The answers come from  a non certified Advice giver. One who has however, been in the "biz" for over 6 years, testified before the FTC on funeral internet casket retailing matters, and sought the correct answer for our clients often. One who is well aware of funeral costs, and how to trim them and a true Consumer Advocate! A God fearing woman, who became widowed May of 2003, after 37 years of marriage to her hero. Disclaimer The way things are nowadays you have to detail allot prior, so here goes.     *This page is for informative, examples and true questions / purposes only.     *Betty B. is not a physician ,therapist, mortician or Ph.D.. I am just a regular gal who wants to share knowledge and experience with others on burial casket purchase and funeral arrangements.     *This site is not intended to provide any therapeutic information of any kind, nor counseling or advice related to matters that would best be handled by a lawyer.     *Whatever you read on the internet, you should use your own judgment if and when you follow any of the advice given - you do so at your own risk. Your research and actions you take make you responsible for anything that might occur - in relation to your becoming informed of that situation, and how you handle it.     *All question or comments or   submissions become the property of Betty Brown. Our Mailing address is 262 Shelton Blvd. Eastlake, Ohio 44095     *I reserve the right to edit and publish content of all submission.     *If you submit a question or comment, it is not guaranteed to be answered here or published online. (Most are emailed.)     *No names or email addresses will ever be sold or spammed for any reason. My 'blog' on funeral caskets info on funeralcaskets arrangements and prior planning. Thank you for visiting this page Advice from Betty Brown, CEO. Caskets and coffins, urns, cremation, cremat, funerals, morticians and cemetery are some of the most misspelled words. These have been found to be spelled... cauffins, coffens, coffine, cofin, caskits, caughfins , carsket, caksets, koffins, coufin, cemetaries, cematery, cemetary, fruneral casket, magjestic casket, magestic coffin, whole sale casket, cofins, cofen, coughfins, cremation earns, mortistins, mortition, creamation, crematoreauim, creamatory, memoreal, memoreeal, mortuary's, mausoleum, crematori, urn vaul, coffibs, cask, woodin coffins, coffin manufactoters, feuneral, funaral, funereal, funneral, furnal, funnerals, funerral, funarel, funeral, funrals, fureral and moretistions. No harm done, no problem here. Did you notice A Team Master's has free shipping all USA, with caskets ordered best freight?   Guaranteed overnight is an added fee, $100.00 to $250.00 depending upon the time of call, shipping distance and the airport / area. Also, see some of my newsletter articles - I am the Funeral / loss guru on lifetips, one article, what is an average funeral? also if interested, many subjects related to death care / trade, please check out prior funeral newsletters, off that site, links to the left.
Good links on this page as well.            Last updated on April. 14th, 2004 see -    Changing LINKS ~ Quick link to browse and to purchase caskets online on our Selections page offering our most popular caskets, however if you have seen another - ask - we can offer it as well, for a lot less! Delivered all USA.
Being informed, that is the power. If you or your family fail to educate yourself in this funeral and burial purchase, you end up paying for other's knowledge, or overpaying needlessly. Burial is a loving act of respect - it moves the heart in many ways. Funeral planning or planned, let the brain grieve, not rush around doing other things.... Young kids pre planning the funeral. From our friends at "pfeelingood.com" Also Captioning Contest to play on other cartoons. Comment, question*** For removal of a casket, or in ground burial, is there a proper way to do this? Answer: For the removal, of the body or casket out of a room, it is the custom to take the dead body out of the house with legs first. This is done with a purpose, although most people are unaware of it. It is to prevent the spirit returning back home, if taken head first, which, it is believed, helps the dead to trace the path taken by the cortege from home to cemetery. For burial, the feet are usually buried to the east. Graves are usually 8' by 40" by 60" deep allowing 2' of earth to place stone at head of grave. As you stand to read the stone facing west the grave is behind it. - you of course are facing east Husbands are to the left or North as you read stone looking east of course. This is burial this way with the dead with the feet to the east so that on Resurrection Day the body will arise facing east. The inscription is facing west as it is believed that a person, when reading the headstone, would be in a proper position (facing east) to say a prayer for the deceased. Comment, question***        My Father recently passed. My Grandma and I were wondering if there's some ways people feel better about what to do with the ashes of the deceased. Since our family history has always been buried in a casket in the ground, this first creamation is harder to lay to rest. Is burial of the urn, or setting free the ashes, or just keeping it something people have felt comforted by or regretted? Do you have any thoughts or ideas? Answer: I am sorry to hear of the death of your Dad. Know with all my heart that it will smart for a long time. My thoughts are only that what ever you do here, it will be something irreversible. If you set the ashes over some land, maybe you could keep just a bit in a necklace for those that matter?? Thinking you would need to ask yourself, do you visit the graves of other loved ones already? If so, you might wish burial as then too, you can visit his. If not, I don't know really what I would do. I haven't been faced with that personally yet. If he didn't mention what he wanted, you are kind of your own feelings on the matter. Thanks for asking tho, makes me think as well.

