As of at least a few months ago, the consulate is now issuing an electronic version of the consular report of a death abroad for Americans.
A couple of years ago when I went through this process, I handled getting the consular report myself. I seem to remember an annoying phone tree getting through to the right person at the consulate, but the whole process was straightforward. At that time they gave me 10 copies of the report. I paid nothing, and they sent the reports to me.
I did end up needing the report for a few financial and legal things in the US (along with the Mexican death certificate).