When one visits a gravesite with money-related shame, there is always someone in that family that has paid nine thousand dollars they did not even think about to bury their loved one. People come at the stone apologetic about everything. They start to say things like, “We know it’s not much but… “
Just stating the obvious: cheap doesn’t have to mean bad. It does not imply poor quality in any way. Small stone monuments with elegant four-word inscriptions are some of the most touching things that one can see in any American cemetery.
The difference is whether it stands for economy or for poor quality. These are two entirely different things sold under the same word. Learning the ways to distinguish between the two is definitely a learnable skill.
What honest economy looks like
The cost of any stone monument in this business is related to its size and to the hours of labor needed to make it. When either of them goes down, price goes with it.
A flush memorial requires less material and is shipped in one piece unlike other variants and is installed the same way. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using flush stone monuments — it is standard product for many American burial grounds as most of them accept it exclusively.
Simpler lettering is less expensive as opposed to engraved artworks — the process is faster for the former, while the latter is hours’ labor. Choosing clear inscription instead of complex design can make you save about four figures and the end product looks much better anyway. Restraint looks good in reality but is badly captured in photographs. More details on the subject can be found in the guide to cheap headstones and the prices for different stone monuments with clear explanation of the differences.
What false economy looks like
And the other side of the coin.
Material thickness. When choosing flush monuments of three inches in size instead of typical four-inch variant, one may not notice the difference on pictures but there is a lot of it in the long-term perspective. Cemeteries require minimum material thickness for a reason; stones, that are not up to standards, are either refused from use or they just crack over years.
Concrete is low-budget material that is misrepresented a lot. Being inexpensive, it is also serviceable but it has a tendency to crumble over years, to weather and if the material inside contains metal, then it rusts and causes cracking of the stone. Concrete stones are sold under the brand name “granite look” as a cheap imitation of granite monument.
Marble — the type of stone that makes people pay without looking further. Its great advantage over other stones is the ease with which one can make sculptures out of it, but it is constantly destroyed by the acid rain. The names on 19th century marble stones are practically invisible — there are only the outlines left in places when granite stones from the same age are clearly legible.
Finally, prices for all the items and services should be presented honestly. It doesn’t have to be an attempt of fraud when a quote doesn’t include some additional services but the customer should be fully informed about their presence and cost. Blank stone monument, additional lettering per character, transportation costs, cemetery installation are not free.
The source of pressure that makes customers take wrong decision
Timing is the factor that causes it and it is worthwhile to discuss the numbers that are behind it.
The National Funeral Directors Association recorded median adult funeral with viewing and burial at $8,300, $9,995 with vault burial and $6,280 with viewing and cremation for the same. It is the price in the funeral home only. Plot and marker, as well as setting fee, are billed separately.
As one can see, marker selection starts when the money has already been spent that is exactly the time when one is the least capable of making reasonable decisions and vulnerable for the first call he receives.
Here are two factors that reduce such pressure.
First, no law in any state demands urgent action and there are no penalties for delayed installation. It is completely fine to wait, and one gets the chance to pay less money and choose the best stone. Many families upgrade their monument after waiting three-six months because the urgent price has expired.
Second, the opportunity of financing makes this choice even easier than expected as many companies offer financing of 12–24 months that comes without interest. Also, there is pre-need plan of 36 months. Price of the stone is locked and it is kept in storage. Discount programs for veterans and first responders are available. If two monuments of the same type are ordered, there is an additional bonus for the second. As one sees, the choice of accompanying memorial for a spouse is common practice in the industry and this can save one money as well.
No one does it as charity as the seller knows exactly that this client makes one of the worst purchases of his life.
Where low end actually is
Just for comparison: how inexpensive American-made granite monuments look in the economical side of the scale with engraving and delivery already included?
For example, grey or black flush memorial of one stone with a name, date of birth and death and symbol would cost about low hundreds of dollars. Bevel with some simple borders is about high hundreds and slant with light artwork starts from low thousands. Companion stones of these designs cost more than single monuments but less than two separate stones.
If one buys something considerably cheaper than these price brackets suggest — there must be some tricks in material or in thickness of the stone. And if it’s more expensive — then he pays for something other than the stone, probably.
The prices for monuments inflate too — according to the data from NFDA, median funeral with burial went up 5.8%, and funeral with cremation increased 8.1% in two years, and the markers got more expensive too. This is another argument for timely planning of marker selection if emotions allow it.
The part that actually matters
Stone monument has one and only task — to preserve name of the dead person legible for the time that exceeds the lifetime of relatives that know the person.
This task is performed with density, thickness and sufficient depth of lettering. Size and decorations do not play any role here and the stone monument with name, dates and symbol written with high quality on it performs its job perfectly. It will be readable when grandchildren of these people will visit their grave site.
So just buy quality products that matter and leave behind this myth about restraint being lack of care — it never was.
If you want reference point on how inclusive pricing looks like, you can refer to the catalog at Capital Grave Markerswhere the engraving and shipping are included in the final price of each monument.
