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NEW YORK - Warehouse retailer Costco
Wholesale, bulk seller of products to help save you money in
life, is offering a way to save money in death, too.
The Issaquah, Wash.-based No. 1
wholesale club operator is testing six models of steel caskets
at two of its locations in the Chicago area.
"We're trying to offer value to our
customers like with everything else that we sell," said Gary
Ojendyk, Costco's general manager of merchandising.
Ojendyk said the retailer has set up a
special order program in which customers can select a casket in
either of the two locations and have it shipped to their
mortuary of choice within 48 hours.
Ojendyk declined to comment on the
duration of the test phase or whether Costco would offer the
service to more stores.
The caskets, manufactured by
Cassopolis, Mich.-based Universal Casket Co., are 84 inches in
length and 28 inches in width and come in a variety of colors.
The suggested retail price for each
casket is $799.99, said Edward Jones, Universal's general
manager.
According to Jones, the price range of
caskets can vary greatly from a few hundred dollars to even
thousands of dollars.
"The price is typically predicated by
the cost of doing business in an area," said Jones. "However,
there usually is a significant price difference between buying a
casket at a funeral home and buying one at Costco."
While most caskets are still typically
purchased at funeral homes, Jones said sales of caskets over the
Internet have also picked up over the last few years.
David Walkinshaw, spokesman for the
National Funeral Directors Association, said he doesn't think
Costco's entry into the casket market will significantly impact
the funeral home business.
"Third-party suppliers have been around
for a while now," said Walkinshaw. "Costco is pricing caskets at
$800, but many funeral homes offer caskets for much less than
that amount. I don't think this will change the landscape of the
market."
Added Walkinshaw, "In moments of death,
people are looking for peace of mind and comfort. They don't
want to be running around to different stores. With a funeral
home, they can be guaranteed that the condition and delivery of
the casket will meet their requirements. With a retail store,
those issues are no longer the funeral director's problem."
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