Reader Ken drew my attention to a post on the Knuckledraggin blog profiling a photo of three small birch logs decoratively tied up with string and selling for ... drum roll, please ... $19.95. Oh, and these logs were photographed at a Crate and Barrel store.
I didn't want to reproduce the photo without permission, so I went to the Crate and Barrel website and sure enough, it's selling three "slender" birch logs for $19.95.
The item description reads: "Trio of slender birch logs lends a rustic, woodsy touch to the hearth or porch. Natural jute cord keeps logs tidy and loops to form a carrying handle."
Reader Ken wrote: "I did a quick calculation, on a scrap of paper since I don’t have a calculator, which this time of the morning may be slightly in error, using the price as marked for this what I estimate to be 3 pieces of 2”X 12” birch and it comes out to about $25,536.00 per cord. Delivery is probably extra. Now this is a market I would try to find if I had a logging operation."
$25,536.00 per cord ... !!!
Oh, and in case anyone's interested, Crate and Barrel is also selling additional items.
Set of three "tall birch branches" for $29.95. Item description: "The warm white color and papery bark of natural birch branches adds a rustic, outdoorsy look to wintertime décor, blending equally well with classic and contemporary interiors. Bunch of three branches, gathered in the U.S., comes wrapped in jute and can be used for years to come."
Set of three "short birch branches" with a "clearance price" of $12.97 (item description is the same as for Tall Birch Branches).
You can also purchase moss-covered birch branches ("Kissed with moss, our natural birch branches bring a bit of the forest to a large vase or botanical arrangement") for a clearance price of $9.97.
And people will buy it. To be fair, Crate and Barrel presumably wouldn't carry these products if no one was buying them (hence the "clearance prices"). It just astounds me that anyone has that kind of money to waste.
Yes, these are definitely a hot item among the trendy. At similar prices. I get why they are for sale ('cause birch is pretty), but I don't get how people don't know that those prices are outrageous. Unless they live in the middle of the city in a high rise apartment and never, ever step foot out of the city.
ReplyDeleteThose "moss-covered" branches are hideous. Looks sprayed on.
And thieves continue to steal Birch trees in the Wisconsin Northwoods, as well as in Minnesota.
ReplyDeleteYes they do, probably being sold to companies like Crate and Barrel.
DeleteYes they do, probably being sold to companies like Crate and Barrel.
DeleteSome people are stupid enough to buy mud, so you can always be sure some huckster will be there to sell it to them.
ReplyDeleteBirch was common in suburban Nyc but seemed to disappear as if extinct about 50 years back, last i looked they were making a comeback in those coldeŕ ?
ReplyDeleteI have a wood shed that has some pretty wood in it.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't Birch but it is beautiful to me. It keeps me warm and toasty. And it is not for sale.
andy
I just got in from my woods where I was calculating my present Net Worth. Couldn't quite come up with it as my paper isn't long enough !! But I'm SUPER RICH !! Yea !! I'm not going to tell my wife though or she will want a new car. ---ken
ReplyDeleteDon't forget there are people putting eyes on dried moose, deer and cow turds and making a living selling them. Just saying....Natokadn
ReplyDeleteThere's a sucker born every minute:)
DeleteLand Sakes! I'm headed outside to gather up some mountain rocks Checked me out on Ebay!
ReplyDeleteThat comes out to like $350 a board foot if my math is right, I’m in the wrong business!
ReplyDeleteI saw a bundle of birch at Kroger yesterday, shorter and wider than any of those. I couldn't find a price tag and didn't linger in the cold and snow to look hard for one.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of a less expensive version of the artisanal firewood spoof add of a year or two ago.
Not as much work as your beautiful tankards...just sayin':)
ReplyDeleteKen sent me the original link. Rich? After a brief review of what's in my woodshed and on our property, I may be a member of the despised 1%!
ReplyDelete(Liquidity could be a problem, but I'm working on it!)
This is as silly as people planting Manzanita as a decorative plant.
ReplyDelete....or sagebrush.
DeleteT
Okay, I'll bite. What's wrong with doing that? I'm not familiar with manzanita.
DeleteA lady here called in (radio) to a local plant show complaining that the city told her she needed to get rid of the Purple Loosetrife in her ditch. (We have been working like mad spending hundreds each year trying to get it out of our stock dam.) Pretty or not it seeds get carried by birds and it affects everyone.
DeleteWe have a lot of trouble with invasive species in our pastures that are here because someone thought they were "pretty". Please educate yourself before you plant anything - even if others have. Several are highly toxic to livestock and a recent arrival is deadly to humans via skin contact. It is in waterways, not easy to find in the cattails and (we are finding) requires a scorched earth policy to eradicate.
My husband grew up here - every year he finds something "new" that was not in the area when he was growing up.
Again be very VERY careful about anything new you are planting.
Natokadn
Also, just because it is for sale at a "local greenhouse" doesn't mean they have done their research. Leafy spurge has been sold by more than one here.....Natokadn
DeleteAin't capitalism great?!?!
ReplyDeleteWith S&H they are $26.90. But Patrice, think of it as heating insurance for urban dwellers if their grid goes down.
ReplyDeletePurchasers seem happy although one did note, “I cut the ropes off which makes a bit of a mess”. I hate it when that happens.
Montana Guy
Having worked retail most of my life, I can tell you that someone will buy damn near anything if given a chance.
ReplyDeleteThose semi-precious birch sticks would look very trendy next to some "pet rocks".
ReplyDeletebluesman
Yet, when I bring in a particularly straight or interestingly bent bit of pruning to whittle on, it’s, “Why are you bringing STICKS in the HOUSE?!”
ReplyDeletePardon me. I think I feel a Dollmaker moment coming on...
Gosh, I love the folks here, Patrice! I laughed so hard at the comments to this post, I don't think I could best any of them! I don't have birch, but enough maple twigs/sticks to share, LOL!
ReplyDeleteLife’s a birch and then you buy.
ReplyDelete(Couldn’t help myself)
Change topic. Congratulations Patrice you have today's featured 'Guest Article' on SurvivalBlog. Hint: women only. I skidaddled real quick.
ReplyDeleteMontana Guy
A couple of years ago, the sporting goods department at the Iron Mountain Mi. Wal-Mart (and I suppose other WM's also) had artificial deer pellets for sale.
ReplyDeleteThere were / are enough real deer pellets and deer about the town to supply the needs of those that want pellets.
I wonder if this would work with Ponderosa pine. We've got a forest full of it here.
ReplyDelete