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KIRKSVILLE, MO. -- Recession or no recession, death is a fact of life.

That got us to thinking about the impact the tough economic times are having on the funeral business.

Fact Finder talked with a couple of local funeral directors to find out.

We learned the funeral business isn't completely recession-proof, but it's not taking a huge hit.

"It is true that people don't stop dying just because there is a recession, but you know, sometimes now we find that people are having a harder time to finance the funeral and may be buying less expensive merchandise," said Vern Playle, funeral director from Davis-Playle-Hudson-Rimer Park View Chapel in Kirksville. Across town at Travis-Noe Funeral Home, Funeral Director Brian Noe is seeing the same thing.

We're noticing more of a trend of people cost-conscious, especially if they don't have life insurance involved," said Noe.

An average funeral in Kirksville costs right around $7,000. Noe said one way people are trying to reduce their funeral bill is by consolidating the services into one day, eliminating visitation on the day before a funeral. That by itself saves hundreds of dollars.

Both funeral directors told us, in recent years, they've been seeing a gradual increase in the number of cremations because they cost less.

"Families right now are just concerned on the money aspect of how much is it going to take for them to live and where can we cut back," said Noe.

Both funeral homes do offer payment plans for families who need it. That's not something new though. They've done it for years.

"It's not something like buying a car they don't have to buy, you know. This is a need they can't put off, and so, we have compassion for them and try to help them out with whatever we can," said Playle.

Playle said a lot of people these days have insurance or pre-arrangement plans, so that's one of the reasons the recession isn't having much of an impact on funeral homes.

The bottom line: the funeral business isn't going under anytime soon.