We have a TV in the break room at work, hooked up to an antenna that gets a dozen or so channels. It was on, and when I walked in today, there was a commercial for a life insurance company, with an actor talking about how his grandmother just died and that the funeral was going to cost over $8,000.

When he said that, it got me thinking. Eight thousand dollars?! Does it really cost that much to die in this country? Do mortuaries charge that much because they know they can? I don't want to put that kind of a financial burden on my loved ones when I kick the bucket, on top of their existing emotional burden. Sure, $8,000 might be the cost of a "fancy" funeral, but I can think of something cheaper. Put me in a big black plastic bag and set me on fire somewhere up in the woods, that ought to be less than $20. I don't want my loved ones to remember me with some stupid stone in the ground, I want them to remember me from the time I spent with them. Why isn't something like that legal? Let's discuss that.

Well, first off I don't believe no amount of money can compare to how much a person means to another. It can be a googleplex amount of money, but it won't compare to how much love you had for a person.

Besides, everything in this world is about the money as many people think it is. That is why everything is like that.

Coffins are often handmade with fine materials hence they cost a lot. Even as far as silk lining (exceptionally pointless). Equaly a grave plot is expensive because the more people die the scarcer the burial space.
On top of that the hearse, undertaker, coffin bearers, black cars etc.
When I did they can fling me in a skip for all I care, I'll be done with my body, I hardly care whether my corpse is eaten by worms or not.

I'll start by saying that a death cannot be compared to a cost. When soneone dies, paying $8000 to bury a loved one in a funeral isn't going to make up for the amount of pain felt mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and even physically in some cases. But people probably are willing to pay that amount of money for the opportunity to say goodbye to their loved ones. Places that conduct these services realize that most people want their loved ones to have such a service, but not for the dead person, because he or she is already dead, so it really would mean nothing to that person. They want to pay that money so that a service could be held in which they say their final goodbyes and celebrate the (hopefully) many good times that one had with that deceased person.

I do think that funerals have gotten pretty costly, because something similar could be done in a backyard for 1/8th the price, but I think that the mentality of humankind is what causes people to want their loved one's deceased body to be buried and to have that family gathering to help cope with the loss of a loved one.

My family is instructed to do whatever is cheapest. If throwing my body to the wolves is the cheapest route, take it. I'm dead, what do I care?

Txgangsta : Your opinion mirrors mine perfectly. I don't understand why people go to such trouble with corpses. Once I'm dead, I don't really give a hoot what is done with my body, because I'm incapable of giving a hoot!

Funerals, coffins, all the things associated with death are not for the dead people.  They're for the people who are still alive.  People will spend money to remember someone or to feel good about what happened.  That's why they drop the kind of cash they do.  They want solace and to continue their own lives feeling good (or at least not bad) about losing someone.

You can write down all the directions you want.  If the others want to do something and go against your wishes, that's fine.  You're dead.  You won't care anyway.  They're alive and they will care.  So they'll do what they want no matter what.

warmaker :

Very true. If my family wishes to mourn in the traditional fashion, it's going to cost them ~$10,000. However, I have told them explicit me that is not necessary to honor me. Throwing a barbecue in some park where kids can play on jungle gyms and grown ups and get sorta-drunk and laugh is perfectly acceptable as well, and that wouldn't cost more than $2000 depending on the number of people.

It is really unfortunate how out of proportion things have become. That cost is absolutely astounding and utterly ridiculous. I would not want to put that kind of burden on any of my family, and if I were to have a preference, I would tell them to burn me. If they would not feel like doing that, they could just do whatever is cheapest. It really would not matter anymore, as I would be dead. In fact, I would rather them not spend the money on the funeral and/or coffin and/or burial, and instead, just have some sort of cook out. I would feel better knowing that they were happier not having to deal with the cost, and also to take off some of the stress of my death (if any of that would exist). Of course, they could just follow the traditional route, but I would hope that they would not follow that path, giving money to people who profit off of someone's death, and causing financial burden.