Our chevrah kadisha had a long and established relationship with a local casket maker, who suddenly went out of business about two years ago. Until that time, our caskets had been of consistent quality and price; a dark blue flocked material covering pressboard with plastic nails and the cost was approximately $500. Suddenly, without a regular supplier, we turned to the market to look for a suitable replacement.
Our first series of caskets came from a small local upstart who were selling plain wooden Chinese manufactured cremation caskets for about $475. They were somewhat more decorative than our previous purchases, but we soon realized that cremation caskets aren’t necessarily designed to have several feet of dirt piled on top of them. There were a number of reports of caskets collapsing in the grave while shoveling was taking place. Further, if the meit was exceptionally heavy one could hear the bottom of the caskets cracking from the extra stress while in transit.
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