Louisiana criminalized monks selling pine boxes so funeral directors could keep their monopoly on death. Katrina wrecked their timber, so the Benedictine monks at Saint Joseph Abbey started building simple caskets to keep the monastery alive. Selling a wooden box required a funeral director license, which meant abandoning the... monastery for a year and turning the abbey into a funeral home with embalming labs and a mortuary degree. Federal courts ruled the law existed only to shield licensed funeral directors from competition. The 5th Circuit agreed and the Supreme Court refused Louisiana’s appeal. 31 states still hand the funeral industry a legal monopoly over caskets.show more

good. when my dad opened his business, he bought a building, and brought the skill... hoped for customers, thats it. today the level of regulation needed to do anything is stamping out small businesses form existence.

Refusing the hear the case is less impactful than hearing the case. The case is only valid in the circuit that it originated. Other circuits MAY or MAY NOT want to use it. That being said, there is NO reason why governments need to have any jurisdiction over trade restrictions and/or licensing. There are thousands of licensing issues, from cutting hair to making wood boxes for dead people.

I’ve prepaid my entire funeral. Opted for a cardboard box coffin (legal in my state). . . Oh, the argument I got from the funeral home employee, until I threatened to go to their competition.

Louisiana has a LOT of licenses for professions. My favorites are licensing to be a florist or jockey.

I’d sooner just be cremated. My mom’s burial cost us $10K!

My will specifically states to put my remains in a burlap bag and throw it off a cliff.

Louisiana is forgetting laissez-faire.

I wonder if I can buy one now and just use it as a storage box until it’s needed for that final storage?

There's always amazon.

@grok can you name the 31 states referenced here?

I've purchased from this Monastery. Beautiful work. Literally half to a quarter the cost. And it benefits the Monastery.

That's what people who claim capitalism doesn't work and turn to socialism/communism don't understand: It's not free market capitalism if the state protects monopolies.

The man who builds those coffins and urns is also a beekeeper with a very entertaining YouTube channel.

The state government is the enemy!

I saw caskets at a Costco. I believe it was CA. They were not there for long.