Costco adds discount coffins to shopping list
When visiting a discount store, the shopping list usually consists of food, toiletries and other household items. Now, Costco customers in Australia can add a coffin to that list.
The supermarket giant, after stocking coffins in its US stores for several years, has partnered with Scientia Coffins and Caskets to make Australia the first foreign market to introduce an end of life range.
Fourteen different coffins and caskets are available, ranging from £249 to £2,627 – around 50% less than coffins from funeral homes.
Manufactured in China and Italy, the eco-friendly coffins can be ordered in-store and shipped in two days to either the customer or their funeral director.
Issac Leung, founder of Scientia, is a former derivatives trader and worked for Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong before moving back to Australia to look for an industry that “needed innovation”. He settled on the funeral industry, which he said has “a lot of traditions and a lot of culture that require a lot of change”.
He added: “Dying is expensive and funeral costs are evidently going higher and higher. You’re going to have people that are cost-conscious and look for those savings.”
Tags: Australia, coffin, coffins, Costco, Issac Leung, Scientia