The funeral industry is heavily regulated for a good reason. Deaths need to be recorded. Causes of death need to be accurately determined. Disposition is needed for public safety.
One of the few federal regulations regarding funeral services is the FTC’s Funeral Rule. It’s been in effect since 1984, and every 10 years it gets re-evaluated. The FTC has already been actively evaluating the Funeral Rule since 2022. After last year’s workshop in late 2024, there’s been serious discussion about making some key updates to the FTC Funeral Rule that funeral homes and consumers should know about.
What is the Funeral Rule?
The Funeral Rule was created to protect consumers who are making funeral arrangements. It’s the federal government’s way of ensuring that consumers get the information they need to make informed decisions.
The primary regulations within the Funeral Rule include:
- A general price list with itemized services must be provided by the funeral home.
- The funeral home can’t embalm for a fee without the next of kin’s permission.
- A customer can’t be required to purchase a casket for direct cremation.
- Funeral homes can’t require that consumers buy certain services or products in order to get other funeral goods or services.
While it’s great that the Funeral Rule was put into place and provides consumer protections, how much it protects has been called into question. As it currently exists, the Funeral Rule has a lot of loopholes and fairly broad requirements. It’s addressed a lot of the issues from the 1980s and earlier, but the Funeral Rule is long overdue for a major update that reflects the needs of today’s consumers.
What Would Change About the Funeral Rule?
The biggest focus for the FTC in the last several years has been price transparency and making pricing information more accessible. In other words, requiring that funeral homes post pricing online to make it easier for consumers to get basic information.
The FTC looked into the issue firsthand. They had staff members reach out to 278 funeral homes to obtain pricing information that wasn’t available online. It was much more challenging than they originally thought.
It took multiple calls just to get in contact with some funeral homes, and it took multiple calls to get pricing information from 68 of the 278 funeral homes during business hours. If calls were made after regular business hours it took multiple calls to get pricing information from 146 of the 278 providers.
That’s pretty inconvenient for a grieving family member that’s trying to make arrangements. But there’s another important factor.
What pricing information was received also varied and was sometimes very vague. The majority of the funeral homes gave ranges or loose estimates for services. Most troubling was that 37 funeral homes out of 278 quoted different prices on different calls for the same service.
Without a frame of reference, one customer could be charged significantly more than another. It’s clear why this is a concern for the FTC and consumers that are paying thousands for funeral services.
Transparent online pricing is something Cremation.Green did years ago and fully supports as a Funeral Rule update. Consumers should be able to easily access basic, base level pricing while comparing funeral homes.
Other updates that have been discussed recently include:
- How general price lists are presented.
- Disclosure of third-party crematory fees – This has become more important as the cremation rate has increased and is now just shy of 62%.
- The basic service fee structure could change.
- Disclosures would be written to be more readable for consumers.
How Would an Update to the Funeral Rule Change Funeral Home Practices in Texas?
In Texas, the FTC rules apply the same as they do in other states. Simply put, when there are changes to the Funeral Rule, some funeral homes are going to have to change the way they do business, which is often a good thing.
The proposed updates will be a positive for the funeral industry as a whole. Many consumers don’t trust businesses in the funeral industry, partly because of the lack of transparency regarding prices.
If there’s anything that the FTC workshops have taught us in the last three years, it’s that mandatory online pricing is going to happen. It’s a matter of when, not if. Funeral homes should go ahead and start putting together their website’s pricing page if they don’t have one already.
Funeral homes that heavily rely on high pressure sales tactics over-the-phone or in-person will find that they are getting fewer inquiries if their prices aren’t competitive. And since everyone will be posting their base prices online, consumers will have a much better idea of the average pricing before reaching out to a funeral home.
Websites Are More Important Than Ever For Funeral Homes
Another important takeaway is that the need for a website will be more important than ever for a funeral home. Having a web presence will be critical if consumers are comparing prices online. Funeral homes without a website or funeral homes in competitive markets without a highly ranking website, will likely be bypassed all together if consumers don’t have to call to get prices.
Pre-Arranged Funeral Services Are Also Playing a Role
One other point is influencing the Funeral Rule updates and how Texas funeral homes operate in general. More and more people are pre-arranging their own funeral services in advance. They are taking their time to research funeral homes, services and prices. Decisions are being made in a very logistical rather than emotional way.
These types of consumers are also looking for online information to make the funeral home comparison process easier. They want to have all of the basic information before deciding which funeral homes to talk to about arranging advance services.
The way we see it, updates to the FTC Funeral Rule would actually help make the regulations more effective. As things are today, it’s still more difficult for consumers to get pricing information than it should be. Given the high price of funeral services and the emotional state that people are in, we should be doing everything we can to help ease the burden and make the process as easy as possible on clients.
That’s exactly our goal at Cremation.Green. Our funeral home was created to make it easier for families in Texas to choose eco-friendly funeral services. We can be reached at any hour by phone, text or email, and our service prices are listed online.