Is placing a newspaper obituary way too expensive?
With at least two generations of Canadians still having no interest in Twitter or Facebook, the newspaper obituary remains an important, honoured tradition.
After all, that’s where the community turns when a loved one has passed. That’s where they find cherished memories, donation info and, most functionally, details about the visitation and funeral.
Yet no one ever talks about the price of placing a death notice, an ever-rising cost that prompted one critic to recently accuse newspapers of “price gouging” their mourning client base.
Alan D. Mutter, a Chicago newspaper vet, made an interesting point in his popular Newsosaur blog over the weekend: why do newspapers charge huge fees – a strategy he called “distasteful and strategically inept” – to people looking to remember loved ones?
The basis for his post was Mutter’s own experience with obituary placing. He says a one-day run of a “crappy-looking, 182-word death notice” would’ve cost $450 in his local paper, the San Francisco Chronicle.
Mutter scoffed and decided, instead, to donate that money to a college fund for his deceased friend’s four children. “But (my friend’s widow) and I remain appalled that the Chronicle would do this to families at the moment of their most exquisite grief,” he wrote.
You can read more on what the newspaper vet has to say about the business end of sky-high obit placing fees (why they only antagonize readers and splinter loyalty to their paper) here, but it’s worth wondering if those problems are present, too, north of the border.
I called around to a few Canadian newspaper classified departments today to get a rough quote on how much a similar ad to Mutter’s would be to place.
And a good benchmark, seeing as the Chronicle is a major U.S. newspaper, might be the price I got from the Toronto Star. The Star charges $9.40 per line, which consists of about 30-35 characters. From that price grid, the rep I spoke to ballparked a 182-word death notice at just shy of $200 per day – $150 extra if a photo is desired to accompany the obit.
That’s still a ton of money, and a price that makes you wonder how much longer newspapers can continue to chug on.
Everyone knows the industry is hurting, but is charging bloated obit fees – knowing full well people aren’t likely in the state of mind to want to shop for bargains – really the best way to help shrinking profit margins?
How much has your local newspaper charged you to place an obituary?
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: Angela | Dec 20, 2021 12:31:56 AM
When my mother suddenly passed away two years ago, I was unable to afford to say everything that I wanted to say in her obituary. It was two lines. The experience has stuck with me as one of the many traumatic things regarding the death. So, over the course of the last two years, I came to realize that so many other people have probably been in my situation - unable to afford what they want to say in their final words about the person they lost. Your stories show me that we are only a small number of a much larger scale of people who have experienced this. I do not want anyone to ever feel the way that I felt again. I have created a website where online obituaries can be posted. Words are unlimited, and four pictures are included. The cost is $30.00 for a one year posting that can be viewed, emailed, added to social networking sites and printed. The site is www.missingyouforever.com. My primary goal with this site is to ensure that obituaries remain affordable, and that people have options with regards to writing about family members.
Posted by: Rachelle | Dec 20, 2021 12:40:25 AM
When my mother suddenly passed away two years ago, I was unable to afford to say everything that I wanted to say in her obituary. It was two lines. The experience has stuck with me as one of the many traumatic things regarding the death. So, over the course of the last two years, I came to realize that so many other people have probably been in my situation - unable to afford what they want to say in their final words about the person they lost. Your stories show me that we are only a small number of a much larger scale of people who have experienced this. I do not want anyone to ever feel the way that I felt again. I have created a website where online obituaries can be posted. Words are unlimited, and four pictures are included. The cost is $30.00 for a one year posting that can be viewed, emailed, added to social networking sites and printed. The site is www.missingyouforever.com. My primary goal with this site is to ensure that obituaries remain affordable, and that people have options with regards to writing about family members.
Posted by: Kim Braswell | Apr 18, 2021 10:29:16 AM
The Times Daily in Florence, Alabama charges 55 cents per word and $30 for a photo... ridiculous when you have the cost of the funeral and loss to deal with as well...
The Tennessean in Nashville, TN charges $8.99 per line with a $45.00 photo fee...
How do you celebrate and sum up someone's life to possibly do them justice in an affordable space..