“We went there the same day, with my daughters, and we spent hours talking with our advisor on the sofas. It was a beautiful moment, as much as it could be,” says this 57-year-old psychologist, widowed for two years.
The model is making headway in France
The Nantes funeral cooperative, the first to open in France, makes a point of offering families a warm decor with green plants and deep sofas, lending them an attentive ear and providing them with “impartial” advice. The non-profit company defends a “selfless” and “humanist” management of death, within a funeral market which represents 2.7 billion euros annually in France.
“We have to make a profit to remain viable, pay the five employees. But there are no shareholders to tell us to make money. Our advisors have no interest in selling a particular coffin or cushion,” explains Sophie Dronet, co-founder of the Nantes funeral cooperative in 2016.
Straight from Quebec, the model is now making its way to France, to Rennes, Lille, Dijon and Angers. In all, around twenty establishments are open or planned. The model, however, remains confidential in the sector: the Nantes cooperative supports an average of 140 families each year.
“Prices have never been so high”
“When I was a consultant in a traditional company, we devoted a maximum of six hours to each family. Here it’s on average between nine and twelve hours. After the death of a loved one, you need good advice to make informed choices, since you don’t have the mind to do market research,” explains Sophie Dronet. From one funeral home to another, the price of urns, coffins and cushions can vary “simple to triple,” she says. In this particular market, “bereaved families can attach a symbolic value to the money spent”.
In France, 4,000 companies share the funeral market. Family companies, large firms, “low cost” brands and high-end establishments have gradually established themselves there since the end of the monopoly of general funeral directors, voted in 1993.
“The monopoly had become an archaic model. Opening up to competition has changed the landscape and made the sector gain in terms of quality of services and transparency on prices,” says Jean-Pierre Sueur, former Secretary of State who gave his name to the law. The Court of Auditors, however, estimated in a report published in 2019 that the price change since the end of the monopoly had been “generally unfavorable to families”.
Organizing a funeral today costs on average between 3,000 and 5,000 euros, according to the National Funeral Federation. The “fair prices” claimed by cooperatives fall within this range. “Prices have never been higher. Of course there is the ‘low cost’, but who wants to offer that to a loved one? Didn’t something go wrong in the process that we use the same vocabulary for a plane ride and for a cremation? », asks Jean-Loup de Saint-Phalle, co-founder of the Collective for Social Security of Death.
Social security for death?
The organization is campaigning for the creation of a fund financed by contributions deducted from salaries, such as health or unemployment insurance, and which would establish agreements with non-profit organizations, on the model of cooperatives. “It is important to be able to choose the company. But on the basis of beliefs or traditions, not on economic criteria,” continues Jean-Loup de Saint-Phalle.
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