Wal-Mart Caskets And Other Halloween Reflections

Spending Halloween at the beach is always nice because you don’t see any trick-or-treaters and you can just reflect on life -- or in this case, the after-life.

Which is exactly what I’m doing right now, my thoughts drifting from skittering snowy plovers to how Wal-Mart is selling beyond the grave.

If you go to Wal-Mart’s website, you’ll see caskets and urns for sale – a move it quietly made just last week. Harlequin Cat doubts the retail chain will ever promote its caskets inside its national sales flyers, so if you want a proper viewing of say, the “Lovely In All Ways” stainless steel casket, you have to visit the site.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Other retailers have stepped outside their traditional boundaries. Winn-Dixie just announced it’s selling health insurance in Florida. And don’t forget that Sears used to sell mail-order houses and motorized buggies.

I’m glad federal law requires funeral homes to accept third-party caskets. I’d just rather be thinking about candy corn and snowy plovers right now.