Just in time for Halloween at Wal-Mart

[Paolo]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8333198.stm

Coffins!

The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, now plans to hold on to customers even after they die - by selling coffins.

Prices range from a "Mom" or "Dad Remembered" steel coffin for $895 (£540), to a bronze model at $2,899.

The retailer is allowing customers to plan ahead by paying for the caskets over 12 months for no interest. They can be dispatched within 48 hours.

Catering for cradle-to-grave needs, Wal-Mart already sells everything from baby wear to engagement rings.

A spokesman for the supermarket giant, Ravi Jariwala, said the new coffin range was "a limited beta test to understand customer response".

The retailer is offering caskets at prices that undercut many funeral homes, say correspondents.

But an industry spokesman said it was not unduly concerned about Wal-Mart's move, because he said the firm could not offer bereaved families the human touch.

Pat Lynch, of the National Funeral Home Directors Association, told AP news agency: "There's no question in my mind as a funeral director for nearly 40 years that the most critical element is the human contact."

[Dave (imported)]

...

But an industry spokesman said it was not unduly concerned about Wal-Mart's move, because he said the firm could not offer bereaved families the human touch. ...

"

Now that's the funniest line I've hear all day.

[tugon (imported)]

I will be going to the crematorium after death. Now I wonder if they can sell me a cheap urn. Or instead of an urn better yet sprinkle my ashes on the flower beds at McDonalds because that will be what has killed me.

The last gentleman I was care giver to would have loved that deal Paolo. He was very frugal and "did not want his money going into the ground". This may work out for them.

[Losethem (imported)]

They were selling caskets at Costco in California last spring. I'm not sure if they still are, but I was bewildered that I could purchase a 5-gallon bottle of ketchup and a casket on the same shopping trip.

--LT

[gareth19 (imported)]

I will be going to the crematorium after death. Now I wonder if they can sell me a cheap urn. Or instead of an urn better yet sprinkle my ashes on the flower beds at McDonalds because that will be what has killed me.

The last gentleman I was care giver to would have loved that deal Paolo. He was very frugal and "did not want his money going into the ground". This may work out for them.

I had to buy an urn last April; you can google and get a lot to choose from. We ended up buying a rather nice one for significantly less than the mortuary asked.

[Riverwind (imported)]

Now my question is do you get to get in and see how it fits, I mean really your going to be in it a long time, does the lid still allow you a little breathing room, well, you know what I mean.

I like the urn idea myself.

There is the side of this mountain overlooking a lake in California that I wish to be spread on. My sons know my wish and where this place is. Just don't tell the forest service they might not approve.

River

[moi621 (imported)]

Soylent green anyone ?

[A-1 (imported)]

Put the ashes in urine? Whose urine?

[nullorchis (imported)]

Casket smasket. I yearn for no urn. And hells bells I certainly don't want to be incenerated.

Once I am fully dehydrated and pulverized to a fine powder just return my minerals to the earth from where they came. Tombs, caskets, and even metal urns won't last forever and eventually everyone's bodies will return to the earth. I just want to speed up the process.

With over 90% of our bodies being water, once removed the water returns to the atmosphere as vapor, joins other water vapor, becomes fog, clouds, rain, returns to the sea or lakes or rivers and our essential elements become again a part of the rotation of atoms that eventually wind up somewhere, perhaps in a plant, animal, or another human being. Matter does not disappear. It merely changes form and continues on into the infinity of infinity.

Our spirit or soul is another matter entirely, for which I am not yet experienced to resolve. Ask me after I die.

[MacTheWolf (imported)]

If I pass away soon, cremate me and spread my ashes between two front lawns: Paolo's and Kristoff's