The General Price List — funeral directors call it the GPL — is one of the most useful documents a family can have when planning a funeral. Federal law requires every funeral home in the United States to give you one if you ask. Most families never see one. They walk into the funeral home, talk through what they want, and accept whatever package gets put in front of them. The GPL is the document that lets you do this differently.
If you are reading this because someone has died or because you are planning ahead, this piece is a gentle, practical walkthrough of what the GPL contains, why it matters, and how to use it without feeling like you are negotiating at a difficult time.
What the General Price List actually is
The GPL is a written, itemized list of every product and service a funeral home offers, along with the price for each. The Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule, which has been in force since 1984, requires every funeral home to maintain a GPL and to give a copy to anyone who asks for one in person.
You can get a GPL by walking into a funeral home and asking, by phoning and asking them to email it, or — increasingly — by checking the funeral home's website. Some states (California, for example) require funeral homes to post their GPLs online. Many funeral homes have started doing this voluntarily.
You do not need to be planning an immediate funeral to ask. You do not need to give a reason. The funeral home cannot refuse to give it to you, and they cannot charge a fee for it.
What the GPL must contain
The FTC Funeral Rule specifies 16 items that must be itemized on every GPL, if the funeral home offers them. The full list:
- Forwarding of remains to another funeral home
- Receiving remains from another funeral home
- Direct cremation
- Immediate burial
- Transfer of remains to the funeral home
- Embalming
- Other preparation of the body
- Use of facilities and staff for viewing
- Use of facilities and staff for funeral ceremony
- Use of facilities and staff for memorial service
- Use of equipment and staff for graveside service
- Hearse
- Limousine
- Service car or van
- Basic services fee (the non-declinable charge)
- Caskets and outer burial containers (these may be on a separate price list)
The funeral home does not have to offer every item on this list, but if they offer it, they have to itemize it on the GPL with a clear price.
Why the basic services fee matters
The basic services fee is the only charge on a GPL that is "non-declinable" — meaning every customer pays it, regardless of what other services they choose. It covers the funeral home's overhead: licensing, paperwork, the funeral director's time on consultations, and basic record-keeping.
This fee varies enormously between funeral homes — from around $1,500 at lower-cost providers to $3,800+ at premium urban funeral homes. Two funeral homes in the same town can have basic services fees that differ by $1,500 or more, for what amounts to similar overhead.
This is one of the easiest comparison points across funeral homes. If everything else were equal, the funeral home with the lower basic services fee would be the better-value choice.
The package trap
Most funeral homes will present you with packages — bundled groups of services at a single price. "Traditional Funeral Package: $9,500." "Cremation Package: $6,200." Packages are not required by the FTC Funeral Rule and are not what the GPL itemizes.
Packages can save you money if every service in them is something you actually want. They can also bury items you would not have chosen if asked separately. Embalming, viewing room rental, prayer cards, register books, and printed materials are all common package inclusions that families would often skip if they were itemized.
You always have the right to choose individual items off the GPL rather than accepting a package. Federal law explicitly protects this. If a funeral home pushes back on this — and most do not — that is information about how they work.
The casket price list
Caskets are typically on a separate price list, often called the "Casket Price List" or shown as a separate document with the GPL. The funeral home is required to show you this list before showing you any caskets in person.
This is significant because seeing caskets in person, in the order the funeral home arranges them, is a sales technique. The display nearly always starts with the most expensive caskets at eye level, then moves down. The GPL lets you compare prices in writing first — and many families find that the casket they would have chosen from the display is not the one they would have chosen from the price list.
You also have the right to bring in a casket purchased from outside the funeral home. By federal law, the funeral home cannot charge a handling fee for an outside casket. Online casket sellers like Trusted Caskets and Titan Casket ship to funeral homes nationwide, often saving families $1,000 to $3,000 compared with funeral home prices.
How to actually use the GPL to compare
If you are facing a real decision and want to compare two or three funeral homes, here is the practical approach:
- Phone or email two or three local funeral homes and ask for the GPL. Most will email a PDF. Some require a visit; you can ask them to email it as a courtesy and most will.
- Open them side by side, on a kitchen table or a screen. Compare the basic services fee first — this is the most consistent line across providers.
- Compare the cost of the specific services you actually want. If you are choosing direct cremation, compare the direct cremation line. If you are choosing burial with a service, compare the basic services fee plus the relevant ceremony and equipment lines.
- Add up what the actual choice would cost at each provider. The differences are often $1,500 to $4,000 between funeral homes in the same town.
This is not negotiating, and it is not adversarial. It is the kind of comparison the FTC Funeral Rule was designed to make possible.
Questions to ask when reading a GPL
If a line on the GPL is unclear, you can ask. Common ones:
- "What is included in the basic services fee?"
- "Does the direct cremation price include the alternative container, or is that separate?"
- "What does 'use of facilities and staff for ceremony' cover, exactly?"
- "Do the cemetery costs go through you, or do we pay the cemetery directly?"
- "What is the price of refrigeration, if we choose not to embalm?"
Funeral directors are usually happy to explain. The clearer the breakdown, the easier the choice.
What to expect on a typical GPL
For a sense of scale, a typical GPL in the US in 2026 might show:
- Basic services fee: $2,500
- Direct cremation: $2,200 (often includes the alternative container)
- Immediate burial: $3,200 (does not include the casket or cemetery)
- Transfer of remains: $400
- Embalming: $850
- Other preparation (washing, dressing): $300
- Facility for viewing: $500 per day
- Facility for ceremony: $700
- Hearse: $400
- Service car or van: $200
- Caskets: $1,200 to $9,000+
Add what you actually want. That is the realistic price of the funeral, before cemetery costs, which are usually separate.
If a funeral home will not provide the GPL
This is rare, but if it happens, it is a serious red flag. The Funeral Rule is unambiguous: a funeral home must provide a GPL to anyone who asks in person, and many states extend this to phone and email requests. A funeral home that resists is one to walk away from.
You can also report the funeral home to the FTC. The agency takes Funeral Rule complaints seriously and has issued substantial fines.
The honest summary
The General Price List is a quiet form of consumer protection. It exists because, decades ago, families regularly faced funeral bills they did not understand and could not compare with alternatives. The Funeral Rule put a stop to most of that. But the protection only works if families actually use the GPL — by asking for it, comparing it across providers, and choosing individual services rather than accepting bundled packages.
None of this requires being adversarial with the funeral home. Most funeral directors are professionals doing difficult work in service of grieving families. The GPL just lets families participate as informed consumers rather than passive recipients.
For more on the broader consumer protections around funerals, see our piece on the FTC Funeral Rule. For a sense of typical funeral costs across the country, our 2026 funeral cost guide walks through the national medians.
Take the time you need. Ask the questions. And know that your right to a clear, itemized price list is one of the steady, dependable things in a process that often feels otherwise.