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The Economics of Christmas Trees

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Re: The Economics of Christmas Trees

#91

Post by cptskippy »

bombcar wrote: post #32
cptskippy wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish they explored the ACTA claims that artificial Christmas trees are more environmentally friendly than real trees. Artificial trees are made from PVC and the by products of PVC manufacturing are highly toxic and historically highly polluting. In order for that claim to be true under China's lax regulatory environment, either they have some revolutionary new method of producing PVC or farming Christmas trees is h…

I suspect the disconnect is that the average fake tree is NOT used for ten years - probably closer to one.

Every year seems excessive. I know people who've replaced artificial trees every three or so years because they don't take care of their things, but I also know people who use things until they fall apart so I could see 10 years being the average between the two kinds of people.

Re: The Economics of Christmas Trees

#92

Post by mason55 »

jdlshore wrote: post #68
mNovak wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The geography doesn't scale up for the US though. I imagine people in Oregon, near the growers, also pay less per tree.

I live in Portland Oregon and paid $40 for a 6’ noble fir yesterday at a small retail lot. Normally, you can bargain down the price (and judging by his tentative price quote, he was expecting me to) but I was happy with that price and didn’t bother.

I tried to barter at a NYC sidewalk tree seller for our office tree once. They wouldn’t budge so I walked.

Had to embarrassingly come back 30 mins later when we couldn’t even find another tree seller. They were nice and didn’t raise the price further.

Re: The Economics of Christmas Trees

#93

Post by jmchuster »

I still very much enjoy my $20 fold-up tree from Walgreens with built-in lights. Just set up the stand, unfold it, and plug it in. And stores conveniently back in the original box, which even has a little plastic handle on it.

Re: The Economics of Christmas Trees

#95

Post by dj_mc_merlin »

beerandt wrote: post #89
kurthr wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The price from a grower (with 20-30% margin) is $30-35 or about the same. It's the fact that retailers (like always) have a 100% markup (50% margin) so if you go to a random convenience store it'll cost double and they'll make the money. No different from most consumer items. Fake trees last forever... until you throw them away, and then they still last forever.

About half of the US doesn't have an economically workable species/breed of tree unless they charge those higher prices. Virgina Pine grows well in the south (was the historical staple crop until 20~25 years ago), but doesn't naturally grow in cone shaped, and requires trimming/shaping and spraying multiple times a year for the 4-8 years it takes to get a marketable tree. Most southern tree farms have replaced V.P. w…

If I can ask, why do you have so much knowledge of pine industry?

Re: The Economics of Christmas Trees

#96

Post by infinitone »

throwaway287391 wrote: post #94

So it takes 8-10 years to grow a tree to maturity, and the profit margin for the farmer is $8-10 per tree. A farmer grows a tree for me to make a dollar per year. This is staggering to think about to me. Unreal.

Agreed... i don't understand why anyone would be in this business...

Re: The Economics of Christmas Trees

#98

Post by fairity »

rdj wrote: post #90

Timely. We just, as in a few hours ago, wrapped up our season as owners of a u-cut tree farm. It's relatively small, just under 30 acres. But our family was just doing a post-mortem on what went well, what we need to change and making fairly detailed plans for next year and even several years out. I can tell you more then you want to know about the growing, spring/summer and fall care. The shaping. The labor to trim,…

How do you expect market share between artificial and real trees to trend going forward?

From the outside looking in, the market share graph in the article seemed like cause for concern for farmers like yourself.

Re: The Economics of Christmas Trees

#99

Post by brudgers »

beerandt wrote: post #89
kurthr wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The price from a grower (with 20-30% margin) is $30-35 or about the same. It's the fact that retailers (like always) have a 100% markup (50% margin) so if you go to a random convenience store it'll cost double and they'll make the money. No different from most consumer items. Fake trees last forever... until you throw them away, and then they still last forever.

About half of the US doesn't have an economically workable species/breed of tree unless they charge those higher prices. Virgina Pine grows well in the south (was the historical staple crop until 20~25 years ago), but doesn't naturally grow in cone shaped, and requires trimming/shaping and spraying multiple times a year for the 4-8 years it takes to get a marketable tree. Most southern tree farms have replaced V.P. w…

It's been more than a decade, but in Florida sand pine was usually an indigenous option even at Home Depot. The needles are soft and they are wonderful trees.

Re: The Economics of Christmas Trees

#100

Post by froh »

Slartie wrote: post #11

This is really interesting. There seems to be a significant difference between the US Christmas Tree economy and the one in Germany. We got our tree for this year a week ago directly from a grower in the local area where we always buy our trees. It is of average size (the 6'-7' size is also what we mostly consider a good size over here) and it only cost us 30€, so our prices here seem to be significantly lower than i…

One of the key differences is the pruning and shearing during growth.

In the USA it seems more dense trees are preferred [US movie]

But TIL also in Germany some pruning is done, according to "Landwirtschaftskammer Niedersachsen" chamber of agriculture lower saxony [LK]

"Erziehungsmaßnahmen / Schnitt" educational measures / cut

[LK] https://m.lwk-niedersachsen.de/?file=26025

[US movie] https://youtu.be/qElwfYNmy6Q

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