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RETAILERS
OFFER SAVINGS FOR THOSE WILLING TO SHOP
Published: Sunday, March 21, 1999
Section: LOCAL
Page: 14A
By
ROBIN FIELDS Staff Writer
The
gun-gray coffin with the powder-blue lining sits squarely
in the front, framed by the message block-lettered onto the
shop window: "Open to the public."
The
Casket Store -- a no-frills showroom tucked in a Fort Lauderdale
strip mall beside a bike shop and a dry cleaner -- isn't shy
about promoting its wares.
"We're
like a gift store or a furniture store," said Don Pinansky,
the shop's marketing director. "We're in sales."
Since
the Federal Trade Commission changed its rules in 1994, allowing
vendors other than funeral homes to sell caskets for the first
time, retailers have provided consumers with a potent weapon
against overpriced funeral products.
Most
people still choose the traditional route -- one-stop shopping
for services and products at a funeral home.
But
direct retailers are reaching the most price-conscious consumers,
selling caskets, acknowledgement cards, flowers, grave markers
and more at 25 percent to 75 percent discounts.
"It's
a great option, especially for people who have to watch their
budgets," said Gary Peckham, owner of Caskets and Monuments
in Hialeah. "Lots of people come in and say they didn't
know they could buy these things anywhere but a funeral home
or cemetery."
The
Casket Store and Caskets and Monuments are among a half dozen
so-called "alternative" shops in South Florida.
Low overhead allows them to offer caskets marked up by about
100 percent over wholesale, instead of the 300 percent to
500 percent added by funeral homes.
Owner
Ken Sterling said the Casket Store has averaged three to six
sales a week since opening in November -- enough to cover
the shop's expenses for a month.
"The
rest goes straight into our pockets," Sterling said.
The
largest funeral-product retailers, Consumer Casket USA of
Erie, Pa., and California-based Direct Casket, also sell their
wares through catalogs and over the Internet, guaranteeing
delivery nationwide within 24 hours. Federal law prohibits
funeral homes from refusing or charging to handle caskets
bought elsewhere.
Despite
their recent growth, retailers say it wasn't easy birthing
a cottage industry built around death.
Many
say they initially met bare-knuckle resistance from funeral
directors who ignored the law, turning away or damaging retailers'
products to prevent newcomers from gaining a toehold.
"They
probably wanted to put a bull's-eye on my back," said
Kevin Gray, Direct Casket's founder. "They did whatever
they could to dissuade people from using us."
Even
now, some mortuary officials call the storefronts' goods inferior
and their delivery schedule unreliable. They say retailers
add another stop for consumers at a painful time.
"Sure
you can get [caskets] elsewhere -- do you really want to be
running around?" said Jon Levinson, area vice president
for Service Corporation International's Broward County operations.
SCI is the nation's largest funeral chain. "Casket stores
are going to go out of business -- not all, but some. How
long is it going to take to get the casket? What if it's no
longer available?"
Retailers
also have grappled with consumers' reluctance to think about
death-related products, let alone scrounge for bargains on
them.
"We
have products people dread -- they don't even want to look
at them," said Jim St. George, owner of Consumer Casket
USA. "It's a slow road for us."
Many
casket shops counter by suffusing their showrooms with bright
light and by choosing decor that's as unfunereal as possible.
The
window of Alternative Funeral & Cremation Care, a discount
offshoot of Panciera Memorial Home that offers funeral packages
as well as products, showcases a fountain and an urn shaped
like a golf bag. Another display features diving gear.
The
Casket Store goes the opposite route. At night, the store's
fluorescent lights stay on, bathing its showcase casket in
an eye-grabbing glow.
"We're
not trying to hide what we do," Pinansky said. "We
want people to know we're here."
PUBLISHED MONDAY, MARCH 22, 1999
Because of a reporter's error, the name of a funeral home
chain appeared incorrectly several times in a package of stories
beginning on Page 1A in Sunday's editions. The correct name
of the company is Service Corp. International. We regret the
error.
Copyright
1999, SUN-SENTINEL Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
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