FAQ

Standard shipping is free anywhere in the lower 48 states and takes 2–3 business days. If you need it sooner, Overnight is $199 and arrives the next business day.

Distance makes no difference — a casket travelling 2,000 miles costs the same as one travelling 50. Alaska and Hawaii are quoted separately. There are no handling charges or fuel surcharges added at checkout.

Standard shipping is free and takes 2–3 business days. Overnight is $199 and arrives the next business day when you order before the daily cutoff. Business days exclude weekends and holidays.

We hold our own stock in warehouses across the country rather than ordering it in, which is what makes the shorter window possible. If a service is already scheduled, call before you order and we will tell you honestly whether we can make the date.

Straight to the funeral home you choose. We contact them directly, agree a delivery window that fits their schedule and confirm it back to you. You do not need to be present, and you do not need to explain the arrangement to them on our behalf.

Funeral directors generally want notice of the delivery date so someone can be there when it is unpacked — arranging that with them is part of what we do. Delivery to a private residence is possible if that is what you need.

The casket travels in a sealed cargo hold, separate from passenger luggage. Inside the crate it is wrapped in a layer of styrofoam and then bubble wrap, with large blocks of hard styrofoam packed around it leaving roughly three to five inches of clearance on every side.

It is built for the part of the journey nobody sees — being loaded, stacked and moved by forklift. The funeral home normally strips and disposes of all the packaging before you ever see the casket.

Look it over on arrival, or ask the funeral director to — most will note any defects on their receipt of third-party merchandise as a matter of routine. If something is wrong, refuse the delivery, have the damage recorded on the carrier’s paperwork and photograph it if you can.

Then call us and we will ship a replacement or refund you in full. Damage is uncommon, but the week it happens is the worst possible week for it. You will not be asked to negotiate with a freight company.

Yes. Hawaii deliveries go to Honolulu. In Alaska we work with an associate on the ground to complete the delivery. Shipping costs more to both and is quoted separately, but the process is otherwise the same.

No. The FTC’s Funeral Rule requires a funeral home to accept a casket you bought elsewhere, and forbids it from charging you a handling fee for doing so. You are also entitled to buy only the goods and services you want rather than a package.

This is the question families worry about most, and it is settled federal law. If a funeral home suggests otherwise, call us — we deal with this often and will speak to them directly.

You are not required to, but we suggest you do, once the order is placed. It is not a confrontation — the funeral home needs to know a delivery is coming so they can plan around it, and the day goes more smoothly when they do. We are happy to make that call for you.

Ask for the General Price List while you are there. Every funeral home must give you one, itemized, before discussing arrangements. It is the single most useful thing you can ask for, and asking costs nothing.

Because that is the merchandise in their selection room, and the casket is where a large part of a funeral home’s margin sits. That does not make funeral directors dishonest — most do careful, necessary work that we could not replace, and plenty are entirely relaxed about an outside casket.

What you may hear is doubt rather than refusal: that an outside casket might not arrive on time, or might not arrive in good condition. Those are fair things to want reassurance about, and they are our responsibility, not yours. Buying the casket elsewhere does not stop the funeral home doing everything else.

Once your loved one is in their care, the funeral home must accept the casket. Before that, storing one is at their discretion, and many will decline simply because they have limited space.

This is why we time the delivery to the service rather than shipping as early as possible. If you are planning ahead, it is usually better to settle on a model and price now and order when the time comes — we will keep the details on file.

Choose a casket and order online, or call and we will take the order over the phone. It takes about five to ten minutes, and the only thing we need from you is which funeral home is receiving it.

A person then calls you to confirm the details before anything ships, and contacts the funeral home to arrange the delivery window. Someone is reachable at any hour, including holidays.

On our Funeral Rules & Regulations page, which sets out the FTC Funeral Rule and what it requires of a funeral home, along with the state-by-state differences.

Casket prices vary widely. Ours start at $995 for a plain pine box and $1,195 for full-size 20-gauge steel, running up through 18-gauge steel and solid hardwood; a funeral home will typically show you the same caskets at several times that.

There is a good option at every level. A more expensive casket is not a better goodbye, and nobody here will tell you otherwise.

Materials, mostly — pricing works much like fine furniture. A casket in a rare hardwood such as mahogany costs more than one in pine, and solid bronze or copper more again. Gauge, interior fabrics and hardware account for the rest.

The other factor is where you buy it. The same casket carries very different prices depending on how many hands it passes through on the way to you.

