Home Depot throws all orchids away once flowers drop?

[kimstwin]

Oh, how I miss Meijer, let me count the ways....Down where I am, Wal-Mart, Lowe's and HD almost always have at least Phals, though they seem to all be the big purple NOIDs. However the last time I went to Lowe's, I picked up a Brassia and a Bellarea(sp?) for half price, since they were half dead and finished with their bloom cycles.

[moogiemama]

A couple of years ago the HD and Lowe's used to have a fantastic selection of orchids. Now we get Phals, Dens, and once in a while Catts. When I spot something else, I try to get it, but check the plants over very carefully since many times they aren't all that healthy.

[littlefrog]

Actually I was just at the supplier for Meijers a few weeks ago (and I'm going back Thursday)... I'm not sure if they supply all the stores, or just a lot of them. Nice place though. Meijers buys all their plants outright, so it is up to the individual store to decide what they want to do with them. If they throw them away rather than discounting them, they are losing more money.

The way I understand it (and I could be wrong), some places (Home Depot and no doubt many others) do POS (no, not what you are thinking) 'Point of Scan' sales. The orchid wholesaler doesn't get paid until the plant is sold (scanned at the register). They have very little incentive to mark down the plants, since they aren't paying for them if they go out of flower, they can just throw them away and lose nothing.

Rob

[moogiemama]

We don't have Meijers here. Once in a while Sam's Club or the A&P will carry orchids. Sam's usually has large plants at great prices and they're gone in a flash! You just have to be in the right place at the right time, though. My local orchid society is having its spring show and sale on Saturday but I have to miss it due to a previous commitment! Oh well, there's always the one in fall.

[princessbydezine]

Littlefrog you are correct... at my home depot thats what happens.... no profit till its sold, so to them its no biggie to toss them.

[Ray]

Feel free to call me blasphemous....

...but just because we think that orchids are "special" doesn't mean everyone should or does.

If I see a past-bloom, non-orchid at a store, my usual reaction is that "they should get that crap off the shelves", not "Oh, you poor baby. You should be rescued.".

It is the intention of most providers of mass-marketed orchids that they be sold, enjoyed, and then tossed, as if it was a cut flower.

Don't get down on the sellers for that. It's their choice.

I couldn't raise a calf to maturity then slaughter it, but I do like a good steak every now and then. I'm not going to put down the rancher for trying to make a living.

I suspect that any one of us, if we had acres of greenhouse and could give orchid-growing a "go" for a living, would ultimately discover that the dime-a-dozen hybrid phals might become a cash-flow tool. What would be good is if that allowed you to continue to grow the rarer and endangered species.

[moogiemama]

Excellent points, Ray. Many years ago I used to sell Avon products. When a customer told me that people were buying a particular product and then using it to get high (or something along those lines), I mentioned it to our district manager. The response was that after the product was sold, the customer could do whatever they wanted with it. As long as the seller makes their profit. And ultimately, that's the bottom line!

[kiki-do]

There will always be the people who will go to the pound and rescue a dog doomed to be put to death.....and others who won't own a dog unless it's a purebred that cost them big bucks.
Always two sides to every issue, I suppose. I guess I am a rescuer type. But I do understand your argument too. It's what makes life go round.

[quiltergal]

The retailers aren't the only ones who throw them out. I've been to commercial greenhouses that had HUGE compost piles of dead orchids. One can only assume that perhaps the cross wasn't to their liking and they didn't want those plants contributing to the collective gene pool. Whatever the reason wholesalers cull their stock as well.

[Tutmos]

I don't think the point was that they throw it away. The point was that they refused to sell it for even the slightest discount vs. throwing them out. It was full retail or in the bin they go.