How Obituary Submissions Actually Work at Courier Express
Getting an obituary published through Courier Express isn't as straightforward as sending an email and walking away. The process involves a few steps most people don't anticipate until they're staring at a deadline with half-written text and a phone number nobody answers after 5 PM. I've helped several families navigate this over the years, so here's what actually happens. The first thing to understand is that Courier Express operates on a specific submission window. Unlike some publications that accept obituaries year-round through a generic portal, Courier Express typically requires submissions during business hours on weekdays. Their office hours run 9 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday, with a hard cutoff for same-day consideration around 2 PM. If you miss that window, your piece moves to the next available publication date, which could mean waiting three to five business days depending on backlogged submissions. The actual content requirements are tighter than most people expect. You need a full legal name, the exact date of passing, and a list of immediate surviving family members including their locations. They also require a brief life summary, but not more than 300 words unless you pay extra. The standard photo submission needs to be at least 400 by 600 pixels. Anything smaller gets rejected or replaced with a default placeholder image, which looks terrible in the print layout.
Here's where things get tricky. The pricing structure is tiered based on word count, photo inclusion, and whether you want a full-page or half-page placement. A standard obituary under 200 words with one photo runs around $150 to $200. Add an additional 100 words and that jumps to roughly $275. A full-page spread with multiple photos and extended biographical details can easily push past $600. These numbers shift slightly year to year, so don't rely on old receipts for budgeting. I ran into a specific problem last fall when a client submitted an obituary for his mother. The text was solid, the photo was correct, but he'd accidentally listed her maiden name as her current surname in the opening line. The production team caught it, called him at midnight, and he had to rewrite the entire first paragraph before the next morning's deadline. What most people don't realize is that Courier Express does offer a proofreading review service for an additional $25 fee, and using it would have caught that error before it ever reached the production floor. Always pay the extra $25. It's not worth the stress of a 1 AM correction call. Another detail that catches people off guard is the payment process. They don't accept payment over the phone without a secure form being filled out first. You either pay through their online portal using a credit card, or you mail a check to their editorial office. Cash is not an option. Wire transfers are technically accepted but add two to three business days to processing, which defeats the purpose if you're working with a tight timeline.
There's also a policy about edits after publication. Once the obituary goes live in both print and digital formats, changes are nearly impossible. Courier Express allows minor corrections like fixing a misspelled city name within the first 24 hours, but substantive edits require republishing the entire piece at full cost. I learned this the hard way when a colleague assumed they could swap out a death date after the fact. They couldn't. The corrected version ran as a separate entry a week later, which confused readers and diluted the original tribute. If you need faster turnaround or more flexibility, there are alternatives. Local funeral homes often have direct relationships with Courier Express and can submit on your behalf, which sometimes bypasses the weekday submission window through their established account. Some families also choose digital-only memorial platforms like Legacy.com, which have no word limits and allow unlimited edits for 30 days after publication. The tradeoff is that you lose the credibility and community reach that comes from a physical newspaper publication. The bottom line is that Courier Express works well if you prepare thoroughly before submission. Gather all the required information in advance, budget for the extra proofreading fee, double-check every name and date twice, and submit well before the 2 PM cutoff. Rushed submissions are where most mistakes happen, and once that ink hits the page, there's no going back.
