According to a story on CNNMoney.com, the recession is so severe, it’s having an impact on even the dead. The website has a story on funeral expenses coming down and quotes funeral home managers/directors predicting the death of the business, or at least of parts of it. For one, people are economising on funerals by reducing expenses on limousines, wakes and even embalming - more people, it appears, are now opting for cremations instead of burials.
At the Hollomon-Brown Funeral Home and Crematory in Virginia Beach, the story says, while traditional funerals are ‘holding steady’ at the business’ 10 locations, the number of cremations has increased noticeably over the past one year. While an average funeral at this home costs $8,500, the average cost for a cremation ranges between $3,000 and $5,000. According to the national statistics department, 34 per cent of deaths in the US were cremated in 2006. Based on current trends, the Cremation Association projects that number to grow to 40 per cent by 2010 and almost 60 per cent by 2025. The American way of death, to use the title of Jessica Mitford’s wonderful book, has probably changed forever. As, of course, has their way of living.
