PITTSBURGH _ Funeral homes are already required to provide consumers with a price list for their goods and services upon request, a rule created by the Federal Trade Commission in the pre-internet 1980s.
But in an era where almost every industry makes it easy and convenient to find prices for their goods and services online, consumer advocacy groups say the FTC standard is not enough to help often-grieving shoppers looking at spending thousands of dollars on a loved one's behalf.
Two groups _ the Funeral Consumers Alliance and the Consumer Federation of America _ have filed a petition with the FTC seeking requirements for all funeral homes to fully disclose their prices for burial products and services on the web.
"Our position as consumer advocates is you have a right to consider your budget in every purchase, including what you pay for a funeral," said Josh Slocum, executive director of the Funeral Consumers Alliance in South Burlington, Vt.
"We are a nation of savvy shoppers when it comes to buying anything from a house, a car to an in-ground swimming pool. People should able to compare funeral prices, too."
A nationwide survey by the two groups released in October found that very few funeral homes fully disclose prices online.
One Pittsburgh-area funeral home that does post its prices online is Perman Funeral Home and Cremation Services in Shaler.
"I know people go online looking for that information. That's why they are online," said owner Frank Perman, who said his price list has been online since 2014. "They don't want to go to a funeral home website that tells them to call the funeral home for price information."
But he is opposed to requiring funeral homes to post their prices on the internet.
"The problem with that is some funeral homes don't have a web presence," Perman said. "You are forcing some funeral homes that are not online to go online. Some prefer not to have a web presence at all."
According to the National Funeral Directors Association based in Brookfield, Wis., the U.S. had 19,391 funeral homes in 2015; the median cost of a funeral with viewing and burial in 2014 was $8,508; and the median cost of a funeral with cremation in 2014 was $6,078. That does not include a vault, cemetery marker or monument stone.
Pittsburgh funeral director Jarett Sperling, supervisor of Sperling Funeral Home in McCandless, doesn't believe a new rule requiring internet price disclosure would be a game changer for many funeral homes that have built a loyal clientele over many years.
"Price shoppers are price shoppers," Sperling said. "They want the least expensive price. That is their goal. But those who want service will continue to come back to the funeral home they used in the past if they feel they received excellent service.
"People who want direct cremation are the ones who tend to price shop," he said, adding that cremations cost less than funerals, which is why more families continue to choose that route.
Sperling does think that it would help if people could review their options and make plans ahead of time.
Couples might spend two years planning a wedding. But families often plan a funeral in three days. He suggests that families can take much of the emotion out of the process by planning funerals ahead of time.
The FTC reviews rules related to the funeral home industry every 10 years. The next review is scheduled to occur in 2019; however, the consumer advocacy groups are urging the agency to address the online price disclosure concerns prior to the next 10-year cycle.
"We don't think it's in the consumers' best interest to wait until 2019 to review the (FTC) Funeral Rule," Slocum said. "We need to push harder."
He said he expects some pushback from the funeral home industry on the proposed internet price disclosure rule because there is usually resistance from any industry when a new national standard is in the works.
"There was pushback in the 1980s when the Funeral Rule was put in place," he said. "But we are not asking funeral homes for anything that costs any money or effort. This is very modest. We just want them to click a link and place the price list they already must provide to consumers online."
As for a family's loyalty to a particular funeral home, he said, "If you don't compare prices, you don't know if a funeral home you have been loyal to has been overcharging you for years."
