Minnesota business cuts funeral costs

NEW YORK MILLS, Minn. (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 tells KSAX-TV (http://bit.ly/IfWDIK ) that 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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