Outsourcing: the death of us all?

Wherein lie the limits to outsourcing?

[German] families have to pay for either a cemetery plot or for cremation. Here, too, Woite has found a way to avoid the high price Germany’s cities and towns charge for such services. He sends corpses for cremation to the neighboring Czech Republic, where costs are significantly lower. Or customers can have their deceased buried in a Czech cemetery.

Three times a week Woite’s employees drive back and forth between Germany and the Czech Republic. And although German law requires corpses and ashes to be kept in graveyards, Woite takes advantage of a loophole in the law so his customers can take their loved ones home in an urn.

“Earth mixed with ashes, there’s no law about that in Germany,” Woite explained. “We bury over there and bring back the earth mixed with ashes, and that’s what I hand over to the people.”

Woite has been heavily criticized by competitors for his Czech business. They say he’s irreverent, and they call the journeys to the Czech Republic “corpse tourism.” But that hasn’t stopped the undertaker. He’s planning an organized bus trip to the Czech Republic in April so customers can see for themselves where they or their loved ones may one day be cremated.

Here is the full story. Thanks to Michael Ward for the pointer.