Consider Berube & Sons Funeral Home, Salem

 
 

Marbleheaders supporting Marblehead businesses makes perfect sense.

But the funeral home in Marblehead is no longer a locally owned business. The money you spend with your “local” funeral home goes to a publicly traded corporation called SCI / Dignity Memorials from Houston, Texas.

Today, Berube & Sons Funeral Home is the closest family owned funeral home to Marblehead and continues their third generation of service to North Shore residents.

As of Sept. 1, 2024 their charge shown below for Direct Cremation with minimum cremation container is $5,275.*

 
 

Our charge shown below is $1,995

 
 

Stop paying $5275+ for a simple cremation and $20,000+ for a full funeral.

We invite you to call to compare costs you have been quoted from your "local" funeral director.  You will see the difference when a firm has to answer to Wall St. before Main St.

There is a difference between an independent funeral home and a large conglomerate.

Multinational conglomerates have been buying funeral homes and cemeteries around the world. Fifteen to twenty years ago these conglomerates swept through Massachusetts quietly buying as many firms as they could. In some parts of the country these corporations were stopped from buying more businesses due to a risk of a monopoly. Below are some of the facts behind these giant corporations.

  • The funeral homes they purchase retain the original names you have grown to know and even trust.

  • They are publicly traded companies responsible to the shareholders to increase profits each year.

  • Increased profits must come from higher prices and cutting costs. Most smaller cities and towns like Salem, Swampscott, and Marblehead have a limited amount of deaths per year.  Without being able to expand their call volume much, the other options are cutting budget or raising prices.

  • These conglomerates often utilize a central morgue to save costs. More often than not the body of your loved one will be picked up by staff coming to you from Boston. And, even if you live next door to the funeral home you have chosen, your loved one will probably be taken to the conglomerate's central morgue in or near Boston where the embalming is done or until other arrangements are made.  

Service Corporation International (SCI) which operates under the name Dignity Memorial is the world's largest funeral home and cemetery conglomerate and operates some local companies.

Local funeral homes owned by SCI include:
Eustis-Cornell Funeral Home, Marblehead
Stanetsky Funeral Chapel, Salem/Swampscott
Cuffe-McGinn Funeral Home, Lynn

Call Berube & Sons Funeral Home to discuss funeral arrangements or pre-planning. 
There are situations in life when a huge corporation may be the right choice.  Dealing with the loss of a loved one is not one of those times.

*source for this screenshot is https://www.dignitymemorial.com/funeral-homes/massachusetts/marblehead/eustis-cornell-funeral-home/4695/costs/funeral-price-list

taken Sept. 1, 2024