Rackets and businesses who have them
May. 19th, 2010 09:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eviltammy[Sigh}
Did the shopping around for markers for club guy for AC's grave. Like I said before, they raised over $500. It's going to cost close to $1000. For the cheapest thing I can get.
Had thought that family might could have made up the difference- ten from here, twenty from there. But another 500? No way.
$974.68 for a bronze marker set over cement with no vase. If we get the marker from the funeral place (which owns the cemetery), this price includes the fee to install the marker. If we get it from somewhere else, we have to also have $300 or so for the installation fee.
If we could do just granite, it would be a lot cheaper. But AC's in the section of the cemetery where only bronze markers are allowed. A granite base, instead of cement, raises it $300. Adding a vase, on cement, adds $500! Five hundred! for a fricking vase!
The funeral itself was around $10,000 for a short graveside service. Not quite as bare bones as I thought it was going to be, but still a quick service at the grave. Apparently Other Cousin threw in a couple of things our Uncle wasn't expecting and wasn't thrilled about, so maybe some of her luster is diminished. :)
But it just makes me think about my funeral (hopefully way off in the future). The price I was quoted for the marker was good through the end of June - and then prices are going up. Since Mom died in 2006 and Uncle Jay in 2007, prices have already gone up $300-400 or more.
So if I don't want all the insurance money going for this, I need to pre-plan and pre-pay. [sigh] And currently, I'm not even sure my life insurance would pay for it all now, much less in the future when it'll be more expensive. I had thought of the "cremate me and toss the ashes in the ocean" kind of thing, but that freaked Mom out and she bought brother and I cemetery plots next to her and Dad. Which is good, because the plot fee isn't included in any of the amounts I've mentioned above :(
It's a racket, man.
Did the shopping around for markers for club guy for AC's grave. Like I said before, they raised over $500. It's going to cost close to $1000. For the cheapest thing I can get.
Had thought that family might could have made up the difference- ten from here, twenty from there. But another 500? No way.
$974.68 for a bronze marker set over cement with no vase. If we get the marker from the funeral place (which owns the cemetery), this price includes the fee to install the marker. If we get it from somewhere else, we have to also have $300 or so for the installation fee.
If we could do just granite, it would be a lot cheaper. But AC's in the section of the cemetery where only bronze markers are allowed. A granite base, instead of cement, raises it $300. Adding a vase, on cement, adds $500! Five hundred! for a fricking vase!
The funeral itself was around $10,000 for a short graveside service. Not quite as bare bones as I thought it was going to be, but still a quick service at the grave. Apparently Other Cousin threw in a couple of things our Uncle wasn't expecting and wasn't thrilled about, so maybe some of her luster is diminished. :)
But it just makes me think about my funeral (hopefully way off in the future). The price I was quoted for the marker was good through the end of June - and then prices are going up. Since Mom died in 2006 and Uncle Jay in 2007, prices have already gone up $300-400 or more.
So if I don't want all the insurance money going for this, I need to pre-plan and pre-pay. [sigh] And currently, I'm not even sure my life insurance would pay for it all now, much less in the future when it'll be more expensive. I had thought of the "cremate me and toss the ashes in the ocean" kind of thing, but that freaked Mom out and she bought brother and I cemetery plots next to her and Dad. Which is good, because the plot fee isn't included in any of the amounts I've mentioned above :(
It's a racket, man.
