THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 8, 1995 TAG: 9504080228
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARIE JOYCE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Finally, a hearse for the information superhighway.
A Hampton Roads funeral home director may be the first in his profession to advertise wares on the World Wide Web.
Carlos A. Howard Funeral Homes in Norfolk ventured on the net about two months ago, looking for national and international customers for his discount coffins. The site was mentioned in this week's issue of Newsweek.
So far, Howard has netted two customers, one from Pennsylvania and another from Delaware, shopping ``pre-need.'' That's a customer buying his own to help family avoid the expense later.
The site also is available for those shopping for a recently deceased relative. They can pay by credit card and have the coffin shipped to their funeral home.
The World Wide Web is software that lets people with an Internet connection and the right equipment tap into tens of thousands of computer systems around the world.
Howard's Web site feature pictures and descriptions of caskets, from the stately Motrachet Mahogany with Champagne Whitehall Velvet ($4,100) to the more modest Thacker 20 Gauge Non-Seal ($492).
Howard thinks customers may feel more comfortable contemplating their own funeral if they can use the computer as a sort of filter. ``It is the wave of the future. No one really wants to deal with death anyway, and as many barriers or cushions we can have between us and it. . . . ''
He'd like to expand the site into a general source of information that would help demystify the process of arranging a funeral, including a page with the 10 most frequently asked questions (No. 1: How much does it cost?).
Howard was persuaded to create the page by cousin Rodney Jordan, co-owner of New Perspective Technologies Co., a business that creates Web pages for small businesses.
``He's been popular really from the beginning, because of the uniqueness of it,'' said Jordan.
A search of about 30,000 Web links didn't uncover any other funeral homes.
Since the mention in Newsweek, the site's attracted about 390 ``hits'' a day. A hit is counted any time someone clicks on the home page or one of its sublevels of pictures or text, so it's hard to say how many individuals have visited.
Not everyone has been positive. One visitor sent Howard e-mail suggesting that the site wasn't in good taste.
``That is someone who has never considered that he may pass,'' said Howard. MEMO: Staff writer Tom Boyer contributed to this report.
ILLUSTRATION: [Illustration of coffin]
Carlos A. Howard Funeral Homes'
World Wide Web address
http://www.melanet.com/melanet/howard/
KEYWORDS: COMPUTERS INTERNET INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY by CNB