Christmas tree sellers run into surprise Covid costs

Bloomberg

Christmas tree vendors got a jump on sales this year as buyers looking to chase away pandemic blues started the season early. But all that demand may not necessarily translate into fat profits for sellers of evergreens or the farmers who grow them.
“We typically see a wave of buying towards the second week of December, and the day after Thanksgiving people were already out looking for a tree,” said Mike Cruzado, who runs two Christmas tree stands in Brooklyn, New York. “More people are working from home and looking to decorate their place a little sooner,” he said.
River Ridge Tree Farm in Scottville, North Carolina, a wholesale supplier specialising in Fraser Firs, known as the “Cadillac” of Christmas trees, has already sold out for the season. “Demand for us has been great,” said owner Jessie Davis. “We even had to purchase some trees from Washington State and Wisconsin to fill some of the gaps for our customers.”
However, just because more people are buying trees doesn’t mean farmers and independent vendors are making a big profit. The surge in online shopping this holiday season has sent freight costs skyrocketing, which in tandem with rising absenteeism tied to the pandemic has meant the tree industry is paying more overhead.
Approximately 25-30 million Christmas trees are sold in the US every year, according to the National Christmas Tree Association. “People started clamoring for trees earlier,” said Doug Hundley, a spokesperson for the group.
“By this weekend, the industry could easily satisfy 90% of all sales,” Hundley estimated.
In New York City, the pandemic has hindered vendors and seasonal workers from Canada who travel to the US to sell trees during the holidays, said Tew Smith, who helps operate a stand in New York with Wisconsin-based Evergreen East Cooperative.
Smith said that the company’s workforce was “cut in half” because of border restrictions. “We went from having
65 stands, now we have 30,”
he said.