How to Compare Funeral Home Prices Without Visiting in Person

You can compare funeral home prices by phone and email without visiting in person. The FTC Funeral Rule (16 CFR Part 453) requires funeral providers to give accurate pricing information over the phone and to hand you a printed General Price List (GPL) when you inquire in person about arrangements, goods, or prices. The Rule does not require a provider to email or mail the printed GPL. This is your strongest consumer protection in the entire funeral purchasing process, and most families never use it.

Here is exactly how to do it.

Step 1: Identify Three to Five Providers

Call at least three funeral homes. Include different types of providers to see the full pricing spectrum:

• One corporate chain (SCI/Dignity Memorial, Carriage Services, or Park Lawn Corporation) — standardized pricing, often higher, but predictable
• One independent family-owned firm — pricing varies widely, some are competitive, some are premium
• One direct disposition specialist — if you are considering direct cremation or direct burial, these providers strip out everything except the legal minimums

You do not need to drive to any of them. You do not need to schedule an appointment. You are making a phone call.

Step 2: Ask for Prices by Phone

Call each funeral home and ask for accurate prices by phone, including the prices for the services you are considering. You can also ask whether they will email or mail you a copy of their current General Price List. The FTC Funeral Rule (16 CFR Part 453) requires accurate telephone pricing; when you inquire in person about arrangements, goods, or prices, the provider must hand you a printed GPL.

If the funeral home refuses to give you accurate prices by phone and insists on an in-person consultation first, it is violating the Rule's telephone-disclosure requirement. The Rule does not require it to email or mail the printed GPL. You can say: "I understand you'd prefer to meet in person, but the FTC Funeral Rule requires accurate pricing over the phone when asked. I'm comparing providers and would like the prices for these services before deciding whether to schedule a visit."

Most funeral homes will comply immediately. Some will offer to email or mail the GPL. Accept the email — you want a document you can read side by side with the others. A few progressive funeral homes publish their GPL directly on their website, though this is voluntary and not yet federally required.

Step 3: Compare the Right Numbers

The GPL is an itemized list. Not all line items matter equally for comparison purposes. Focus on these in order:

The Basic Services Fee (Non-Declinable)

This is the only charge a funeral home can make mandatory. It covers the funeral director's professional coordination — staff, licensing, facility overhead. This fee reveals the funeral home's true pricing floor.

The range is dramatic. In the same metropolitan area, the basic services fee can range from $1,200 to $3,500. A provider charging $3,200 for basic services is $2,000 more expensive than a provider charging $1,200 before you have purchased a single additional service.

Direct Cremation and Direct Burial Lines

If you are considering the simplest disposition options, compare these lines directly. Direct cremation national average is approximately $2,200; direct burial approximately $5,138. But these averages mask enormous local variation. A direct cremation specialist may charge $895; a full-service funeral home in the same city may charge $3,500 for the identical legal service.

Embalming

Embalming is almost never legally required. The GPL will list it as a separate line item, typically $700 to $1,200. If a funeral home's packages build embalming into the base price, that is a pricing structure designed to make it look standard. It is optional in nearly all circumstances.

Casket and Merchandise Pricing

Compare casket prices, but also note whether the GPL explicitly states that third-party caskets are accepted without a handling fee (they must accept them — the FTC requires it). A funeral home selling a basic steel casket for $2,500 is competing with the identical casket available from Costco for $1,100 or from online retailers for $800 to $1,200.

Step 4: Ask About Charges Not on the GPL

The GPL covers the funeral home's own charges. It does not cover:

• Cemetery opening and closing fees ($1,000–$3,000, charged by the cemetery)
• Crematory fees (sometimes billed separately from the funeral home if they use a third-party crematory)
• Weekend and holiday surcharges (both funeral home and cemetery may charge these)
• After-hours removal fees (transporting the body from the place of death outside business hours)
• Perpetual care assessments (cemetery maintenance fees, sometimes a one-time charge, sometimes annual)

Ask each funeral home: "What additional charges should I expect beyond what's on your GPL?" Their answer — or their evasiveness — tells you something about how they operate.

The Email Alternative

If calling feels overwhelming — and for someone in acute grief, it often does — email works. Write a short message:

Subject: Request for General Price List

I am comparing funeral providers and would like a copy of your current General Price List if you can send it by email. Please send it as a PDF attachment to this email address. Thank you.

The FTC Funeral Rule specifically covers in-person and telephone price disclosures. Email disclosure is not explicitly mandated, but the overwhelming majority of funeral homes will comply with an email request. If they refuse and insist on an in-person visit, that itself is useful information — it suggests a sales-oriented rather than transparency-oriented practice.

Who This Is For

• Anyone in the first 24 hours after a death who needs to choose a funeral home but is not ready to walk into one
• A family member who is comparison-shopping on behalf of someone too grief-impaired to make calls themselves
• Someone pre-planning who wants to compare providers calmly without the pressure of a sales environment
• The designated non-grieving advocate who has been asked to attend the arrangement conference and wants pricing data before walking in

Who This Is NOT For

• Someone who has already chosen a funeral home and signed a contract — at that point, the negotiation happens against the signed agreement, not the GPL
• A family that wants the funeral home to handle everything and is comfortable paying the full-service price — comparison shopping is a tool for people who want to exercise choice, not an obligation

Why Most Families Don't Compare

At-need families frequently default to the nearest or most familiar funeral home without comparing prices. The reasons are not irrational: grief impairs executive function, the timeline is measured in hours, and the emotional weight of calling multiple mortuaries to discuss pricing feels wrong when you are mourning.

This is precisely why the comparison should happen before the arrangement conference, not during it. The arrangement conference is a structured sales meeting. The funeral director conducts it every week. You are doing it once, under the worst possible conditions. Walking in with three GPLs already compared changes the dynamic entirely — you know the market rate for every service they are about to offer you.

The Funeral Home Selection Guide includes a Provider Comparison Tracker designed for this exact process — three GPLs side by side, starting with the basic services fee, with space to record the non-GPL charges each provider discloses. It turns three phone calls into a structured comparison you can hand to whoever is attending the arrangement conference with you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a funeral home refuse to give me their price list over the phone?

It cannot refuse accurate price information over the phone when you ask, but it is not required to send the printed GPL by email or mail. The FTC Funeral Rule requires a printed GPL when you inquire in person about arrangements, goods, or prices. If a provider refuses telephone pricing, report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

How many funeral homes should I compare?

Three is the practical minimum. It gives you enough variation to see the market range. Five is better if you have the time and emotional capacity. The comparison takes about 15 minutes per call if you know what to ask.

Do funeral homes in every state have to follow the FTC Funeral Rule?

Yes. The FTC Funeral Rule applies to every funeral provider in every U.S. state. Some states have additional consumer protection laws that go beyond the federal requirements, but the FTC baseline applies everywhere.

What if I'm comparing funeral homes in the UK, Canada, or Australia?

The FTC Funeral Rule is U.S.-specific. In the UK, funeral directors are not legally required to provide an itemized price list, though the Competition and Markets Authority's 2021 Order now requires standardized pricing disclosure. In Canada, regulations vary by province — Ontario's Bereavement Authority requires price disclosure, while other provinces have less structured requirements. In Australia, state fair trading laws apply. The principle is the same everywhere: ask for itemized pricing before committing.

Is it disrespectful to compare funeral home prices?

No. The FTC created the Funeral Rule specifically because price comparison is a consumer right, even in grief. Every other major purchase in your life — a car, a house, medical care — involves comparing providers and prices. A funeral costing $5,000 to $12,000 deserves the same diligence. The funeral home that respects your right to compare is the one that deserves your business.