Next Year, Babysit a Tree!
Dec 26, 2009
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So it's the day after Christmas, and hopefully your tree will last till New Year's Day, or if you have some Armenian or Eastern European blood in you, it will hold out until January 6. I do not have a problem with buying a live tree, as long is it is mulched by the city, or you pay the local Boy Scout troop a few bucks to have them recycle it for you. Plus my impression of most Christmas tree farms is that they are run by small business owners who care about the land and are responsible. I was, however, educated about an entrepreneur who has a fantastic idea: renting trees.Scott Martin has found a budding market in Los Angeles for his rented trees. He operates a web site, The Living Christmas Company, where customers can select from several tree varieties and then rent them for three weeks. The prices range from $50 for a Charlie Brown-sized tree to $185 to something more appropriate for the White House. Martin's business is a winner all the way around: he hires adults with disabilities, will haul away Goodwill donations, recycles used Christmas wrapping, and his fleet of delivery trucks run on biodiesel.
Launched as a pilot program in 2008, Martin, a landscape architect by trade, rented about 500 this year. Let's hope his business surges even more during 2010.
