(photo: Elizabethsalleebauer)
If you haven't bought your Christmas tree yet, you may be in for a little sticker shock.
"Our price went up 25 percent this year," said Richard Velotta who helps a Boy Scout Troop in Evansville, Indiana, sell trees every year. "We tried to absorb half of it, but we had to pass on half the cost to consumers."
Apparently, the shortage can be traced back to the 2008-09 recession, when tree suppliers simply didn't plant as many trees because demand for trees cratered, and many growers went out of business. "A lot of farms closed," said tree farmer Cher Tollefson, of Oregon City, Oregon. "It's a hard business. We've diversified, we're growing pumpkins now."
Despite the shorter-than-usual supply, experts say you shouldn't have a problem tracking down a tree if you don't mind paying a little more. "There's a tighter supply now, but there is absolutely no shortage whatsoever," one expert said.