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Caskets may join Costco checkout line

By Don Babwin
The Associated Press

NAM Y. HUH / AP Kyle Green reads about six models of caskets produced by Universal Casket. Costco began test-marketing caskets at two Chicago-area stores yesterday.

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Issaquah-based Costco, better known for bulk chicken and cases of soda, started test-marketing caskets yesterday alongside mattresses in two of its Chicago-area stores.

"This is certainly something that can be an easy value," said Gina Bianche, a buyer at Costco's headquarters. "I don't want to say cheap value, but it just needs to be done."

Each of the six models from Universal Casket, in colors including lilac and Neapolitan blue, is priced at $799.99, made of 18-gauge steel — medium weight for caskets — and can be delivered within 48 hours. A Costco kiosk provides samples of the caskets' material.

Consumers could already buy caskets directly from manufacturers, in funeral-supply stores and over the Internet, but big general merchandise stores had stayed away from them until now, said David Walkinshaw, a spokesman for the National Funeral Directors Association.

Costco Chief Executive Jim Sinegal said the company considered whether it was appropriate to sell caskets inside a wholesale club. "That was the reason we tested it," he said.

"Generally speaking, the cost of these things is prohibitive," Sinegal said. "People wind up being hit with these costs at a time when they're in the most vulnerable position. We thought we'd give it a try."

Sinegal said Costco would test sales for at least 90 days. If the club's members vote with their pocket books, the casket sales will expand to other U.S. locations. "I think we got our first order," he said.

At a Costco on Chicago's North Side, shoppers checking out the casket kiosk yesterday seemed to like that a store that has so many things for this life was branching into the next.

Some liked the idea of being able to shop for the casket long before a loved one's death, a time when survivors are distressed, under time constraints and may think they are at the mercy of funeral homes.

"I remember my mom was supposed to get a plain pine box for my dad, and she walked out with mahogany," said Gretchen Henninger.
 
When her mother died and Henninger was left to deal with the funeral arrangements, "I felt I was being manipulated into feeling some emotion that would lead me to spend more money," she said. "Taking that away would be wonderful."

Those involved in arranging funerals were not as enthusiastic about discount retailers moving in on their business.

"If you take the casket out of the equation and the casket is purchased in a retail environment, then that portion of the funeral director's profit center will disappear, and the funeral director must respond to that," said George Lemke, executive director of the Casket and Funeral Supply Association. Asked if that meant raising prices, he replied: "That's entirely possible."

Costco is prepared for that, said Fred Elsner, general manager of the North Side store. When casket buyers dial the phone number on the brochure, he said, "we will put them in touch with funeral homes that are part of the program."

While caskets can cost several thousand dollars, some funeral homes sell them for less than Costco is charging, Lemke said.

Walkinshaw, a funeral director in the Boston area, thinks Costco won't cut into the business of funeral homes.

"Other people have tried (selling caskets) and found out the public is real comfortable buying caskets from funeral directors," he said. "It's kind of one-stop shopping."

Seattle Times reporter Monica Soto Ouchi contributed to this report.