Funeral Homes in Schenectady, New York (2024)

FAQs

What is cheaper than a funeral? ›

If you choose burial with a costly casket, this can drive up the cost of a burial. According to USA Today, “The least-expensive option is typically a… “direct cremation” with minimal ceremony. Cremations can also include family participation, and timing can be arranged before or after other memorial services.”

Funeral Planning Tips

Here are some tips to help you shop for funeral services: Shop around in advance. Compare prices from at least two funeral homes. Remember that you can supply your own casket or urn.

Three large corporations now own 15% of the 23,000 homes in the funeral home industry. Service Corporation International (SCI), based in Houston, is the largest of the three, followed by Loewen Group Inc., based in Vancouver, Canada and Philadelphia, and Stewart Enterprises Inc., based in New Orleans.

Investing in funeral homes and retirement homes may not seem like the most glamorous or exciting financial endeavor, but these industries hold a unique position in the market, offering stability, potential for profit, and the opportunity to make a positive impact on people's lives.

The most expensive part of a funeral is typically the basic services fee of a funeral home. The median cost of basic services fees is about $2,300. If you choose a traditional funeral and burial, your highest cost will likely be a metal casket. Metal caskets can cost around $2,500.

Direct cremation is the least expensive way to bury your loves one. It is done respectfully, and gives your and your family time to find the most personal and affordable burial option.

Other alternatives include having a family-only visitation and graveside prayers. The most cost-effective option is to follow a cremation with a memorial service or gathering at someone's home, a public park, the deceased's favorite restaurant or other low-cost location.

Most funeral homes keep a supply of undergarments on hand to protect the modesty of the deceased and will always have cosmetics available.

Professional and Compassionate Employees

People are the most important asset of any funeral business.

What does SCI stand for in funeral service? ›

Service Corporation International is proud to be North America's leading provider of funeral, cremation and cemetery services. Since 1962, SCI has been serving families during their most difficult, personal and challenging times.

The funeral director is generally the person who owns and operates the funeral home. They oversee the logistics of the entire end-of-life process, and they're also the person who runs a funeral service. Common funeral director duties include: Filing paperwork.

A funeral home is a 24-hour, labor-intensive business, with extensive facilities (viewing rooms, chapels, limousines, hearses, etc.), which must be factored into the cost of a funeral. A majority of the expense is typically in the funeral home professional fees and merchandise for the funeral or memorial itself.

Death care is also considered a recession-proof profession, as funeral home spending remains relatively constant even during times of economic downturn.

Sale of Casket: Funeral homes also sell caskets to make money. The sale of caskets happens to be one of the most profitable ventures that funeral homes engage in. Usually, they make the caskets necessary for each family. And to say the least, the coffins are priced to make a profit.

Immediate burial is the least expensive option: A funeral home files the necessary paperwork, places the unembalmed body in a casket, and takes the remains to a cemetery for burial, usually within one day.

Non-religious funerals can be held at any venue happy to accommodate them. That could be anything from a crematorium to a local sports hall. They are usually very personal and aim to celebrate the life of the loved one. Humanist and atheist send-offs are also alternative types of funeral that are non-religious.

So-called direct cremations and direct burials are the cheapest. These are sometimes specified in the funeral plans people have made for themselves before they pass on. With a direct funeral, no mourners will attend because there won't be a formal service.

Cremation Cost vs Burial Cost

The typical costs for cremation compared to burial is statistically less expensive. According to the National Funeral Directors Association, the average cost of a cremation is around $6,900, while the average cost of a traditional funeral with burial is more than $7,800.