Cremation Urns Are Not Exempt From Quality Concerns All experienced consumers know that all products are not created equal. Cremation urn products are not exempt from that rule. Variances abound with respect to quality, actual appearance, standards in manufacturing, and product longevity. Some are of excellent quality, but like any other product on the market, it is buyer beware when it comes to making your selection. Cremation urns find their origins all over the world, including Turkey, China, and India just to name a few. With the advent of e-commerce websites, alternate available sources of these products for consumers have increased exponentially - a far cry from the days of funeral home-only purchases. But with the convenience of in-home shopping also comes the danger of exposure to inferior product quality. Fortunately, with cremation consumers have the benefit of time on their side when it comes to making choices. Looks can be deceiving. Many of the problems a product might have are not readily apparent to the online consumer. In this case limited product photo resolution is the offender, not necessarily the online retailer. Screen quality and resolution, as well as the resolution and size of the images themselves oftentimes result in a product photo whose flaws are masked from the consumer. Examined up close and personal these otherwise "insignificant" flaws formerly hidden from view in a website image suddenly become quite obvious and very significant. With respect to urns - especially the cubic or cube-style variety - when it comes to materials used for fabrication, the age-old question "what are you really made of?" comes to mind. Many of these urns are fabricated from sheet steel, bronze, copper, etc. Though there are many factors that can distinguish products from one another, with respect to materials selected for fabrication, metal thickness is primary. At.030" some urns are little better than aluminum foil. That is an exaggeration, of course, but it illustrates the point, Thicknesses vary, including.050" and.100" in thickness, the latter being over three times as thick as one from the.030" group. Naturally, the thicker the base material, the more solid and heavier the urn. Though this information is not usually furnished, shipping weights usually are. As a general rule of thumb, the heavier the shipping weight, the thicker the metal used in the urn. Adherence to design specifications during manufacture is important to the quality of any product. That should be obvious. Obvious, however, not always the case. Quality issues resulting from loosely considered design specifications is a factor to watch out for. Again, for the cube-style urns, this is especially important as these urns are typically hand fashioned by craftsmen, no machines to create exact copies. Typically, the areas where such considerations present themselves will be in the cut and bonding of urn walls. Also affected are the base plate mounting brackets, which are sometimes found to be bonded at irregular distances from the bottom edges of the urn walls. In this scenario, the base cover plate (the removable access cover to the interior of the urn), will be unevenly mounted when secured. If the bracket is too close the edge of the urn, the base cover plate will protrude beyond the neighboring wall causing the urn to sit lopsided when placed on a flat surface. Another consideration is the finish on the product. Again, this is difficult to determine from a web-rendered product photo. One issue falling into this category includes the quality of the protective and decorative lacquer coating used during final finishing. Also noteworthy is the color source of the urn before final coating. Though some products are manufactured in the material of its advertised color (brass, bronze, copper, etc.), this is not always the case. Some products are manufactured from one type of material (i.e. brass) and plated in a different color (i.e. bronze), then lacquered. Another technique used for final color preparation is simply to coat the product in a tinted lacquer simulating a certain metal finish. Though all methods are valid, an informed consumer should be aware of the differences. Problems arise when care is not performed when applying the final color. Uneven plating/tinting is common and results in color rendering that is not uniform. Regrettably, most consumers of urns seek out and purchase a product during a period of heightened stress and when they are most vulnerable. Oftentimes funeral products are not researched during low-stress periods of our lives. Whenever you make your purchase, being aware of some of the factors affecting the quality and appearance of your purchase may help you become a more informed consumer. Both prearranged planning and opting for cremation allow the consumer the time to research their options and make the best possible decisions.
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