“An open act of plunder against the deceased’s family”?

Our reader Przemysław wrote about the matter on the Istotne.pl forum: “I have an invoice for a funeral ceremony in front of me and, to be honest, I am full of admiration for its creator. The imagination involved in creating it has gone far beyond all bounds of decency. It is an open act of plunder committed against the deceased’s family.” lazankowy shared a similar view: “Funeral services in Bolesławiec are insanely expensive in general. A few years ago I had to bury a family member, and burying that person in their home region—360 km from Bolesławiec—was cheaper than here in our city! And that included transport! Bolesławiec is a very expensive city.”

hemi joined the discussion. “In my case, the funeral is a recent matter [...], and the invoice included: preparatory activities for the funeral—PLN 248, use of the chapel for the ceremony—PLN 259, transport of the body to the grave—PLN 110. Fee for issuing a permit and supervising the digging of the grave—PLN 313. Overall [...] an invoice of around PLN 5,000 right from the start!” he wrote. He added: “The body was in the chapel for one day; what if it had been there for several days or over the weekend? And what about the wake? All right, a funeral costs around PLN 5,000 without any trouble, and as we know, ZUS provides PLN 4,000. We managed [...], but what is a poor pensioner grandmother supposed to do when her pensioner husband dies and both receive scraps from the state? How is such a person supposed to pay for a funeral? PLN 4,000 is not even enough for the funeral itself.”

As Przemysław pointed out, “the funeral services company is owned by the city. The city has horrendous debts. [...] I would very gladly compete with the municipal monopolist. I am convinced that even with prices half as high, I would live in luxury.”

“I have not encountered accusations that it is expensive here,” Władysław Bakalarz, president of Miejski Zakład Gospodarki Komunalnej, the company administering the Bolesławiec cemetery, emphasizes in an interview with “ii.” “On the contrary: people thank us for efficiently organizing the funeral ceremony and for beautifully maintaining the cemetery. Perhaps the belief that Bolesławiec is expensive stems from the fact that the funeral allowance was reduced by PLN 2,000? The fact is that a basic funeral costs PLN 4,000–4,500 here, so the allowance is sufficient.”

“Anyone who believes that our funeral service prices are excessive fails to see the whole picture,” Bakalarz continues. “MZGK covers the costs of operating the necropolis, maintaining it year-round, cleaning, removing rubbish, consuming electricity and water, and operating the monitoring system. I do not know whether any of the internet users have noticed what this cemetery looks like today compared with five or six years ago. We spend tens of thousands of złoty a year just on cutting down trees, in addition to constructing pathways and repairing the fence.

As the head of MZGK points out, every funeral services company must adapt to market prices. “The company makes only a minimal profit,” the president explains. “Our prices cover only the costs of properly operating the necropolis. We increased the rates for the twenty-year grave preservation period by less than 5% solely because of inflation.”

Cheaper elsewhere

In Lubin, where several funeral services companies operate, the entire funeral ceremony costs PLN 1,235 (digging the grave, filling it in, the funeral procession, assistance during the ceremony, arranging accessories, etc.). In Bolesławiec, that amount is not even enough to dig and fill in a grave.

(information: ii)