What are the shipping costs for a dead mom?

When I was packing up my parents’ stuff in their Florida condo, one thing I had to get back north was my mom’s urn. I planned on shipping it—along with everything else—from the nearby UPS store.

“Is she in there?” the clerk asked.

Where else would she be? “Yeah, of course.”

“We can’t take that.”

Turns out you can only legally ship human cremains through the United States Postal Service. They give you a special cardboard box that literally says CREMATED REMAINS in giant letters. I used so much bubble wrap.

While I was working on my book recently (ICYMI this website is going to be a book!!), I realized I hadn’t mentioned this anywhere on the site. And that led me down an enormous rabbit hole. What if your parents died in another state and you had to ship them back? What if they died in another country and you had to ship them back?

I’ve updated the “Getting rid of a body” section accordingly. Good luck, and may your loved ones die conveniently close to home.