Lowman’s Arizona Funeral Home

Keeping Costs Down and Values Up in Today’s Economy

Greetings Fellow Villagers!  We would like to wish you all a Happy Easter and Happy Spring.  What an awesome time of year when we have the privilege of witnessing the blooming of all our beautiful cacti, flowering bushes and stunning flowers that are each so unique, delicate, differently textured and exceptional in their colors.

Witnessing and actually stopping to be thankful for the changing into such a beautiful season, is much like embracing the gift of life God has given to each of us.  We are all “unique” and “special” in God’s eyes, colorful in our personalities, and are blessed when our family members and friends embrace and appreciate these qualities as well.  Life is such a gift that we are all innocent of, more or less, taking advantage of our next breath, as though it is something that is a “given”.  Times have changed so much that, most of us approach each new day with the thought of how much fun we can have without stopping to truly value the opportunity each new day presents to us.

Each new day is an opportunity to become a better person, parent, grandparent, friend, brother, sister, and most importantly, child of God.  Yes, each new day can also present us with new challenges, bumps in the road, and sometimes what seems to be “mountains to climb”.  With the changing of our times and the economy, this can sometimes appear to be a greater test to our character than we, as humans, feel we can bear.

Serving in the funeral industry and helping families get through the most difficult time in their lives, (the loss of a loved one), can be challenging especially in today’s economy.  We, at Lowmans Arizona Funeral Home, are very mindful of the hard times many families face and believe that the prices and services we offer reflect our awareness.  We know that people aren’t only looking for a good price, but also meaningful and valued services for that price.  It has been a conscious decision for us to keep our prices in “check” to continue to serve our families with integrity, being mindful of the significant rises in the cost of gas, groceries, utilities, clothing, healthcare, childcare, entertainment, (I was shocked to learn that a movie now costs $9.50 per person!), and the list goes on.

Serving and speaking with so many families, we have become more and more aware of our competitors philosophies and pricing.  We are presented daily with families that come in with some of our competitors “quote” that exceeds ours by literally a thousand dollars to thousands of dollars.

To be genuine and honest in the last statement, we have learned that the corporate owned competitors have a “professional fee”, (a non-declinable fee), that is $2,200.  Their “removal” fee, (transportation of a loved one from the place of death to the funeral home) is $695.  Those two fees add up to $2,895.  Add in their cost for preparation of human remains, $695, and you are already at $3,590.  Keep in mind that there are many other fees involved in creating a funeral service.

Our “professional fee” is $950’s; “removal” is $225.  When we, here at Lowmans Arizona Funeral Home, add in the cost of preparation of human remains, (embalming), dressing, cosmetics, and casketing, visitation, funeral service, graveside service, transportation to the church and/or cemetery, our total for all of these services comes to $2,575.  This does not include the casket, (pricing begins at $475), or the $100 memorial package.  It does, however, give you a pretty good idea that we are conscious and mindful that these times have created a bigger challenge for families to be able to financially afford a meaningful and much needed service when God has call a loved one home.  We also, at no additional charge, process Life Insurances and pension plans to assist our families in navigating through the mountains of paperwork you are faced with when a loved one dies.  We are here to help you trigger the grieving process, (which is healthy), as well as help guide you through the entire process of, not just caring for your loved one, but also caring for you.  In the 14 ½ years of serving you, our cremation price has only risen once.

Since we have opened our doors for business, we have made a conscious effort to provide you, the community, with helpful and important information to assist in empowering you to ask the right questions and better aid you in making educated and reasonable decisions when it comes to the loss of a loved one.  We truly believe that we are here to serve, striving, on a daily basis, to present you with the best possible options at a most difficult time, while still being mindful of today’s economy.  Since day one, we have always encouraged you to have a budget for a service and to do what you can to stay within that budget.

Our loved ones don’t want any of us to go into financial debt at such a difficult time.  We will continue to encourage all of you to pre-arrange your own services, reflecting your desires of how you want things done, assisting you in ways of keeping the costs down, without compromising the quality of services provided.

All of our prices are located on our website; www.lowmansarizonafuneralhome.com, so this information is available at your fingertips.

As always, we appreciate you taking the time to read this article and hope that the information provided is helpful to you.  Bill and Ingried Lowman are available 24/7 at (602) 276-3601, toll free (877) 276-3601, fax (602) 276-1889, or our website, listed above.  May all of you be richly blessed this spring and Easter season.