You may email   a-team@stratos.net to ask whatever question you might wish related to funerals. Or to share what did happen in your arrangement of a funeral, not looking for anything more than to alert what took place, and how you would have done it different, if given that chance.

All questions or comments are from actual emails or happening, and all contact information to the owner, have been removed,  and will not be shared. 'Death is certain, life uncertain' is a natural phenomenon, and every person born has to die one day. This is the end of life.

***Comment, question*** The Cemetary is charging me $360.00 to dig a 2' X 2' hole to place the vault in, for an URN! Money is an issue, wanted to look for a discount - but the firms only sell to Funeral Homes. So, I found your online funeral help site - if you can help - please contact me. Thanks John Answer: Hi John, I know all the fees are a weight added to this burial process, and many are unexpected. Yes, we sell direct to the public, and can help. Please give me the size of the urn, the other information also I will need is cemetery, name of deceased, plot, section and contact phone number for cemetery, day of service, etc. You might think that for such a small excavation, that the cemetery would permit the family to hand dig the grave, as I am sure many ask. In some states this is permitted, most do not. ***Comment, question*** Hello, David here, I think I have seen bronze markers just imbedded in the concrete, without the granite, can you do this? Or do I need to buy the granite, and who sets it? My uncle is taking care of the setting fee, size is the only restriction. Answer: A single bronze grave marker of 24 x 12 with the name, birth and death date, one line of inscription, and 1 emblem, included is shipping as well, is $392.00 -- it takes approx. two -three or so weeks. We need the exact wording and information and approval prior to shipment. Attached is an example. This bronze marker is set directly into the concrete by the cemetery, and you pay them directly for that. Contact them prior to arrange. We also offer it attached to a granite base if wished - (not included)Is this what you had in mind? If not - we can assist with other materials as well. ***Comment, question*** In a message dated 3/6/01 12:43:26 PM Central Standard Time Hi Betty, death and funeral industry quiz http://burialitems.com/quiz.html Where did you get your facts and misguided views? Have you had a bad funeral experience in the past?? Is this an advertising scheme for you and your company? Well I would research your facts and figures a little closer!! Please note that I will pass on your website to the National Funeral Directors Assoc. Legal Department as we are in the process of shutting down as well as filing court papers to weed out slanderous information such as yours!!! Answer: Sorry if you took offense any, it was checked by several funeral advocates, and it is correct as it stands. I think the NFDA has their hands full with bad sales tactics from some f.d. however, I too have wrote to them to ask them to please correct information on another site, that is way off base. Not factual like mine. However, to answer you, no, I find most funeral directors are upstanding, but those that are not, are so hurting to the families who are making at need funeral arrangements for family or the funeral of a friend, that people need a heads up. (saved this one above, note OLD date, when adding this page, 10/03 - Quiz is still here, a very popular page.) ***Comment, question*** how do you arrange for a body to be donated to a medical school or teaching hospital? Answer: There are many different state rules that apply, here is one site law site and a search on Google or others bring up many sites with details. One really has to get their family behind this and let them know well ahead of time this is your choice. Call to arrange a packet of information and forms sent to you, that you will need to fill out.  ***Comment, question*** Do they make caskets for more than one person? Not to get a cheap funeral, but think people might like sharing. Of course, death would have to be at the same time. Answer: No - caskets for purchase do come in many sizes, but they are limited to width and the weight that people are able to carry as well. Not in double width for adults or multi bodies, unless a larger unit is purchased for smaller children. To have 2 adults placed together in the same casket (if independent distributors or custom manufacturers even could make a double casket) would simply not work. A casket for 2 would be too heavy to carry - no hearse wide enough - doorway to parlor or church not that wide - double wide casket for couple, would require more than one plot for earth burial - and most of all, unless a tragic accident, deaths of loved ones usually do not happen in pairs. The plus size casket is extra wide for an overly large person, and sometimes it has to be delivered in an airplane that has large cargo doors, many things people might not think about. Dealing with Oversize Caskets - may challenge one pre planning skills and perseverance. Once you add size to the casket, now you need different cemetery supplies, such as an larger size cemetery vault. ***Comment, question*** Do you sell those metal transport coffins? Answer: Yes, they are called 'ziglar cases' and we find our prices on a 'coffin case' is so much lower too, than at a funeral home. Comment, question*** Are