When Jim Lindblad’s mother, Janet Scott Lindblad, died back in June, he thought it would be nice to have an obituary run in the Star-Advertiser. Although her adult life had been spent on the mainland, Janet spent her teen years in Hawaii, graduated in the Roosevelt High School Class of 1945, and retained lifelong emotional ties to the islands. Her son, Jim Lindblad, has lived in Honolulu for over three decades, and I’ve known him much of that time.

So Jim wrote up a narrative and asked the newspaper how much it would cost to publish on a Sunday. The answer: $1770.95. After a revision and a slight reduction in size, the amount dropped to “just” $1,522.26.

The quote was $95 per column inch, plus an additional $50 for the online version, and yet another $50 for a color photo.

Jim’s comment to me: “We paid far less than this to have the body cremated, and the company picked her up from her rest home and needed to store her for a week while we waited for the death certificate.”

“I find it difficult to believe the people I read about whose loved ones died are paying this kind of money for a smallish ad type obituary,” Jim said.

Welcome to the monopoly newspaper.

Jim declined to run the ad at that price.

“I decided my mother would not approve of me spending the $1500 or $1000 or even $500 were she here to help me,” he said later.

The bad thing, for the newspaper at least, is that it is taking advantage of families at their most vulnerable, and they don’t tend to come away with warm and fuzzy feelings towards the newspaper. Many are probably angry, as Jim was, about what appears to be an exorbitant price structure. And now that most classifieds have migrated to Craigslist and other online venues, this is one of the few direct interactions people are likely to have with the newspaper. Wouldn’t you want it to be perceived and remembered positively?

Yes, a free, bare-bones death announcement is available, but it’s not a satisfying memorial for a loved one.

Anyway, at the end of this exchange with Jim, I asked if he would like me to publish what he wrote about his mom. It will be indexed by Google, so other people will be able to find it. Jim agreed, so it appeared this morning as a separate item.

Jim and I would both be interested in hearing your thoughts about how obituaries would be handled in an ideal world, and what real-world alternatives there are today.