Funeral costs can sometimes be hard to understand. You’ll almost never see costs listed on the websites of funeral homes - that’s because for all but the most basic services, it’s almost impossible to list everything. The types of flowers you get, the place where the service is held, the site you choose for burial, the casket - there are so many options for all of these things and each comes with its own set of costs. Given the variance, it’s somewhat difficult to say what the most expensive part of a funeral will be; it can vary substantially depending on the kind of ceremony you want. With that in mind, there are two costs that are commonly the most expensive.
The basic service fee or funeral home costs are typically the the biggest part of the bill. This fee is, in essence, the professional fee being charged by the funeral home for their services. Given that you have to pay other items line by line, you might wonder why the fee is so high. The answer is simple: there’s a lot of work that goes into that fee. The funeral home maintains relationships with a variety of suppliers, they connect with cemeteries, they shelter remains, they file paperwork, and they obtain copies of death certificates. All of this, plus the overhead costs of operating a funeral home, not to mention planning the funeral with you - there’s a lot being covered by the fee. You should note that for direct cremation and direct burial, the fee usually drops because there’s a lot less that needs to be coordinated.
The second highest fee, which is sometimes the highest, is the cost of the casket. This, of course, won’t be relevant in cremation unless you plan on getting an urn made of diamonds or some similarly expensive material. The cost of a casket will vary, too, depending on the type of casket you want to get. These high-cost items are one of the best reasons to pre-plan your funeral - you alleviate pressure on your loved ones to buy big ticket items because you already created the budget and paid the costs yourself.
Planning your own memorial can be difficult, but there are a lot of advantages: you get to remove hard decisions and financial burden from your loved ones during what might be one of the hardest points of their lives. Knowing about costs well in advance is a good way to make sure you get the best service for the right price. You can shop around, take your time, and learn about the various fees. There are affordable funeral services Winnipeg residents trust; you just need to know where to look.
