Haggling, Negotiating, and Price Matching: Are These Strategies Right for Deathcare?
Last month, a deathcare company in Australia announced via press release the country’s “First Funeral Price Match Policy” so they can be sure families “Never Overpay Again!” The service, dubbed FuneralSmart, is offered by EziFunerals, an online platform that helps families “connect and collaborate” with independent funeral homes. In the release, FuneralSmart promises to “try and match” the lowest prices consumers may find so they get the “best deal.”
Here in the States, terms like “deal” and “price match” are common, if not expected, in conversations on car lots and grocery checkout lines. Although funeral pricing has been a point of contention since the 1963 publication of Jessica Mitford’s The American Way of Death called attention to the subject and the Funeral Trade Commission’s 1984 Funeral Rule sought to mitigate any issues, haggling for lower prices for deathcare products and services just hasn’t really caught on. But should it?
Jargon and culture
The majority of purchasers — of anything — want the best price they can possibly get … but that doesn’t mean they’re all comfortable asking for it, or that haggling is appropriate in every setting. Price negotiation is just part of the process of buying a car or house, and plenty of grocery or retail stores will keep copies of their competitors’ ads on hand at the checkout counters so shoppers can easily compare prices and ask the cashier to match a deal.
However, sales are rarely, if ever, the primary goal, nor the most polished skillset, of a funeral director. You’re not stuffing full-color ad inserts in the weekly shop-and-save paper or slapping neon “deep discount” promos on your caskets. And you’re certainly not pushing a contract across the table and telling a family, “Well, I talked to my manager and this is the lowest I can go,” expecting them to fire back a counteroffer.
If deathcare has learned anything since 1984, it’s that price is important to consumers, even those making funeral arrangements. And of course, the latest FTC guidelines strongly advocate that prices be posted online to allow families to shop around, if they prefer, and they can always call for a quote. But comparing prices is still a different animal than price haggling or matching, and the at-need arrangement meeting or selection room still don’t seem like the right place for these negotiations.
Not unheard of
Even though it’s not common for families to ask for a better price, it’s not altogether unheard of. Several discussions on the Reddit and Quora platforms tackled the issue, with several current or former deathcare professionals weighing in alongside consumers. Here are some of the comments:
- “Most funeral homes will price match one of their caskets to match Wal-mart or Costco if you tell them you intend to take that route.”
- “Contrary to popular belief, most funeral directors are willing to give discounts to families that ask in an appropriate manner.”
- “I occasionally saw it happen; but those tended to be the clients who we wished we had let walk away instead. As a rule, they were the most demanding – and when you were done, the least satisfied – of all our clients.”
Some of the most helpful replies from funeral directors, though, reveal the ways they made funerals more affordable for families without making it obvious that they were price matching or participating in negotiations. They explained that, basically, they listened to the families, and if price was a concern, they would simply and subtly introduce or suggest similar, yet lower-priced, alternatives for consideration, whether that was a cheaper version of a product or a different package of services.
The bottom line
It will be interesting to see how well FuneralSmart’s price-matching service works in practice. The company makes no guarantees in the press release, clarifying that “If you get a lower price elsewhere, we’ll try and match it.” Plus, the offer is only good at participating EziFunerals partners.
Perhaps something like FuneralSmart could catch on in America; maybe not. In the meantime, though, we like the advice this consumer, who stated that she had been involved in planning funerals on a budget, offered on Quora:
“So, in my opinion, a funeral home is not the place to haggle,” she wrote. “Just be honest about your budget and ask their advice.”
