Cheap funerals: low-cost package services on the rise
Competition is getting tougher - even in areas that used to have an air of the unchangeable. In Germany, the funeral business is being taken over by low-cost chains as more people resort to cheap package options. What has already happened to airlines and supermarkets is now hitting old-school funeral homes.
As reported by Die Zeit (in German), a growing number of Germany’s dear deceased are being put in the ground for as little as 499 Euros (a popular offer by German funeral service franchiser Aarau Bestattungen)
Now, I am the first to be cynical rather than nostalgic about this. Funerals, like weddings, have become a greedy business, where big brands compete to profit from fuelling people’s emotions - including the ugly kind. After all, there is a lot of money in guilt, envy, anger and fear. Having a cheaper option simply must be a good thing.
Nevertheless - and to my own surprise - the news made me whince involuntarily.
Apparently, Klaus Schneider, the ultra-entrepreneurial founder of Aarau Bestattungen, chose the name because a double A would get his services listed first in the phonebook. He plans to turn his company into the funeral equivalent of discount supermarket Lidl. Maybe that’s the bit that got to me.
Be that as it may, I couldn’t help it - I had to see whether this trend had already arrived in the UK. The answer: not quite. I didn’t come across a comparable low-cost offer, but some extremely depressing research revealed that the cheapest available service in the UK is currently offered by Direct Funerals - also a nationwide franchise.
Their basic package starts at GBP 960 and includes…
“transferring the deceased from the place of death during normal working hours and placing them in a simple dignified coffin suitable for either burial or cremation, lined and fitted with handles and matching plate of inscription.”
Well, now you know.
PS: Note to self - pick less morbid subject for next post.
Tags: Aarau Bestattungen, competition, Die Zeit, funeral, Germany, Lidl, recession
