Anchorage pastor drives down cost of dying in the Bush
ANCHORAGE - It's more expensive to live in rural Alaska and it costs more to die there, too.
The Rev. Charles Bridges says he's doing his part to lower the cost of caskets for the Bush, and claims he can cut by at least half what competing funeral homes offer for most burial-related services.
Bridges, a Baptist pastor, started Alaska Casket and Monument Co. four years ago in Anchorage, and says he's grabbed about 6 percent of the total casket sales in the state. More than 90 percent of his business is in the Bush, where he sells about 150 caskets annually.
Bridges, pastor at Mountain View Community Church, worked for years as a family counselor at two large, corporately owned Anchorage funeral home chains.
"I saw a need," said Bridges. "I was astounded when I saw a casket that cost the funeral home $400 being sold for $3,600."
Bridges' lowest price casket is about $900. It's an all-steel model competitors sell for at least three times as much, he said. More ornate mid-level caskets cost $5,000 or more in competing Anchorage funeral homes. Bridges' price: $1,775.
"I'm making plenty of profit on these caskets," Bridges said. "One can only assume the markup at funeral homes is atrocious."
Funeral directors at Evergreen Memorial Chapels Inc. and at Dignity Memorial did not return phone calls about the price issue or would not comment.
Jeff Williams, funeral director of Anchorage Funeral Home & Cremation Service, said his company has not been affected by Bridges' entry into the market. The Anchorage-based, Alaska-owned funeral home chain has locations in Kenai, Soldotna, Homer, Seward, Wasilla and Fairbanks.
The company ships about 200 caskets to the Bush annually, and handles about 1,200 funerals.
Williams said he can at least match Bridge's prices, casket to casket, plus his company offers full-service funerals.
Last year, there were approximately 2,800 deaths in Alaska, down about 100 from 2000, according to Phillip Mitchell, research analyst with the state Bureau of Vital Statistics in Juneau.
"Ninety percent of deaths are interred here in Alaska and 10 percent go Outside," Mitchell said.
Bridges has been aggressive in going after the Alaska business, doing an advertising blitz, mostly on television stations that broadcast statewide.
Among Bridges' regular customers are several Alaska Native organizations.
"He's been just terribly responsive to us," said Christine Morgan, social services manager at the Norton Sound Health Corp. in Nome. "Night or day, he has dropped what he is doing and got to us what we needed. He understands the unique problems we have in the Bush."
Bridges is taking steps to enhance his services by partnering with Anchorage mortician Sam Walker to offer complete funeral services. Walker, an embalmer for 35 years, plans to open a funeral home in Anchorage later this year.
Walker said he shares Bridges' goal of providing funeral services at a fair price.
"I'm not out to hurt anybody," Walker said. "My philosophy is live and let live."
Distributed by The Associated Press.