The expanding business of burying the dead: America¿s obesity problem leads to growing demand for larger coffins

By David Mccormack 21:26 10 Jan 2013, updated 21:26 10 Jan 2013

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With America’s growing obesity problem showing no sign of slowing, funeral homes are reporting a booming demand for larger coffins.

While a standard casket typically measures between 24 and 27 inches wide, manufacturers are now producing boxes as wide as 52 inches, capable of fitting a person weighing up to 1,000 pounds.

The United States has the highest rate of obesity in the world with the CDC counting 35.7% of American adults as obese and 17% of American children. If those trends continue, about half of all adults will be obese by 2030.

Where once extra large coffins were a rare request, funeral home directors and casket manufacturers have both noted a growing demand with each passing year.

‘During the 1980s, very little concern was given to the manufacture of oversize caskets,’ says Keith Davis, 62, owner of Goliath Caskets of East Lynn, Indiana.

Founded in 1985, his company specializes in larger caskets and he says business is booming.

Goliath produces three different bands of casket. The smallest starts at 29-inches in width and is suitable for people who weighed up to 350 pounds. Next up are their 33in and 35in-wide caskets to address the needs of people of 350-550 pounds.

Then the third band of coffins measure between 37in and 52in in width and can handle anything between 550 and 1000 pounds.

Each coffin is designed to cater for the special needs of the obese, says Davis.

'Our coffins have a fully articulated bed, a re-enforced bottom and are 1ft 4in-high to accommodate the extra girth of an obese person.'

But all those extra materials cost more money and of a larger coffin can typically cost about £2,500, more than twice the price of a standard one.

Rising costs is just one problem for a family burying an obese relative.

Additional expense, and problems, can arise as many hearses are not capable of carrying such heavy caskets, some crematoriums do not have doors large enough to accommodate them, and some families may be required to purchase more than one burial plot for a loved one.

Obese or not, everyone should be treated with dignity when they die, says Andrew Dickinson, who co-owns the Dickinson Funeral Homes in La Crosse, Wisconsin with his twin brother.

He says the issue of weight requires funeral directors to be extra sensitive to the needs of the grieving family.

'At times it can be uncomfortable,' explains Andrew Dickinson, who co-owns the Dickinson Funeral Homes in La Crosse, Wisconsin with his twin brother.

'Some families just aren't familiar with this room, and when they come in, they don't know the dimensions and just they think everyone can fit in a traditional sized casket, which just isn't the case,' he told News8000.com.

The brothers started working for their family business in 2002 and they say that back then the need for oversized caskets was pretty much unheard of.

Video: Need for oversized caskets grows as American waistline grows

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