Community Chat

[lmt]

Artificial Christmas trees are set to rocket in price by up to 66 per cent this year thanks to ongoing global supply issues and a shipping container shortage. 

Balsam Hill, an artificial tree company based in California, is selling its four-and-a-half-foot tall Grand Canyon Cedar Tree for $499 this year.

That is $199 more than the same tree cost in 2020 - a two thirds increase in price in just twelve months.

Meanwhile, Balsam Hill's a seven-and-a-half-foot tall-tree Brewer Spruce tree is selling at $999 this year, compared to $899 in 2020 - a rise in price of more than 10 per cent.

The company, which sells through catalogs and via its website, makes annual sales of more than $200 million in holiday decorations over the course of the year.

But it is the latest to feel the pinch as the cost of filling a shipping container has rocketed, with the firm's trees manufactured in China. 

Another firm, Treetime in Illinois, says the cost of shipping has jumped by 500 per cent. It aims to raise the prices of its trees - also made in China - by no more than 20 per cent - with Treetime's artificial foliage ranging in price from $100 to $1,000. 

Balsam Hill has also been hit by shortages as a result of the ongoing global supply chain shortage, and says just 12 of 50 products listed in its catalog are currently in stock.

Tree inventory is down by 22 per cent, with stocks of decors down by more than two fifths - 42 per cent - in a year.  

'We’ve never raised prices anywhere close to that in our history and will make way less money,' Balsam Hill CEO Mac Harman told The Wall Street Journal.  

'For the first time ever for us, the catalog was out, and we didn't have any products to sell,' Harman added.

'Our shipments didn't arrive on time. We're still trying to figure out exactly where the products are. Are they still on the water or stuck in ports? If this keeps happening, we could go out of business.'  

The US market for artificial Christmas trees is said to be a $1 billion to $2 billion industry, according to the American Christmas Tree Association. 

[RhondaRena]

I think more will be concerned about providing a Christmas meal. I was speaking to an employee at Sams last week and she said between shortages and rising prices she was very concerned for people. Turkeys and hams will be in short supply. She said shortages were going to get worse. I went ahead and put a turkey breast in the freezer incase she is right. We garden and preserve food but I picked up extra flour,  rice , and oats.

[vsm]

That's a sad story, @lmt .  But it's not just Balsam Hill, and it's not just supply chain issues.  Inflation is eating away at everything, and it's insidious.  Though it affects all of us, it hits low-income and fixed-income folks hardest.  They're the ones likeliest to find coal in their stockings.

[deepwaterdotter]

Celebrating Christmas Eve service at my house of worship is still free the last time I checked.

[lmt]

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@vsm wrote:

That's a sad story, @lmt .  But it's not just Balsam Hill, and it's not just supply chain issues.  Inflation is eating away at everything, and it's insidious.  Though it affects all of us, it hits low-income and fixed-income folks hardest.  They're the ones likeliest to find coal in their stockings.

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@vsm  Completely agree.

[lmt]

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@deepwaterdotter wrote:

Celebrating Christmas Eve service at my house of worship is still free the last time I checked.

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@deepwaterdotter    

[RhondaRena]

Yes, we have a small dinner at our church after worship. Several stay to eat and felllowship who do not have close family. My 21 year old niece who sees whats going on told my mother this year that she wants our family to give homemade gifts this year.

[SilleeMee]

I'm on a fixed income and believe me I'm feeling it.

[ValuSkr]

So many people replace their artificial tree when there's nothing wrong with their old one.  Of course, they may donate the old one to Goodwill, and that helps someone out in theory at least.

[qualitygal]

You know, reading some of these responses, it makes me think of a colonial Christmas.  Decorating with handmade and makedo things.  We may have to go back to our past and revisit how they did things some time ago.