Saturday, September 24, 2011

Will Pay Long-Distance Respects To Loved Ones

Here's a classified ad that appeared in a Florida newspaper under the heading "senior services" (though I expect it would not apply exclusively to seniors, nor exclusively to Floridians):
Professional Grave Visitor - Can't get back to New York City/Long Island to pay respects, place flowers, say prayers or other sentiments for deceased loved ones? I can do it for you. Call . . . .
I suppose this may actually be a valuable service for some people.
One wonders what the service-provider charges and how he/she verifies that such service were indeed provided.

After all, it's not like the dead can report back that they've been properly respected and/or served -- that their graves/crypts have been tended to, etc.
But free enterprise certainly does provide whatever need the market may demand. Yet, if the service is successful one can imagine taxes and government regulations entering the picture. For example, does the service provider have to pay New York sales tax?

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