Outrage as China woman tells cash-strapped friend to put father’s ashes in parcel locker
- Woman says friend could not afford to bury father or put ashes in urn so she told him to rent a parcel locker
![A wave of anger has hit social media in China after a woman told her friend to put his father’s ashes in a cheap parcel locker to save money. Photo: SCMP composite/Taobao/Wikipedia](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/1020x680/public/d8/images/canvas/2024/07/26/bb190314-85aa-4164-84eb-bc9c47f1be9d_f7c6ec34.jpg?itok=zGvM825p&v=1721969249)
An internet user in China who advised her friend to keep his father’s ashes in a parcel locker to avoid paying professional storage costs has triggered outrage on mainland social media.
According to a post on July 18 on Weibo, the man did not have money to bury his father in a cemetery, nor did he have room to put the cremation urn in his small home, the mainland media outlet The Cover reported.
“He followed my suggestion to leave the cremation urn in a Hive Box parcel locker,” @zhuzaiyueliangshangdeningmengjing wrote.
“You can buy a membership fee for only 55 yuan (US$8) a year. They will not charge any other fees. Isn’t that quite a reasonable price?” she said.
![Some people choose mini-coffins for ashes, left, but a cheap parcel locker, right, is deemed disrespectful. Photo: sinchew Some people choose mini-coffins for ashes, left, but a cheap parcel locker, right, is deemed disrespectful. Photo: sinchew](https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/07/26/dca6ea43-13b1-4244-908d-7c436b290fcd_6197b816.jpg)
Buying a grave of less than one square metre would cost at least 100,000 yuan (US14,000) in the suburbs of major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.
![](https://assets-v2.i-scmp.com/production/_next/static/media/wheel-on-gray.af4a55f9.gif)