They prosper when their customers go in the hole.

• Author: Cariaga, Vance
• Position: Statistical Data Included

Like the coffins Hurricane Floyd's flood waters popped out of the ground, funeral costs are on the rise. Since 1980, they've shot up 40%, after adjusting for inflation. To keep costs down, some survivors opt to send their loved ones up in flames: Cremation can trim $2,000 from a funeral bill. Others shop retail coffin stores, which are giving funeral homes their first real taste of competition.

As is the case with many industries, this one is rapidly consolidating. To protect their turf -- and livelihoods -- funeral directors have launched an effort to have retailers regulated the way funeral homes are, and they are pushing preplanned, prepaid funerals, trying to bag future business before the deceased-to-be shuffles off this mortal coil. But the emphasis on sales doesn't sit well with critics, who contend the business is becoming concerned more with compensation than compassion.

Still, it's steady work, immune to recessions and most market forces. In 1997,2.3 million Americans -- 8.6% of the population -- died, a rate fairly constant through the '90s. But apart from job security, why would anybody want to be an undertaker (a term the trade despises)?

"It's a good way to help people out and to earn a living as well," says Brandon Cook, funeral director at Hankins & Whittington Funeral Service in Charlotte, though he admits there are easier jobs. "You're basically on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You come into daily contact with grief and loss. You're fairly closely watched and regulated, and I don't know too many of us who are getting rich."

Licensed funeral directors in North Carolina earn an average of $36,000 a year. They must have an associate's degree from an accredited mortuary school, intern for a year at a funeral home and pass a national exam given by the North Carolina Board of Mortuary Science, which regulates the state's 2,654 funeral directors.

In 1994, the Federal Trade Commission enacted a rule preventing funeral directors from charging customers extra for purchasing caskets from a third party. It opened the vault for competition from discount retailers -- there are six in North Carolina -- and the Internet. "It's a big bone of contention for funeral directors," says Andrew Ritter, state mortuary board director.

It's easy to see why. An average funeral for an adult -- including embalming, viewing- and ceremony-facility rental, transportation and coffin -- cost $5,020 in 1998, according to the Wisconsin-based...