Christmas tree lot sales

Driving around Phoenix last week, then in the Santa Rosa, CA area where I flew to visit my son and family, I saw lots of Christmas tree lots. Some are staffed by local people, but RVers are often sought to manage these lots. By parking onsite in their RVs, they provide a presence. The managers generally hire other workers locally but take care of the money, inventory and scheduling themselves. Lots open Friday after Thanksgiving and close when the trees are gone or may be open up to and including Christmas Eve day.

The most common form of compensation is to manage the lot for a set fee plus some sort of bonus based on sales. When my late husband and I managed a lot in Texas in the mid-1990s, we were paid $2500 plus $1 per tree. Now the going rate seems to be around $3500 or so. Another arrangement is to be paid a percentage of sales with no guarantee.

Working a Christmas tree lot means long hours and hard work. The owner may limit the amount of hours/times you can have help. And good help is hard to find. Friends working in Yuma, AZ recruited from the military base and got excellent workers. We were always wondering if our scheduled workers would show up. One young man we hired loved to stand around and talk to customers rather than help load trees; he only lasted a few days.

Some questions to ask:

• How will you be compensated? On what does a bonus depend?


• Will costs for your helper be taken out of your pay? How much will you have one or more helpers? What does it depend on?


• What sort of paperwork do you have to complete?


• When will money be picked up? Do you have to store it in your RV?


• Is the lot secured at night? (We were locked in a chainlink fence.)


• Can you be flexible on tree prices?


• What sort of hookups will you have? Usually there is electricity and possibly a hose from a neighbor. We were pumped out when they pumped the porta-potty. One RV couple only had electricity 2 hours/day, though, so check.


• Will you have to flock trees or unload trucks?
  
  

We enjoyed selling trees, though did feel trapped sometimes. One of us had to be at the lot at all times it was open, making it difficult to get shopping and laundry done. About halfway through, we had a problem with our refrigerator. Fortunately my husband was able to get it fixed; we could not get our motorhome out of the lot until we finished selling trees.

While driving down one street in Santa Rosa, I saw the managers had a popup trailer to live in. Temperatures were getting down pretty low. I hope they had electricity! Jaimie

For information on Jaimie's 2nd edition of Support Your RV Lifestyle! An Insider's Guide to Working on the Road, see RVBookstore.com.