Every two years our local organization conducts a survey of local funeral homes, and those few firms outside the county who advertise in our local telephone directory. We contact each listed funeral home and request a copy of their General Price List. The availability of this list is mandated under the Federal Trade Commission "Funeral Rule" ["Trade Regulation Rule on Funeral Industry Practices," 16 CFR Part 453]. With rare exceptions, each listed funeral home freely and willingly offer the requested price list. These price lists are NOT always easy to decipher, especially for purposes of comparison. For this reason we do not make specific references to local funeral homes, but instead summarize the information offered on a variety of services, in order to present a price range for a series of funeral arrangements which many consumers request. The "average price" for each service is quoted from the most recent available national survey of the National Funeral Directors Association.

We do not currently present any information about cemetery services. Two local funeral homes also operate cemeteries; the City of Tallahassee also operates municipal cemeteries. There are also private, nonprofit cemeteries in the environs. We are hoping to include information about cemeteries in a future survey, but so far we are daunted by the logistics of gathering and presenting this information. We would be pleased to receive comments and/or questions from interested parties.

The Survey of Funeral Costs & Pricing Practices of Leon County is offered to assist consumers in making funeral arrangements. We emphasize that it is in the best interest of the consumer to plan ahead, and to do "comparison shopping" among several funeral homes for the desired arrangements, in order to get a picture of the marketplace at the time arrangements are being negotiated. We also suggest that circumstances in which it is to the consumer's advantage to prepay are very rare.

For further information, please contact or join:

The Funeral Consumer Association of Leon County, Inc.
1006 Buena Vista Drive
Tallahassee, FL
32304-1810
(850) 224-2082    FAX: (850) 224-5692

or

Charles W. ("Bill") Swain
Secretary, FCALC
cwswain37@comcast.net