“Death will never be a market like any other […] We don’t open the door of a funeral agency because we want to, but because we have to.” Brianne Huguerre-Cousin and Matthieu Slisse, authors of Scavengers (Threshold), lift the veil on a little-known sector: the funeral business in France. In this “grief industry”, a three billion euro market dominated by two private groups, OGF and Funécap, for which the sadness of families serves as commercial leverage.
“Immoral” commercial techniques to make “superprofit”, serious dysfunctions during funerals… “Bereaved families have become captive customers”, summarizes Brianne Huguerre-Cousin, with 20 Minutes.
Why talk about “captive clients” when talking about bereaved families?
Table of Contents
- Why talk about “captive clients” when talking about bereaved families?
- These are practices mainly practiced by two groups, OGF and Funécap…
- Why did one of the only laws concerning this subject, which opened the market to competition in 1993, not have the desired effect?
- Why was it important for you to do this investigation?
- What are the techniques to avoid being trapped?
At the time of a death, families are in a state of shock: they are unaware of the procedures, the prices, the rules to follow to manage this event. And it’s normal, before being confronted with death, no one knows what to do. In France, you cannot bury someone in your garden, so you have to go through professionals. Result: we become completely dependent.
Families are completely captive in the sense that, since we know nothing about this environment and we are very upset, we place ourselves body and soul in the hands of the people in front of us… Without knowing that behind them, we will be pushed to purchase services which are not obligatory.
These are practices mainly practiced by two groups, OGF and Funécap…
Yes, we were interested in these two groups because they are the ones who control everything. Even if they only organize a third of the funerals, they have the delegation of almost all the crematoriums – a “lucrative vein” with 46% of people who make this choice today compared to 20% twenty-five years ago – funeral chambers, coffin factories and train agents in the sector. It is they (OGF) who “had” the pantheonization of Simone Veil or Joséphine Baker. They also bought brands, keeping their name, to make people believe that it was still a family company. They are omnipresent in France. And it is among them that the main abuses appear: forcing the sale, body inversion, convoy delays, botched embalming treatments, etc.
Employees are also victims of this profit logic. They do a job that is already difficult in many respects and are under enormous pressure from territorial directors. Sales objectives, for which we go so far as to count the number of rings before which they can answer the telephone, daily emails with spreadsheets which compare employees or internal competitions to obtain bonuses… Everything is done to sell more and “inflate” their remuneration which amounts to around 1,400 euros net per month. And they have to sign agreements not to speak to the press.
Why did one of the only laws concerning this subject, which opened the market to competition in 1993, not have the desired effect?
The 1993 law did not actually have the desired effect. The Court of Auditors clearly highlighted this in its 2019 report: when you enter an agency, you are not going to compare prices. We’ll take the first one we see on the corner. This same report reveals that, since the liberalization of the sector – even though the objective was to offer more choice and comparison – prices have increased twice as fast as that of all consumer prices. This same law requires quotes to be displayed in town halls, but this is not respected, the prefectures do not control and there are very few withdrawals of authorization.
Politically, the subject interests no one. Communities therefore often choose to delegate the management of this “industrial and commercial” public service, such as nursing homes and nurseries. The only one to have really looked into it was Jean-Pierre Sueur, more than thirty years ago. Today, some deputies are taking up this issue, like Hadrien Clouet, who recently tabled a bill for the State to cover the costs related to funerals.
Why was it important for you to do this investigation?
We wanted to paint a portrait of what is happening today in France in the funeral industry. By making this observation, we realized the problems of the system in place, where profitability takes precedence over everything. It was important for us that the population opened their eyes to this taboo subject in French society, particularly because this business causes victims. It is not normal for bereaved families to become customers “like any other” when they are clearly not in a position to make a “purchase”. However, these are people who spend on average 4,000 euros to best honor the memory of a deceased person. And this money enriches two large groups, which do not care about abuses and their consequences. Two giants who take advantage of sadness to make money. And seeing the reactions following the publication of the book, we realize that our work was useful.
What are the techniques to avoid being trapped?
It’s sad to think that it’s still up to bereaved families to bear this burden; but the more alert they are, the better. In my opinion, we must clearly distinguish what is obligatory – the coffin, the transport, something to carry the coffin and the identity plate – from what is not: interior fabric, pillow, type of wood, etc.
Our funeral file
Another little-known point: it is possible to release up to 6,000 euros from the deceased’s current account to finance the funeral, which calls into question the usefulness of funeral contracts, often offered by these same groups. More than 500,000 people per year make this choice believing they are “relieving their loved ones” of this weight.
