Ditto on the high costs. Can't afford to live, can't afford to die. What's a person to do?
I once was a sales rep. for a monument company, and I finally quit due to the unethical sales practices that were required of me. I couldn't stand the very idea of putting pressure on grieving families.
I started my own monument operation and have absolutely shunned the practice of calling on families in their time of distress. Even when I've been given "leads", I wait for them to call me...or not, if they so choose. They must make the first move.
We live in a very economically depressed region and I've been offering natural boulder memorials as an alternative, and they've been very well received.
Many of the stones we've done were special to the family...either from their farm, or had other significance. I have a set of six memorials to do that will be made from the stones their grand-dad skidded across the section with a team of horses in the late 1800's, split by hand and then built into a barn foundation. Now that the barn has been torn down, the stones will be given new life as memorials for family members.
Much of the so called "death care" industry is a total racket from the word go. I intend to fight the tide and bring back the dignity of serving families.
JB