Why are cardboard coffins so expensive?

[sleepyowl]

Before my dad passed away he stated he wanted a cardboard coffin so a tree wasn't being felled just to burnt. What surprised me is the fact that the cheapest cardboard coffin that was on offer was £400 more expensive than the cheapest wooden one. It appears that just because things are environmentally friendly they can charge extortionate amounts. It gets my goat

[diggernotdreamer]

It always costs more money to do anything that is 'good for the environment', you need to have money to put up turbines, install solar panels, have passive house. Probably, the cardboard coffin is still a 'niche' market and attracts a premium price. Gawd knows how much a wicker one would cost.

[ina]

It's not just that; it also depends on the numbers produced. Small runs always cost more money to make, so if not many people opt for the cardboard, it would be more expensive. It's probably produced locally (i.e. in Britain), whereas cheap wooden ones might come from China - need I say more? (That's just me guessing - if anybody knows more about it, I'd love to hear it!)

[KathyLauren]

The entire funeral industry is based on gouging people when they are the most vulnerable. They know that the recently-bereaved are probably in shock and will not argue about price, no matter how exorbitant it is. If someone does argue, they will say, "You've got to have it, so pay up."

Where I used to live, they were setting up a "green cemetery". I don't know if anyone is buried there yet, but the idea was that there was no embalming allowed, nor any coffins. There would be no grave markers, though records were to be kept of the exact locations of burials for obvious reasons. Getting all the required approvals in place took them years, but last I heard, they were close to being open for business. Motivations for the project were both environmental and subverting the extortion of the funeral industry.

[doofaloofa]

Just burie me in the compost heap

[littlemissrose]

Maybe it's because it takes a lot of effort to make these things. Because the wooden coffins market is large and exploidable. Large businesses are using underpaid labor and unsustainable resourcemanagement. Maybe this business is paying it's people a fair wage and pays a fair amount for it's resources.

Mind you, I don't know anything about this so if it is not the case . But people in general often forget how expensive it is to really create something. And with all the cheap crap on the market these days who could blame them. Wish I could afford to stop buying the cheap crap but allas. But I do try to make it myself or buy quallity when I am able.

[Marc]

It's like KeithBC says - cashing in on a captive market. You can buy one on Ebay for £300 or a wicker one for £100. I've also looked at them for sale in other places in the past and you can buy one direct vastly cheaper than the funeral companies will charge. It's a rip-off, like so many things in this life ...

[ina]

Right - I'll buy a wicker coffin now, to avoid problems like this later! Can always use it as a spare bed for my vampire friends...

[diggernotdreamer]

my friends parents have their coffins under the bed, the husband has made them himself for the day they are needed

[ina]

my friends parents have their coffins under the bed, the husband has made them himself for the day they are needed

Good idea! I have some spare planks in the garden fro when I took my fence down...

[Flo]

my friends parents have their coffins under the bed, the husband has made them himself for the day they are needed

Properly self sufficient then.

[doofaloofa]

And not at all macabre

[diggernotdreamer]

And not at all macabre

not at all, they use them to store clothes in under the bed, sounds a bit weird, but that's how we roll here in the NW

[doofaloofa]

Quite convenient aswell

[ina]

I think storage would be a bit of a problem here for me. No space under the bed (I have one of those guest beds that roll underneath my own...). But maybe one could stand it upright in a corner of the living room, and stick some shelves in it for books?

More ideas invited!