Oklahoma Mom Stopped from Selling Caskets On Internet

must be a "public health" issue. someones not getting the public's $$

The company involved is "Memorial Concepts Online Inc" and they've been fighting this for some time. (It was going on when I moved out of OK back in 1999).

There is a link to more on the story in the "News" section of their WWW site.

fishin'- Thanks for the link. I find it abominable when the government ostensibly attempts to "protect" consumers, but is really allowing a certain group of business people to control an industry. Sheesh!

Well, I don't know much about the casket biddness (and hope I never have to!) but I'd guess that this is the other side of the coin of regulation.

People scream for regulation when someone gets ripped off (and the funeral biz has a pretty bad reputation there..) and government agencies step in and regulate. When they regulate you get stupid laws like this one. Seems to be a never ending cycle.

Sounds like the gal needs to cross the border into Texas and do her business from there. While it's tough to say where business is conducted on the 'Net, it seems to me to be a foregone conclusion that if one is conducting a 'Net business out of one's own home, then the location of that home is a state wherein one is doing business.

Makes it interesting vis a vis people with more than one home and/or more than one 'Net connection.

If I live in Oklahoma half of the year, and Florida the other half, and I work in Texas for part of the year and Georgia for the other part, and I have 'Net access from all of these places (plus permission from my employers to visit and run my site from their 'Net accesses), where am I doing business?

My guess is all four states.

I don't think the courts have decided this yet or, if they have, it hasn't been widely publicized. Now this is a question for the Supreme Court as it could generate all manner of conflicts among the states.

ahhh well, now who needs a casket ?
after all, the saying goes ashes to ashes and
dust to dust so, I figure the sooner I am ashes and dust,
the happier I will be - my designated ash & dust depositor
has to make a bit of a trek in the Great Smoky Mtn National
Park to drop me off, but it will be worth it, for then I can
become part of a spring wildflower, a fall leaf, a butterfly, or
maybe even a red fox!! They have successfully reintroduced
a red fox population back into the national park, & everyone
is so pleased about it, the last time I was there, I actually
got to see one for about 2 seconds, in the wee early hours -
not nearly long enough for me to snap a pix. But I hold it
dear in my memory photo storage department.

Phoenix, You should start a forum on "Stupid Laws." I'm sure there are a limitless number of them in the US of A. c.i.

Suppose she is selling dangerous caskets? A handle might break off and drop the casket on an unsuspecting pallbearer's toe. Or what happens if the inner padding turns out to be toxic? Or what happens if this non-regulation coffin isn't fire-retardant and bursts into flames at the funeral? What if the color of the coffin clashes with the funeral parlor decor and looks tacky? Or what if the family has to relocate the deceased in 20 years and is embarrassed because the coffin deteriorated too fast? What if the deceased is a vampire and the coffin is too easy to get out of?

Jeez Equus, I has answers for all of those until ya got to the vampire.. That's a toughie.. lol

Equus, Our myopic view of caskets is the real problem. In Mexico, they form caskets like cars. c.i.

Equus- "dangerous caskets"? I think that the marketplace would take care of that. What about computers ship D.O.A., or furniture that arrives scratched?

The point that I was trying to make is that the funeral industry is so regulated, that it is very difficult for an independent entrepreneur to crack that old boy's club.

So, it's a DEAD issue? nyuk nyuk.