Even in the most backward, impoverished places of the outlying regions of Russia, burying your loved ones in cardboard boxes was considered somewhat shameful. But with the recent spike in demand and subsequent price rise of traditional wooden caskets, that has all changed.
Source: Kyiv Insider
In Russia, dying has never been more affordable—or more humiliating.
Cardboard coffins, once reserved for unclaimed bodies and stray dogs, are now flying off the shelves. According to funeral directors quoted in Lenta.ru and other Russian outlets, up to 50% of all burials in some regions now use cardboard boxes instead of traditional wooden caskets.
“We never used to offer them unless someone specifically asked,” admitted one undertaker. “Now people come in and ask for cardboard first. It’s practical.” Another explained the coffin’s appeal bluntly: “It’s lighter. Easier to carry. Cheaper. And no one’s embarrassed anymore.”
Of course they’re not. In today’s Russia, cardboard is as patriotic as the now rehabilitated Stalin.
