New York Mills Business Cuts Funeral Costs

NEW YORK MILLS  (AP) - A western Minnesota business is offering a way to think outside the box when it comes to burying a loved one.

A New York Mills company is selling assembly kits that allow you to build your own casket for a fraction of the cost of one that you might buy at a funeral home.

Patrick Kilby is the owner of A Simple Pine Box. Kilby says his do-it-yourself pine casket kit is $700 - assembly in about an hour. Kilby says the caskets can also be used as furniture before death - maybe a bookcase or table.

The business also offers classes for assembling its casket kit. Kilby says he started his business after his mother died about five years ago and his sister asked him to make her casket.

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