Would you pay $1,000+ for a Christmas tree? It seems that, in New York City, some would.
Longtime Greenwich Village tree seller Heather Neville said Sunday that her tallest — and priciest — offering will command an astonishing $77 per foot from any buyer who can’t haul it home.
“This 13-foot tree — a beautiful fir — is $750, and with delivery, installation with a stand and tip would be $1,000,” said Neville, who bills herself as the NYC Tree Lady.
Neville, 40, broke down the add-ons as $200 for the stand, $25 for delivery and setup and $20 each to the three or four men needed for the job.
. . .
Neville, who runs five other spots across Manhattan, gets all her holiday greenery from a secret source she identified only as “The Farmer.” She priced a hypothetical 15-footer at a whopping $1,200, including delivery and setup.
So far, her best sale was a 13-foot Nordmann fir that went for a relatively paltry $500 “a few days ago,” she said.
. . .
East Village residents Adrian Chrzan and Jacquelyn Mitchell, both 30, were spotted lugging home a 5-foot Fraser fir they bought for $100, stand included.
“I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a white fir and any other tree,” said Mitchell, who works in finance. “They all look the same to me, so I’m just going to look for the best deal.”
Chrzan, an investment manager, took the critique a step further: “We are from Connecticut and you can get a tree this size [there] for 20 bucks.”
There's more at the link.
If ever you wanted a clue as to the insane cost of living in NYC, that's it, right there! $77 per foot for a Christmas tree? Verily, the mind doth boggle . . . and the wallet, too!
If I lived in New York City, I'd be taking a drive out to upstate New York, or north-eastern Pennsylvania, or perhaps Connecticut, where trees are plentiful. I'd buy two or three at local prices ($20 is still high by my standards, but I guess trees are cheaper further south), tie them to the roof of my car or put them on a utility trailer, and cart them all back to NYC. I'd use one myself, and sell the other two to neighbors and friends at two to three times what I paid for them. They'd save money, I'd pay for my trip, and everyone would be happy!
Peter
I cut my own yesterday for $50. 8 foot Frasier Fur. Hauled it and set it up myself.
ReplyDeleteHowever, some of these NYC folks have chosen a lifestyle where they CAN'T take a drive to upstate, because they (mostly proudly) don't own a car. So you'd add in $300 to rent one for the drive.
Net/net, you choose to live in one of the costliest places on the planet you'd BETTER like the lifestyle, because it going to cost you. ;-)
I'm sure that would be somehow illegal
ReplyDeleteNYC kills people for selling single cigarettes. You want to sell TREES without all the necessary permits and fees? Hooboy... Talk about living dangerously!
ReplyDeleteIf you lived in NYC, the odds are really good that you would not own a car to be able to drive somewhere and buy a tree. You would have to rent a car/truck to do so.
ReplyDeleteGrowing Christmas trees is a much bigger pain in the ass than you might imagine. You can't just stick a seed in the ground and come back a few years later and cut a tree down. They have to be kept safe from rodents and insects and protected from deer. You have to carefully mow and trim around them to keep weed and grass under control. Then you have to trim each tree regularly so they all end up in that perfect Christmas tree shape. You have to deal with drought and irrigate at times. You've got to pay property taxes on the land even if you're not making money off it yet. If you run a cut your own operation or on premises sales you've got huge insurance bills. You've got thieves who sneak in during the middle of the night and steal trees. You don't even wanna know some of the convoluted personal tax issues when it comes to selling trees. I could go on but you get the point. I'm surprised you can buy a regular run of the mill tree for under 100 bucks.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm paying $77 a foot for something made out of wood, it better be cut, planed, dovetailed, glued, oiled, and installed in my living room with guns in it.
ReplyDelete