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Christmas trees and rip-off Britain


Martin963
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Even here in far flung Devon,   the price of our two trees for this year has rocketed.     Normally we pay £8 - 10 per tree,   this year even ones slightly smaller than we usually have cost £16.50 each.

I've read that it's partly due to the collapse of the £,  as some European growers apparently "farm" trees in Britain,  and rather in the same way that oil is priced in $,  trees bought in Britain are effectively priced in €'s.

Even so,   next year (and I hate to say this) I'll be buying an artificial tree.   I'm not dancing any longer to this inflationary tune in the midst of a so-called slump.

Seems crazy that a tree grown and sold in Britain should be influenced by the €.

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One year Viking offered a LED Christmas tree with pre Xmas orders - we had enough stuff so qualified but they were out of stock, no matter, it looked like something to decorate a desk or table top with - when it arrived it was over 6 foot tall and for  inside or outside, so now we use it in the back garden, near the pond so it reflects, one of our best ever freebies...[:)]

[IMG]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y194/russethouse/XmasTree063.jpg[/IMG]

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That's really hilarious that photo,  because when we dealt with Viking a few years ago their freebies always turned out to be microscopically small.    You must have been poleaxed when the box arrived at the door!!

I once asked to speak to the white-haired man who featured so prominently in the catalogues,   holding paper,  writing with his crayons, moving boxes,  etc etc,  only to be told he was in America. 

Another illusion shattered.

I DO like that tree!

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Absolutely nothing to do with euro. Real reason is a shortage of Christmas Trees, due to some problem in Denmark, who are the largest exporter of Christmas trees in Europe. Apparently, one in three trees emanate from that country. (BBC: It was on the news a few weeks ago!)

I don't live in the UK and never have done, but sometimes I think the rip off Britain posts are a bit emotive and made more often than not without a full understanding of the facts.

 

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Difficult I know.   But as I said in another thread our oil (kerosene) and propane prices have not come down AT ALL while the price of oil has dropped from €70 (October 2008) to €40 per barrel.    The woman at the depot more or less admitted that the oil companies "try it on" in the period up to Christmas on those of us dependant on kerosene.    And she sounded as though she knew what she was talking about.

As to the Christmas trees and the €,   I freely admit I read that in the Telegraph,  so of course it may be made up/exaggerated.

But why (to take another example) are CD's double the price in Britain (and maybe in Europe) compared to America.  (At least I'm told they are)

Having had a house in France for ten years I've (in the main) felt that the French are more "correcte" about pricing.   It's not a question of emotions.

But you're right for certain things - Frank Field recently said that British EDF customers were subsidising French EDF customers.   Absolute rubbish.    Prices in France are low and stable because they had the sense to build nuclear power stations after the 1973 oil shock.

.

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We will be using our traditional, 17 yr old, 2m high, plastic tree again this year, complete with the little 'berries' which push onto the ends of the branches.

Once its decorated by the grandchildren with a total overload of tinsel and fake snow you cant tell its not real anyway. [:)]

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[quote user="Nearly Retired"]

Just shut the door when you go to bed and then open it in the morning while taking a sniff - aaah! Beautiful!

You just can't fake the smell of a real tree. We'll be having a real one for as many years as my ageing body can go to buy one and put it up.

[/quote]

And your arthritic back can bear to sweep up the needles?

Nah. Not no more...

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The thieving swines in the garden centre wanted €50 for a two metre tree. €50! For something that will end up at the decheterie in a fortnight. Happily there was a slightly dodgy looking cove flogging identical-looking trees next to LeClerc for €10 (knocked down from €25 due to the lateness of the date - it was the 19th: what are these people on??) so we had that instead.

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My daughter suffered very badly with eczema when she was younger, hospitalisations etc and one of her triggers was tree pollens.

Although, thank goodness, she is now much better and has relatively few flare ups, not to take a risk with her skin, we still stick with the artificial trees.

As we seem to have built up a collection over the years, this year we have one in the porch, one in the hall, one in the living room, one in the garden room, one in the study and one in the kitchen.

I still put these up in the middle of the night when everyone is in bed so in the morning "IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!!'

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Oh, Eos, that is so touching and so nuts!!!!!!!

So, do you also put the sixpence (perhaps the euro) under the pillow from the Tooth Fairy?

And I do hope you put out the mince pie and the sherry for Santa and, of course, a carrot for the reindeer!

LOL.  Happy Christmas!

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I don't know if the checkout assistant got confused with the price or what but we only paid 6.90 euros for a lovely, old-fashioned (ie needle-dropping, but not yet!) 2m tree in our local Carrefour - is this a record price?!
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[quote user="Russethouse"]

Martin , I have just returned from Wyevale, if you have a branch near you they have artificial trees reduced 50% already.

I'm still going to wait and look for a further reduced slimline tree after Christmas though

[/quote]

 

You mean xmas trees go on diets after xmas too??...

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[quote user="sweet 17"]

Oh, Eos, that is so touching and so nuts!!!!!!!

So, do you also put the sixpence (perhaps the euro) under the pillow from the Tooth Fairy?

And I do hope you put out the mince pie and the sherry for Santa and, of course, a carrot for the reindeer!

LOL.  Happy Christmas!

[/quote]

Oh Sweet 17, how I hesitate to add to the "nuts" summation (and so won't even go into the whole Tooth Fairy thing) but, owing to a devoted primary school teacher with odd timing, we bake scones for Santa[:)].

Happy Christmas to you too!!

 

 

 

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Our living room (where the TV is) is on the first floor and the dining room (where we will eat Christmas lunch) is on the ground floor, so two trees are called for.  We got a 2 metre one for downstairs and a one metre one for upstairs, 24€ the two.  Last year we paid 25€ for one!!
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