A Word About Our Caskets

Harmony Caskets & Urns offer an extensive product line of hardwood, steel, pine, and semi-precious metal caskets to meet your financial need or family tradition.  Special attention is given to the design and engineering of each casket.  Our caskets are manufactured to the same exacting industry standards that consumers have come to expect, but priced 40-75% below that of most funeral homes. Although an average casket costs slightly more than $2,500, some mahogany, bronze or copper caskets sell for as much as $10,000-15,000. We have no casket more than $ 3,525, and that is The Windsor, a sold 32oz. bronze semi-precious metal casket with richly tufted white velvet interior, urn sculpted corners, and gasketed.  Remember, most of our caskets are priced only $250 over the invoice price.

When arranging the funeral of a loved one, it is important that the casket or urn that you choose is a suitable tribute. At Harmony Casket & Urn, we are able to provide a wide selection of caskets and urns direct to you and your family enabling everyone to take advantage of our quality range.

Those of you who want to save on caskets have more information and options available to you then you realize.  Check our Help With Decisions Page and Funeral Help Page for extensive help in making many of the decisions you may have before you.  Many people today are looking for a less ostentatious, more environmentally friendly, less expensive alternative to metal caskets, so you will want to check our simple wooden caskets.  Christians can even use our Jewish caskets by not placing the Star of David on their casket.

We want you to know we are available to provide options for you during this very stressful time as you prepare for the burial of your loved one.  We do want you to realize when you tell your local funeral home you will supply the casket, you may hear the following: "They'll never deliver on time."  "Their caskets are damaged."  "You won't get the casket you selected."  "The casket will fall apart."  "It's not really a casket" ...   Please know these allegations are used to convince you to purchase their product at inflated prices.

Most families don't know that the Federal Trade Commission gives them the right to use a casket they construct themselves or obtain from another funeral home or casket online retail store like ours.  The FTC now prohibits funeral homes from charging "handling fees" when families have a casket delivered to the funeral home.

Harmony Caskets & Urns want to give you CHOICES MORE BENEFICIAL TO THE FAMILY and less LOSS of money that could be used for medical expenses, education, family needs, charity--which the deceased would probably prefer for you to use the money.  Remember that most of the money you give to a funeral home DOES NOT HELP THE BODY IN ANY WAY, nor does it go with the body into the grave, but stays in the mortician's pocket. 

PERSONALIZING CASKETS: Choose the least-expensive casket and then beautify or personalize it yourselves.  You don't need the manufacturer to do it for you.  You can put decorations inside and/or outside the casket or in the lid, or put art panels in the lid that you obtain form the funeral home or from an art or religious store.  Or use a painting, religious picture, photographs or other art which you, friends or your children create.

Remember, the casket belongs to your family so you DON'T HAVE TO ASK PERMISSION from the mortician or anyone else to modify it in any way you wish.

Rabbinical Certification

To Whom It May Concern:  I have inspected the caskets manufactured by ARK Wood Caskets, and have found them to be of the highest quality, both from a Halachic and aesthetic standpoint.  The caskets are made of a simple adorned wood, and have openings that allow for direct contact with the earth.  I would recommend these caskets to ensure a dignified burial, allowing the deceased to meet their maker in full compliance with Jewish Law.

Rabbi Leonard Oppenheimer
Congregation Kesser Israel
136 SW Meade Ave
Portland, OR 97201

       Casket Information

Until recently, the only place where you could purchase a casket was from a licensed funeral home at a cost that could average in the thousands of dollars. Thanks to a 1994 ruling by the Federal Trade Commission, you have the legal right to furnish your own casket to the funeral home at a greatly reduced cost. By providing your own casket, you are saving a major portion of the traditional funeral expenses.

The Federal Trade Commission has ruled that funeral homes can no longer condition the purchase of a casket with the purchase of other funeral goods and services. If you are purchasing a casket from a source other than a funeral home, the funeral home of your choice must use the casket you have provided without duress or embarrassment to you, the consumer. (www.ftc.gov/bcp/rulemaking/funeral/index.htm - Rule 16 C.F.R. Part 453)

• You have the right to comparison shop by phone. By law, funeral directors must give you specific answers to specific questions regarding types of services available and pricing for all items.
• If you inquire in person at a funeral home about arrangements, the funeral director must provide you with a preprinted "General Price List"; a complete itemization of all services offered and the corresponding prices.
• When you select a funeral home to handle the service portion of the funeral, there is one item on the General Price list that is non-declinable: the basic service fee of the funeral director and staff. The basic service fee amounts to the cost of doing business by the funeral home and does not include any of the other services provided such as transfer of the remains, refrigeration, embalming, use of the facilities just to name a few of the many costs of a funeral.

• Embalming is not required by law except in 3 specific circumstances; death by infectious disease, a prolonged period of time between death and burial, or most commonly, a public viewing or wake.
• If a funeral director is making a cash advance for such items as flowers, obituary notices, grave opening and closing fees, clergy honoraria, pallbearers, etc., it must be disclosed to the consumer if any money is being made on the transaction. It is advised to ask for cash receipts.
• A casket is not required for a direct cremation. An inexpensive alternative container is all that is required.
• The funeral director must provide an itemized accounting, known as the statement of goods and services, showing the total cost of the funeral merchandise and/or services selected.
• Funeral providers are strictly prohibited from making any claims that a product or service will indefinitely preserve the remains.
• Many funeral homes are owned by large corporations. Market research indicates that a corporately owned funeral home tends to be significantly higher in cost. Ask your funeral director if the funeral home is independently owned and operated or is it part of large nationwide corporation.
• Many funeral directors no longer do their own embalming or initial pickup of the remains. Ask the funeral director if he is providing these services or if it is contracted to an outside source.

• Contact person name, address and telephone number.
• Name, address and telephone number of the funeral home.
• Payment by credit card, money order or cash.

INFORMATIONAL LINKS:

Administration on Aging

Federal Trade Commission-The Funeral Rule

Medicare Consumer Information

National Cemetery Administration

National Hospice Organization

Social Securtiy Administration

Veteran's Affair

AARP Fulfillment

Casket Strength Test Report