Things You May Not Know About the Death Industry.
I started working for a Cemetery about a week ago, and if your like most people you may imagine me digging graves or handling bodies. I too was a bit apprehensive when I got a call and interview for a sales job.
I have been in training for one week to learn more about the death industry and to sell burial plots, headstones and other spaces available at the cemetery. During my time I have learned that a WHOLE LOT has to happen when someone dies, and was surprised that a lot of my notions were very wrong.
#1 Insurance Companies DO NOT Try to Find Beneficiaries, and they DO NOT pay out until after arrangements have been taken care of.
When we are watching movies, we come across scenes where a husband or other dies and a man with a briefcase walks up to your door with some documents to sign and informs people that they are the beneficiary’s to some ridiculous amount of money. This does not happen, in fact millions of dollars are claimed by the state each year because of unclaimed funds, simply a lot of people don’t know if their loved ones have life insurance polices.
A lot of people assume since they have life insurance there burial and funeral costs will be accounted for at the time they do kick the bucket. This is not true either, Funeral homes as well as Cemetery’s can’t put a body into the ground or into any type of space unless payment has been established. Meaning while the Insurance company is “looking into” the death, you may have to put your loved one “on ice” until arrangements can be made, and by the way don’t think for a moment that they don’t keep bodies in the morgue.
#2 Cremation Remains ARE NOT Ashes.
Cremation happens in a crematorium in a special kind of furnace that burns between 1800-2000 degrees Fahrenheit. In the death industry it is not O.K. to say “Ashes” because the chemical make up of the “cremated body” or “cremated remains” are bone fragments and look very different from ashes. Depending on the body there can be 3-9 pounds of remains produced from a cremation.
#3 A lot of cremated remains end up in the closet.
Now this might sound really strange to some people but one of the most common spots people end up putting cremated remains is in a box in the closet. This usually doesn’t typically happen when the death is recent, but when you get remains it is usually in a basic looking box unless you purchase an urn before hand. Now I didn’t quite believe this until a man walked into the cemetery and said he would like to purchase a niche to put his wives cremated remains in. She had dies eight years ago and so the counselors asked “why now?” just out of curiosity. He said he had her in the urn on his mantle but his younger grandchildren stayed a weekend and out of fear it would get knocked over he put her in the closet and didn’t realize he had done this until five years later when he had to move. He felt awful but the counselors assured him that it wasn’t uncommon, usually since husbands die first this will happen when older women have similar thoughts and deem the closet a “safe space” for the time being.
#4 If your spouse dies you can collect $255.00, you don’t have to pass GO, but be careful that you have the correct Social Security number.
It comes as a shock but 1 out of 4 people eventually remember their social security number wrong, often inverting two numbers. This is something that does get corrected eventually but can prove to be a challenge when trying to make arrangements and when trying to collect benefits. It is recommended that spouses know where the physical social security card is rather then basing the information of a spouses say-so.
#5 above ground burial IS NOT more expensive then traditional in ground burial.
Above ground Burial space whether it be in a casket full-body in a free-standing wall (a Mausoleum)
or Cremated remains in a free-standing wall (a columbarium)
is very comparable in price. In fact most all states do not tax cemetery property, or service costs and only tax things that can be moved such as headstones, caskets, urns ect…. So above ground burial can be in fact more economical since the only thing you should pay a tax on is the casket itself (or nothing if your in a columbarium since the purchase of an Urn is unnecessary.) and often it is the case the cost of the space is inclusive of the engraving (since it is all uniform.)
Anyway, I hope a few people read this and are interested because I killed like an hour and a half writing this post. Remember Pre-Plan your funeral arrangements and make sure you have all the information you need in case someone close to you becomes recently deceased.
And If your in the Detroit-Metro Area, Give me a Call.
