Plan B Forum

From the Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette:

A plus-sized Jewish lady redneck died in El Paso on Saturday.  Of itself hardly news, or good news if you're the type that subscribes to the notion that anybody not named you dying in El Paso, Texas is good news.  In which case have I got news for you: the bawdy, fertile, redheaded matriarch of a sprawling Jewish-Mexican-Redneck American family has kicked it.  This was not good news to Renay Mandel Corren's many surviving children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, many of whom she even knew and, in her own way, loved.  There will be much mourning in the many glamorous locales she went bankrupt in:  McKeesport, PA, Renay's birthplace and where she first fell in love with ham, and atheism; Fayetteville and Kill Devil Hills, NC, where Renay's dreams, credit rating and marriage are all buried; and of course Miami, FL, where Renay's parents, uncles, aunts, and eternal hopes of all Miami Dolphins fans everywhere, are all buried pretty deep.

Read the rest here.

-"BB"-

Does my local news paper (Wilmington DE News-Journal, owned by USA Today).have outlandish fees for obituaries? Is it possible it I was charged more because I was not working through a Funeral Home? I wrote the one for my son; my daughter and I collaborated for my wife. They were about a third the size of the one quoted above and I was charged $300 for each. My wife we put in the paper on Thursday and Sunday so it was a total of $600.

snailgate

Snail, I paid about half what you paid for about the same amount a four years ago, One of the sure money makers left for the newspapers.

I think it's terrible that newspapers charge for what they now call "death notices". The Wichita paper would have charged $200 for my mother's full obit in 2008. It's probably more than that now. A seven-liner was free. She lived. She died. They don't offer that anymore. The paper in Fayetteville Arkansas, where she lived for her last 16 years, as well as the weekly one where I grew up, ran the full obit for nothing. I think that's how it should be.

MGMcAnick wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 20, 2021 1:40 am

I think it's terrible that newspapers charge for what they now call "death notices".

Why should they provide this service for free?

Long Run wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 21, 2021 5:22 pm

MGMcAnick wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 20, 2021 1:40 am

I think it's terrible that newspapers charge for what they now call "death notices".

Why should they provide this service for free?

Once upon a time they generally did - back in the day when newspapers enjoyed high subscription rates and advertising paid the bills. Now everybody wants to read the news for free and newspapers are dying - so obituary sections are a regular income source that keep them limping along on life support. I don’t blame the papers for making an income wherever they can.

Long Run wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 21, 2021 5:22 pm

MGMcAnick wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 20, 2021 1:40 am

I think it's terrible that newspapers charge for what they now call "death notices".

Why should they provide this service for free?

No one said they should provide an obituary like the one I referenced for free.  But neither do I feel that a person placing an obituary for a loved one should be charged by the column-inch, like a display ad for Walmart or someone buying or selling shit in the classifieds.  There should be a middle ground for something like this.

-"BB"-

This was mistakenly posted in another thread so I’m sharing it here for BigRR:

Big RR wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 21, 2021 6:26 pm

And I'd venture to guess a lot less people are publishing obituaries; most funeral homes have websites which will post an obituary and let people send condolences, usually for free. The bigger homes even post "advertising" on these, giving links to local florists (who I am certain pay for this in some way. The sites are also usually accessible when obituaries are searched. As less and less people read papers, I think obituaries will be going this way.

Bicycle Bill wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 21, 2021 6:38 pm

No one said they should provide an obituary like the one I referenced for free.  

The paper in Fayetteville Arkansas, where she lived for her last 16 years, as well as the weekly one where I grew up, ran the full obit for nothing. I think that's how it should be.

Everyone else involved in end of life services is paid, some quite handsomely, so i don't get the rationale for not paying for the newspaper obituary. Everything costs more than it seems like it ought to (with the possible exception of tech products that keep getting better and most getting less expensive), but even newspaper obits have people involved, and other costs such as printing, etc., so they can be reasonable and seemingly expensive at the same time.

I'd venture to guess a lot less people are publishing obituaries in the newspapers; most funeral homes have websites which will post an obituary and let people send condolences, usually for free. The bigger homes even post "advertising" on these, giving links to local florists (who I am certain pay for this in some way. The sites are also usually accessible when obituaries are searched. As less and less people read papers, I think obituaries will be going this way.

Thanks for posting it above BSG.

Big RR wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 21, 2021 9:02 pm

I'd venture to guess a lot less people are publishing obituaries in the newspapers;

You would think that would be the case, but the two papers I read on a regular basis (in two different parts of the country), the obits sections seem to have gotten longer. Maybe people view the newspaper obituary as more permanent or aimed at the local community than the purely online listing with a mortuary. Much thought goes into what to include of a person's life when I peruse this section. Add in that people do in general have more disposable income and want to do right by their loved one, and a death notice/obit is one way to show that. That can all change in the course of a generation, but for now, the obituaries look as well-read as ever.

eta: Overall published obits are down but that can be explained by fewer papers to publish in. Those still going may or may not have more or less obits. Of course, COVID and the delay in memorial services (which can turn into events that never happen) upsets whatever trends there are for now.

We need to face the fact that the era of inexpensive obituaries in newspapers is no longer with us.

I guess it depends on the area LR; for the most part(except for a local weekly that comes free and provides updates on local news), I haven't read a paper for a good number of years (and haven't had one delivered for a longer time; I read my news online from a couple of subscriptions to nationally known papers. I have found many local and state papers to be thinner and to have a pretty low level of writing and not worth the price of buying one. I imagine in other areas this may not be the case, but I do think the days of the local or state daily paper are leaving us, which is why I think a lot of people wouldn't even consider publishing an obituary--who would have the paper to read? It may well be different in other areas, but I think the change is inevitable.

It's kind of like books; I resisted getting a kindle for the longest time as I love to hold and read a book, but I finally relented, and am happy I did. The Kindle is much more convenient as I ca carry a veritable library with me and I didn't have to worry of the reading lamp is broken on the plane as it provides its own light. I still miss books, but not enough to walk away from the convenience of a Kindle.

Or it could be that I just like to hang out with a certain type . . .