Fraser Fir Christmas Trees-Recession Proof?
5.52. GDP Growth %, 1.88. Unemployment %, 5.70 … Current Economic Indicators. August 21, 2008 (Close of Day). Indicator. Value. Inflation %,
No recession in these numbers! Fraser Fir Christmas trees have sold well for us in good times, in slow downs and in recessions. At the retail level, Fraser Firs are relatively inexpensive for what you get, generally selling for $30-80. When you compare all the pleasure and joy that a beautifully decorated Fraser Fir brings to the cost of one tank of gas at $50 - $70 dollars, then the tree is more than worth it. Or, compare one meal for four at Applebee’s, $40-$50, to the cost of a nice beautiful tree at $50, which is usually enjoyed for about three weeks. In spite of all the complaining, the cost of a Christmas tree is a fantastic deal on several fronts. (And a lifetime of memories is priceless.)
First front: the typical six-foot Fraser Fir Christmas tree is 10 years old when it is sold. We estimate that it has had over 200 procedures (including fertilizing, shearing and weed control) performed on it by the time the tree is harvested; it gets the intensive care that a Bonsai tree gets. The price is definitely worth it.
The second reason the trees are worth it is that they have contributed so much to the environment and the consumer contributes also by buying a real tree versus an artificial one. For ten years, the trees fight erosion, provide habitat, produce oxygen and eat up carbon dioxide and monoxides. If the consumer did not purchase these trees, then there would not be 75 million new trees planted each year and a total of over 500 million Christmas trees, doing all this work. Farmland preservation would be endangered. The consumer who buys a real Christmas tree is a true environmentalist and is contributing to the environment. The buyers of real Christmas trees should get carbon credits and the consumer who buys an artificial - fake tree should have to buy carbon credits to make up for their bad environmental choice.
But back to the question, “Are Retail Sales recession proof and slow - down proof?” I think Christmas trees are pretty much recession proof because of their low relative cost, the strength of the tradition and the fact that when recessions occur, people travel less for Christmas and stay home and make more of buying and decorating a tree. It might appear that the volume of sales of trees by the traditional garden center and local Christmas tree lots is down below the volumes sold in the 1990’s and before, and it is. However, this number is misleading. Their volume was hurt by the “box stores” who began selling trees in a big way, with as many as 2-10,000 trees per store. They bought lower grade trees and sold them with very little to no mark up as a way to get shoppers into their stores. They reasoned if one could get the tree buyer in the store they would more than make up the profit one lost on the tree by selling the consumer other items. This definitely hurt the traditional retailers of trees in a big way to the point that some garden centers do not sell trees at all, though the large majority still do. They now choose to sell the high quality premium trees and they stock much bigger sizes, up to fifteen feet, which you will not find the box stores do not carry. Also, the quality is usually much better at a garden center store.
The second thing that hurt the real Christmas tree sales were the growing popularity of the artificial Christmas tree, produced primarily in China. Consumers liked the trees because they were supposedly easier to put up and pre-lit; and even though they could cost up to a $1000 dollars, they figured that they would use it year after year and avoid the yearly costs of under $100. (Note: garden centers now drill trees and have stands where tree can be put up in 30 seconds.)
What happened though was the artificial trees got better over the years, so like cars they were traded in. These fake trees also did not last as long as advertised: their color faded, the pre-lit lights quit working and the great smell of a real Christmas tree wasn’t there. In addition, the consumers who bought the artificial tree still had a desire to buy a real tree. The result is that approximately 50 million people use a artificail tree every year and approximately 30 million use a real tree. Thirty million real trees are sold as compared to approximately 10 million artificial trees (about 20% of total displayed). Recently there has been a lot of concern raised about the lead in the artificial trees coming from China and the fact that almost 10 million s fake or artificial trees are going into landfills each year and are not biodegradable like real trees, not to mention that we are sending our money to China when we could have kept it here.
www.coolspringsnursery.com
Tags: artificial trees, bad environmental choice, Cool Springs Nursery, Environmnetal benifit, fake trees, Fraser Fir Christmas trees, Gnp, Growing cycle, inflation, NC Fraser Firs, Number of Christmas Trees Planted, recession, true environmentalist
