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Checking out at Wal-Mart
There are few, if any, boundaries on what Wal-Mart might offer its customers. The retailer has started selling caskets on its website. While some people might recoil at the idea of a coffin from Wal-Mart, others say it's about time!
You can peruse Wal-Mart's caskets here. Almost all of them sell for the low, low price of less than $2000, including the "American Patriot" ($1099), the "Lovely in All Ways Stainless Steel" ($1799), the "Pieta and the Last Supper" ($1599) and the "Lady de Guadelupe" ($895) pictured here:
By the way, when I did the search, it returned a selection of caskets, prices and photos, plus a selection of movies starring an actor named Frederick Coffin (now deceased). You know, in case, I wanted a DVD with my casket.
Sorry, you can't have your coffin delivered to the nearest Wal-Mart and pick it up. And no free shipping. Still, the prices are a third of what some funeral homes charge.
Costco's been offering caskets for a while, so this isn't something new. But when Wal-Mart gets involved, it can be a game-changer.
The Oklahoman quotes Congressmen Paul Wesselhoft, who calls his state's funeral home industry "a cartel" that wants to gouge its customers:
"There is nothing mystical about what you're buying," he said. "They're either wood or aluminum and can be made in a number of shops at far less expense. People who are grieving are being pressured to buy caskets they really can't afford."
As a result, Wesselhoft said, cremation services are skyrocketing in Oklahoma.
"It's really forcing Oklahomans to go against their cultural habit," he said.
Now, they can continue to bury each other in the ground for just 12 monthly installments of $89.99.
I wonder what's next? Maybe you'll be able to pick up a death certificate at the cash register, in addition to gift cards and gum? It makes me think of the movie, Idiocracy. A guy wakes up 500 years in the future, and at one point, he goes into a Costco that literally sells everything, including livestock. It's so big, people take the subway to get from one end to the other:
So, caskets at Wal-Mart. A good development or a bad one?
When you're going under six feet,
Our coffin deals cannot be beat;
From cradle to grave
At Wal-Mart you save
When we mark your checkout receipt.
News Short n' Sweet by JFD8
http://twitter.com/JFD8
It makes perfect business sense for Wal-Mart because they know the baby boomers are aging and what's coming next. I just hope that there's no "Assemble Required" sign on their delivered packages.
I won't be surprised to see store such as Rooms To Go will soon adding a subsidiary "Holes To Go".
I was thinking how this story seems to blend so well with the piece in Michael Moore's film about the "Dead Peasant" insurance that Walmart buys on its employees. When a Walmart employee dies, Walmart gets paid but the family does not.
Sounds like Walmart is really getting into this death business.
Sounds like a great savings but what will probably happen is that Funeral homes will have to raise prices on the services to make up for lost revenue on the caskets.
In other Walmart's news, Walmart's new logo is starting to appear on stores this month...
I went to law school at Costco.
But seriously, it is a product that most people need, eventually. The problem is delivery time and location for a family buying for a deceased relative, having to wait on it. Funeral homes may come up with rules saying the will not use an casket they don't sell.
I also see an increase in weird vamp/goth kids with coffin's as beds. For only $900, who WOULDN'T want one?
