by FCA and CFA released last October revealed that very few funeral homes fully disclosed prices on line. (July, 2016) Urban Death Project Katie Herzog’s got an idea that human composting will change death in the city , reducing the environmental and financial costs of the inevitable. (March, 2015) Why Doctors Die Differently Ken Murrary, M.D. and retired clinical assistant professor of family medicine at USC, describes how careers in medicine teach doctors the limits of treatment and the need to plan for the end. In a follow-up piece , the author provided specifics, and compelling arguments for considering the questions and documenting your wishes with an Advance Directive. (2012) Ask a Mortician Terry Gross Fresh Air interview with mortician Caitlin Doughty, author of the memoir Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and Other Lessons from the Crematory , and founder of The Order of the Good Death , a group of funeral industry professionals, academics and artists. (Oct. 9, 2014) Souvenir coffin In the truth is stranger than fiction dept., the Fort Worth funeral home that sold Lee Harvey Oswald’s brother the coffin he was originally buried in took possession of it after he was exhumed in 1981... and sold it for $87,468 through a Los Angeles auction house. Robert Oswald, now 80, wants it destroyed. The funeral home says Oswald "relinquished his legal claim by making it a ’gift’ to his dead brother..." and so finders, keepers?! (December, 2014) Another way things can go wrong at a funeral This story ran in the Miami Herald , but...