What 'General Price List' means and why you must request one

What the GPL is

The General Price List (GPL) is a written document the FTC Funeral Rule (16 CFR § 453.2) requires every U.S. funeral home to provide to anyone who requests it, free of charge, in person or by phone, before any pricing discussion. The GPL must be provided whether or not the family ultimately uses the home.

What it must contain

The GPL must contain 16 federally-mandated price line items in a specific order, plus the home's name, address, and phone number, and the date the prices became effective.

• Forwarding of remains to another funeral home.
• Receiving remains from another funeral home.
• Direct cremation.
• Immediate burial.
• Transfer of remains to funeral home.
• Embalming (with the disclaimer 'Except in certain special cases, embalming is not required by law').
• Other preparation of the body.
• Use of facilities and staff for viewing.
• Use of facilities and staff for funeral ceremony.
• Use of facilities and staff for memorial service.
• Use of equipment and staff for graveside service.
• Hearse.
• Limousine.
• Other automotive equipment.
• Casket price list (referred to in writing).
• Outer burial container price list (referred to in writing).
• Basic services of funeral director and staff (the non-declinable fee).

Common GPL formats

Some homes publish the GPL on their public website. Others provide it on request only. The Rule does not require online publication; some states (notably California, New York, and Massachusetts) impose state-level rules requiring online publication. The Rule does require the home to keep the GPL current — typically updated annually.

Cheap Funeral pulls GPLs from public sources and from direct requests during enrichment scans. Where a home has not published a GPL we mark the listing rather than estimate the prices.

Why every family should request it

The GPL is the family's single most useful price-shopping document. Comparing the GPLs from three providers takes 15-30 minutes and surfaces $500-$3,000 in price variation between providers in most metros. The family does not have to commit to a specific provider to request a GPL — federal law explicitly allows GPL requests from price-shopping families who have not yet made a decision.

Pricing source disclosure

Every dollar amount on Cheap Funeral is sourced from each funeral home's published General Price List (GPL) under the FTC Funeral Rule (16 CFR Part 453). The Rule requires every U.S. funeral home to provide an itemized GPL on request — by phone, in person, or in many cases online. Where a home has not published a GPL we mark the listing accordingly rather than estimate.

National benchmarks throughout this article are drawn from the National Funeral Directors Association 2023 Member General Price List Study (NFDA, July 2023), which reports the median U.S. cost of a funeral with viewing and burial at $8,300 and the median direct cremation at $2,495.