Consumer awareness of the legal obligations of funeral providers.(BITS, BRIEFS AND APPLICATIONS)(Survey)

The results from a consumer survey that examined consumer knowledge of some parameters of the Funeral Rule are presented. Currently, all funeral home activities are regulated under the Funeral Industry Practices Rule of the Federal Trade Commission. The rule is premised on the assumption that it is difficult for consumers to make careful, informed purchase decisions in at-need situations because of emotional stress, time pressure, and lack of familiarity with available goods and services. However, limited research has assessed how much consumers know about the legal obligations of funeral providers as provided for by the Funeral Rule. Implications for consumer protection and policy are discussed.

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For the majority of consumers, the purchase of a funeral and its related merchandise will comprise the third-largest expenditure they will make in their lifetime, following the purchase of a house and an automobile (Consumers Union 2004). The average cost of a funeral, including burial, exceeds $8,500 (National Funeral Directors Association 2004).

Given the expense as well as a funeral consumer's vulnerability, the industry is regulated at the state and federal levels. Currently, all funeral home activities are regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) under the Funeral Industry Practices Rule, known as the "Funeral Rule" (16 CFR Part 453). The rule is premised on the assumption that careful, informed purchase decisions in this expensive product category are difficult for consumers because of emotional stress, time pressure, and lack of familiarity with the available goods and services. Based on these assumptions, the Funeral Rule prohibits funeral homes from certain practices and compels them to perform others.

Many consumer groups have made information available to consumers regarding end-of-life planning, encouraging them to plan ahead as well as informing them about their legal rights (AARP 1995; Funeral Consumers Alliance 2006). However, it is unclear whether consumers of end-of-life products and services are aware of existing consumer protections. Very little research has assessed how much consumers know about what funeral homes are obligated to do or prohibited from doing (Kopp and Kemp 2007).

In this article, we assess consumers' knowledge regarding the legal obligations of funeral home providers as mandated by the Funeral Rule. First, we provide a brief overview of the legislative climate of the funeral industry spanning the past century. Decades of criticism of the industry ultimately led to the current federal legislation. Next, we describe a survey that measured consumers' knowledge about what funeral homes can and cannot do. We then examine the data from the survey and the relationships among the demographic variables and respondents' objective and subjective knowledge about funeral products and services. Finally, we discuss the implications of the results for consumer protection and public policy.

CONSUMER PROTECTION IN THE FUNERAL INDUSTRY