Two reasons. We buy factory-direct and hold our own stock, so nobody takes a cut in between. And we do not carry the overhead of a building with a selection room in it.

A casket that runs to several thousand dollars through a funeral home is often under a thousand here. It is not a lesser casket — it is a shorter chain.

A package bundles the casket with the professional services, and it is often presented as a single figure. You are entitled to see those items priced separately — the Funeral Rule requires it — and to decline any part of the package you do not want.

Ask for the itemized General Price List, then compare the casket line against ours. In our experience that one line is where most of the difference sits, and the rest of the funeral home’s work is worth what they charge for it.

You still have options. Having your loved one in their care does not commit you to buying their casket, and it does not commit you to a package. Ask for the itemized price list, buy the casket from us, and take only the services you want.

It is also worth remembering the position they are in: a typical funeral home handles only one or two funerals a week, and that has to carry the building, the staff and the licence. Their services genuinely cost what they cost. The casket is the part you can change.

Ask every funeral home you speak to for the General Price List — they must provide one, and prices between homes in the same town vary more than most families expect. Compare the professional service fee, not just the packages.

Buy the casket separately. Ask the cemetery whether a grave liner is acceptable instead of a full vault, since requirements differ by cemetery rather than by law. And be wary of anything sold as protecting remains indefinitely — no casket or vault can do that, whatever it costs.

All major credit and debit cards — Mastercard, Visa, Discover and American Express — plus PayPal and Cash App. Bank wires, cashier’s checks and money orders are all fine; call us and we will set it up.

Sales tax applies to California orders only. There are no handling charges, no fuel surcharges and nothing added at checkout — the casket price plus the flat shipping rate is what you pay.

Everything it needs for the service. Each casket arrives fully dressed — interior lining, pillow, throw and an adjustable bed — with nothing further to buy and nothing for the funeral home to add.

Practically, it is a container that holds and carries the remains of someone who has died. Beyond that it does something less practical but no less real: it gives a family a dignified way to see their person one last time, and a focal point for the service.

It is worth saying plainly that a casket does not preserve anyone. Choose the one that looks right for the person and sits within what you can comfortably spend.

Gauge is the thickness of the steel, and the scale runs backwards — the lower the number, the thicker the metal. An 18-gauge casket is about 30% thicker than a 20-gauge one. For comparison, your car is roughly 18-gauge steel and a licence plate is roughly 20-gauge.

Ours weigh about 210 pounds in 18-gauge and 170 pounds in 20-gauge. Both are sound caskets. The heavier gauge costs more and feels more substantial; it does not change what a casket is for. Most families choose 18-gauge.

A sealer has a rubber gasket around the lid that resists air and moisture. It is not a guarantee against natural change over time, and no casket can be — anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. A gasket is sometimes required when remains cross state lines by air, sea or rail.

Every 18-gauge casket we sell is a sealer. Among 20-gauge, some are and some are not, so check the specifications on the product page or ask us and we will confirm before you order.

A half couch casket has a lid in two independently opening halves; during the viewing only the upper half is opened, showing the head and shoulders. A full couch lid is a single piece, and opening it displays the full length.

Around 93% of what we sell is half couch, which is what most American services use. Full couch is more common in some traditions and for open casket services of a particular style.

A standard casket has an interior width of 23½ to 24 inches, which fits most people — as a rough guide, men under about 240 pounds and women under about 200. We also carry 25½, 26, 27½ and 28 inch interior widths, and larger again beyond that.

If you are unsure, the funeral director can measure and advise, or call us and we will work it out with you. Getting this right matters more than almost any other choice on the page.

Metal caskets from 24 to 28 inches of interior width fit a standard vault, as do wood caskets at 23½ inches. Anything larger needs an oversized vault, so check with the cemetery before ordering.

We carry one of the largest selections of oversized caskets available, with over 150 models — see the oversized collection.

Yes. We carry cremation caskets and rental-appropriate models, including simple wood and cloth-covered options for families who want a viewing before the cremation.

These are the same caskets, from the same manufacturers, that funeral homes show in their selection rooms — Batesville among them. Each is inspected before it leaves the warehouse.

If one arrives and it is not right, refuse the delivery and we will replace or refund it. Our return and exchange policy is on the refund policy page.

Very possibly. We carry Batesville and other major manufacturers’ models, and much of what a funeral home displays is available here under the same or a similar name.

Send us a photograph of the casket, or the name from the price card, and we will tell you whether we have it or the closest equivalent — and what it costs.