Coffins by Walmart

Certain products should only be sold at specialty stores and I believe that coffins are one of them. But why was I only a little surprised when I read that Walmart now sells discounted coffins and funeral accessories right on the stores website? According to an article on AdAge.com by Jack Neff entitled “Why Walmart's Entry Wont Kill Casket Business,” the superstore now offers items that would be too difficult to fit into a monstrous Supercenter.

The article states that both Walmart and competitors are downplaying the effect this will have on the coffin industry, but Walmart is happy with the response so far. Representatives from the National Funeral Directors Association and the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association believe that with buying coffins online comes the risk of receiving a damaged product that may not be able to be repaired in time for the funeral. The article goes to show that by shopping at the superstore wont even save you that much money! In some cases, it’s a bit more expensive.

Even if the prices are cheaper, I’m wondering how stingy people are willing to be when purchasing a loved ones final resting place. Most cemetery and funeral businesses do charge an obscene amount of money to, lets say, dig a hole in the ground and I think that’s disgusting. Especially in this economy, I don’t know how people can afford the thousands of dollars it costs after a person passes away. A lot of people don’t realize if the deceased didn’t set aside money for the funeral arrangements, it’s on the family to pay for everything. However, even if I was flat broke with no means to pay for a loved ones funeral, the last place I would shop for an urn or coffin is Walmart.

Pretty soon, Walmart is going to sell everything and all the small businesses owners in America are going to go out of business. Although there is a fad going around to “buy local” during this recession, some people can’t afford to shop at a privately owned business so instead they take the trip to Walmart. I hate Walmart, but I’m a poor college student and go there to get my groceries. It sucks. The biggest Walmart in the State of New York just opened two streets over from my house in Hamburg and I noticed they now sell wine in their extensive beer aisle. I would put money on that “Brierwood Wine and Spirits,” the small liquor store located on that same set of property as Walmart, is out of business in one year.