EDITORIAL: TIME TO QUESTION FUNERAL HOME POLICIES ON EXCESSIVE CHARGES FOR PRINTED OBITUARIES

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    The City County Observer has recently begun to publish “Cause of Death” reports from the Vanderburgh County Health Department.  We acknowledge that we made a mistake by previously calling them obituaries, which they are not.  Like always, when we at the CCO make a mistake, we correct it immediately.  We believe we are doing a public service by making these death records available to the public.  However, we also understand that a few CCO readers disagree with this decision.

    We would also like to announce that we are willing to offer space in our publication for obituaries, with one photo and unlimited words, free of charge if we can get the support of local funeral homes.

    If you have ever had to deal with the cost of a funeral you know that the experience can be very expensive and the cost of publishing an obituary in the Courier & Press and other for print publications only adds to the extreme funeral costs during this trying time.  We have spent the last year reaching out to local funeral homes in hopes that they would let us publish some of their obituaries as a public service, and all have refused.

    Our proposal is to publish obituaries free in the CCO so that more people have the opportunity to have the passing of loved one be recognized in all available media outlets.

    We know that the local funeral homes has a longstanding relationship with legacy.com, an online source for obituaries and death notices.  Go to  (http://www.legacy.com/ns/) and  click this link for more details.  As we understand it, funeral homes send obituary information to legacy.com and legacy, in return, writes the obituary and sends it back to the funeral home and to the Courier & Press for publishing.  Obviously there are some added funeral expenses for this service agreement.

    In conclusion, we think that the agreement between legacy.com and local funeral homes put our readers at a major disadvantage. The major point of contention is that many of our readers to do not read the Courier & Press and other print media. This practice does a disservice to our community by not allowing the lives of all to be recognized and remembered in a published obituary in all area media.  If you would like to correct this bad business practice and discriminatory policy and believe it is time for a change, please contact your local funeral home to voice your opinion.

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    6 COMMENTS

    1. Death,– has brought the word “Vultures” to mind for sometime now as the “business of death” has over time, become more burdensome for families, The cost of obituaries is Obscene, and the increasing cost of Cremation is Ludicrous. Families are/were making that choice for a host of reasons, one being the spiraling cost of Funerals, and beyond that, more and more families are now skipping “showings” and having simple graveside services to help with costs of dying. These choices are leaving a smaller margin of profit for those in the “business of death”,– but, that margin problem is slowly being rectified by the all the Players in the Business.

      Death Notice agreements, Funeral Homes, and the C&P?
      Their “business of Death” model would make a Buzzard puke.

      When I pass it will be noted by my family in the CCO and not the C&P.

    2. The American funeral industry has long been one of the most despicable ones out there. The CPs unconscionable charges for a decent length obituary with picture is nothing but ghoulish. Who will write their obituary when they finish their pitiful last act and still thier presses? Pat Shoulders?

    3. When my mother-in-law passed away 13 days ago, my sister-in-law wrote the original obituary, which would have cost over $900 to print in the C&P. We asked Boone Funeral Home if we could submit two obituaries: the original version for their website and a condensed version for the C&P. Boone agreed and we did. I don’t know if everyone knows that is a possibility and probably isn’t at all local funeral homes. You have our family’s permission to reprint my mother-in-law’s obituary. Here’s the link to it: http://www.boonefuneralhome.net/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=3218150&fh_id=13344

    4. do people realize Alexander’s isn’t owned by them but sci(nyse) for about 20 yrs now. They probably have a exclusive with that service as well as their own brand “dignity”.

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