In junior high, I watched my teacher drop a rat brain into alcohol, and the alcohol seemed to eat away at the brain. So alcohol kills brain cells, right? Well, not exactly. The alcohol that you drink enters your bloodstream, and doesn’t actually attack your brain directly. Of course, there are other ways for alcohol to injure your brain: for example, binge drinking can lead to decrease in breathing and injury to your brain that way.
More things that don’t kill you here.
It’s been very interesting getting out and about visiting new funeral directors who have applied to be accredited by the GFG. We spend several hours looking around, getting to know, asking questions. It’s quite different from a visit by a trade body, of course. We’re there to evaluate the consumer experience. We look out for stuff like coathooks on the back of the door of the ‘chapel of rest’. (We’ve yet to find any.)
If we like what we see and hear we review the funeral director on this website and give them a Recommended by the Good Funeral Guide sticker to wear on their window.
What’s especially struck us has been the individuality of the funeral directors we have visited. Each has a very distinct, often characterful, way of doing things.
Here’s an example. It’s from the contract which Richard Fearnley asks all his clients to sign.
Richard’s least expensive funeral is his Ruby funeral at £1397 including disbursements. Yes, really, £1397.
The contract begins:
I state that I have personally made the arrangements for the funeral of the above named deceased and now take full responsibility of all funeral expenses.
I have been informed about the ‘Ruby Plan’ available for for families with limited means/social security benefits, at a total cost of £1397 including the necessary disbursements for cremation.
My chosen plan is the ‘XXXX Plan and I have today received an estimate for £XXXX…
In this way, Richard’s clients can benchmark what they have chosen to spend against his lowest-cost funeral and remind themselves of the difference just before they sign.
What a refreshing difference from upselling.