Why Youll Probably Pay More for Your Christmas Tree This Year [View all]

[FSogol]

Those looking for the perfect Christmas tree this year may find it hard to come by, or at least about 10 percent more expensive than last year. Blame the Great Recession.

Tree sellers warn that market forces tied to the financial crisis, and amplified by the recovery, are driving up the price of trees and, in some parts of the country, making them scarce.

For anyone who might forget, many people in the United States were not feeling particularly festive in 2008. They bought fewer items as the country slid into its deepest downturn since the Depression. Growers responded by cutting down fewer Christmas trees to sell. That left less space to plant replacements and, ultimately, a smaller-than-usual batch of seedlings.

“We’re not going to be short — everybody looking for a real tree will be able to get one,” said Doug Hundley, a spokesman for the National Christmas Tree Association, a trade group. “But it is a tight market, and prices will rise.”

Whole article at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/30/business/christmas-tree-shortage-recession.html?_r=0

Bottom line, Bush crashed the economy and too many people got out of the tree business in 2008.

I sought this out since the stores near my house (No. VA) had less trees than normal and were priced about $20 more per tree.
My SIL in West Palm Beach said that trees were selling for $150 and the Fire Department that sells them to my parents in the Shenandoah Valley didn't get any trees this year. Are trees scare where you live?