you regulated? Answer Yes, by the many offices of federal government covering any firm doing business - and state offices as well. While we may not hold a funeral director's license (we do not embalm bodies, nor arrange funerals) we know who to contact to get the best deals, and are still some the most knowledgeable people to use as a resource for funeral costs, transpiration of dead bodies and information. Our caskets are sometimes the very same unit as at the funeral home - and our prices are always a lot less by far. Funeral laws cover many death care trade people - and the FTC is very interested to know if the public is being treated fairly. I testified before the FTC in Washington in Oct. of 2002 on some practices that we believe are unfair to consumers. Someone trying to throw fear at you because they are afraid of honest competition, that is one. Most directors are upstanding, but the bad are really bad and have said a lot of untrue things, and also have tried fear sales tactics as well - to stop the public from using their freedom of choice. The public for the most part, sees through this for what it is, and never returns to a place that uses such actions - and spreads those stay away words to their friends too. Our reputation is something we are proud of - helping families save money nation wide. My turn to ask a q of a Marketing guru *** (full pc) Ask Liz Dear Liz, I sell a difficult product - one that I can't say "thank you for your business, it was a pleasure" or "come back soon." I sell funeral products direct to the public at a discount. Most of our sales are 'at need' meaning with the death of the loved one. The problem I have run into is most of the people do not know of their options in purchasing outside of the funeral home, whereby they can save thousands with us. I do pay per click, search engine optimization, even newsletters. I wonder if this is a 'market' you think would go well with those who shop with coupons? If I advertised with a coupon, I think it might get the word out more (of course, no expiration date) but I wonder if people would hang onto the coupon and use it. It is hard to offer much to those that grieve, as I know their mind isn't on shopping, but it should be; The cost of the funeral is often over $5,000 and we really do save them a lot. Thank you, Betty B. Dear Betty, Yours is a tricky marketing problem. You need to build awareness. You are not going to be able to comb through the death announcements and make cold calls - the need will have been met by the time the notice gets in the paper. You need to let critical-care and geriatric physicians know who you are and you should reach out to the hospice community. You should look into PR and generally spread the word that the traditional full-service funeral home is not the only option. If I were in your shoes I'd be focusing on reducing uncertainty: "If I proceed on my own to buy these items without the help of a funeral director, what do I need to know? What are the risks?" Just a few years ago, almost no one sold her home without a realtor - now it's a common practice. You may create the same wave of change in the funeral industry - more power to you! Liz Comment, question*** Why are there no old world style infant caskets on the market? Answer: Demand drives the market, whatever is popular selling the most. However, we do have a source for those infant coffins, toe pinchers they are called. It does however, need to be purchased well ahead of time, as they are custom made. Comment, question: *** Is embalming required? Answer: From: Burying sanity. America buries .... 800,000 gallons of embalming fluid.....Embalming made sense when America started it. Terry Reimer, the research director of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, shipping a corpse home from the battlefield in the 1860s meant several days on a train."But why do we still do it? It's not generally required by law. Unless the corpse will be traveling across the state lines of Alabama, Alaska, or New Jersey, or will be shipped by common carrier within the states of Idaho, Kansas, or Minnesota, Uncle Sam doesn't care if you embalm dead Aunt Jane or not. It provides no public-health benefit, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. " --end copy--- However, funeral parlor owners can (some don't) but most do require it if an open casket viewing is ordered. Or IF  your choice of funeral directors does not have refrigeration at their parlor and the services are several days away. (SO you need to ASK if they have one prior to purchase of their services!) Or if the death was caused by a reportable contagious decease.  Yet in Hawaii, it's prohibited to embalm a body infected with certain contagious diseases as it puts the practitioner at risk ***Comment, question*** Is there help for funeral cost to lower income people or other causes for discount funerals? Answer: If the death was caused by a vilolent crime, suicide or the body was discovered unattended, there is some assistance from some states.. Victims of Crime with many resources. If the family is low income and has needs, there may be help from the city for burial (see http://burialitems.com/faqcasketsales.html and look at thinking of cremation). However, other choices are savings too, see our resources link above, or please call 800-595-1313 to see if we can help you more. Please bookmark this site, as a very good (great) tool for saving money on funerals, caskets and more.