Yes, Home Depot does the same. I once watched as a clerk was dumping the Phals into a large garbage bin. They dump them out of the pots. I pulled two out and told the clerk I'd take them. She said, they are not for sale, they were throwing them out. I said, "I'll take them." She said, "I'll have to ask my manager, we are not allowed to sell anything from the garbage."

We walked over to the manager who had the nerve to say she would sell them for 50% off. I said, "you are throwing them out." She said, "I can only sell them to you, I'm not permitted to give anything away."

I walked away empty handed - go figure...

Jane

Yes. Here in local Home Depo I also saw that cart full of plants (some look good to me). Sad. I feel sorry for those plants. Too bad they have to trash plants that can be cured and not let those who care rescue them.

I heard one large Garden Center somewhere (a friend of mine once told me), they sell their dying plants for 99c. I wish one day this action will be followed by other businesses.

HD and many other retailers get a credit from the supplier for unsold/dead plants. Depending upon the buying clout of the retailer, the credit can be very generous. In our area, I've heard that HD has a very good credit back deal and that is one reason they rarely offer a deep discount clearance on most of their plants. Taking your 50% off amount on a dumped orchid might actually result in HD losing money.

I tried to save some at Wal-Mart and was also told that they are reimbursed for dying/dead plants. They weren't interested in my rescue attempts. . . not enough money in it for them.

Aha, now I got it. The supplier take 'em back all the dead for full price. No wonder.

Probably we have to encourage growers/suppliers to let retailers do something nice to the plant addicts.

This season I bought/rescued approx. 10 Orchids from Lowes. I love Lowes more than other Garden Center. Yes, because they have 50% off and 75% Clearance Rack.

I refuse to look at the plants at Kmart, Walmart, any other store where the clerks assigned to take care of them don't have any knowledge about care.

It's nearly as bad as going to the dog pound and seeing the poor homeless unloved dogs.

Hi
have been told that particularly with the box stores the plants are owned and managed by the nurseries until sold .
Seems logical considering the huge volume would take the whole crew just to keep track of the inventory lol
Have often wondered how many actually make it to the consumer?? losses must be 50 percent or more??
Obviously someone is absorbing the loss and my guess would be the nursery not the retailer ?? whatever there must be a fantastic profit because they keep right on doing it.lol Locally they seem to have reduced "garden' space by half or more particularly the "live ' products . Ah the wonders of super mass marketing ?? lol gary

On the other side of the coin it only takes a few days for a pristine orchid to be reduced to a wreck by the general public appraising and prodding sales table offerings.

From pristine to a wreck in a few days and not always accidental damage, sometimes spikes are broken so that a discount can be obtained.

Do not get me wrong, most of the general public are fine, just a few are a pain.

As for saving every orchid that is like mad cat lady syndrome. If i am serving I have no hesitation in using the sales pitch that an in-bloom Phalaenopsis is a cheap bunch of flowers, knowing that most will end up in the bin after the flowers die.

This post was edited by arthurm on Sun, Jul 7, 13 at 17:41

I agree about the Lowe's deals, if you get there at the right time. This spring or late winter I found a miniature branched white phal, with other lip coloring, in an organic material(rice hulls, etc) container -- original cost $14.99, sale price $2.00. The final three buds are still blooming! Couldn't bypass that deal.

Jane- I work at a home depot. That's company policy and it drives me insaaaaane. Totally up the wall! They consider it profit lost if someone takes from the garbage. Another thing to consider though is that unlike Lowe's, THD doesn't own the plants or the nursery. Lowe's will mark down plants, because they own their own nursery... home depot throws out anything that isn't perennial, and all houseplants. It's absolutely nuts.

I got one from walmart alive thank god. but I also got one from homeland. a sale for 4th of july but I paid full price! *sigh. well anyway they where both bone dry almost getting root rot tell I got them looking better makes me so mad they would have all died they didn't even water them ! its just so annoying !

I worked at osh once..the problem plants are scanned on the way in..and if given to someone they can walk in the front door say they bought them lost receipt and get a full store credit..bad people help ruin opportunities for good people.when a percentage sale is done computers register that sku# and if returned it shows up as price paid.

Thanks for the info on HD, I started looking there occasionally waiting for uncommon/dying orchids. Knowing they don't discount though....going to stick to lowes. That's making my blood boil just hearing that they do that.lol. Just got a Blc. Waianae leopard "ching hua" for 3.50 at lowes and it looked fairly healthy. I think it's suffering root rot, but other than that nice plump leaves and pseudo bulbs. Trying to keep tabs on odd colored phals, but they rarely get them and when they do I usually don't know which is which anymore when it ends up on the "i'm dying rack".

I think a Meijer near me does the same thing as HD. The most I've seen was 50% off on seasonal plants like "easter lilies". For everything else, it will be dry and crispy and only 10-20% off. Bah....

I used to work for Kmart. The people in their garden center 9 out of 10 times don't have a clue. I used to refuse to throw away any plants that looked like they could be salvaged and luckily my manager was a fellow plant enthusiast and supported my cause. Most of the plants are scan based trading which means whatever we didnt sell we just got credit for at the end of the season, so selling them at a discounted price would essentially cost us more money rather than throwing them away...however we always found ways to 'clearence' plants we couldnt sell. I guess what it really comes down to is what type of person the manager at the store is. Sadly the managers that throw all the plants away are just doing their job =/

I'm a bit late to this thread but I have only paid full price for one of my orchids, a stunning Mttsa 'Tolkien' at Selby Botanical Gardens that was coming with me no matter what the price. The rest of them have all come from the clearance rack at Lowes. Once the blooms fall, their ability to sell them for full price disappears and it's only a matter of time before they get hit with 50-75% off. Dendros, Phals and Oncidiums are all fair game. I've developed a good relationship with the manager at my local store and can usually pick my own plants from the full price rack if they're looking a bit sub-par.

You guys are lucky to have some of discount. I sometimes go to Safeway, Home Depot and especially Wal-Mart seeing them (orchids) bent their head down and limp and surely were dying. Bunches of buds young and matured are dropping. I asked them if the would sell those for discount price and sure enough. Never on sale. I paid a little 3" orchid pot for $14.99 doesn't matter what condition. It's a shame, they rather chuck them in the garbage then let us take them home to nurture and love them. I agree with some of you said above, the workers at Wal-mart or Costco or HD know nothing about looking after them. One I saw one of the workers took a hose and let the water sprayed on orchids from top to bottom while he was trying to help someone else of something else....

Well, It Christmas Eve Day here, I wish you all have a very Merry Christmas, May Peace fills your Heart and Home, and may your Orchids stay healthy and keep blooming bring you happiness all year long,

Tanie

Tanie check local garden centers. Most of them will discount their nonblooming orchids. Big-box stores (depending on where you are, this is not universal) throw out nonblooming orchids, and get a tax write off for it. Garden centers understand that they earn more from discounting by half then they do getting a tax write off. This is because garden center markup is upwards of 3X so selling at 50% discount still nets them a 1.5x profit. Big box stores markup is much less than that so can't really afford to discount much without actually losing money.

Sadly to tell youTerpguy, we have only 1 garden center here in Lethbridge and the whole center has a max of about 8-10 phals. and the cost is extremely expensive. The lowest price for a 4" pot phal is $29.99 the medium cost is $39.99 and the nice looking phal in bloom is $49.99. I never saw them on sale either. So, I am very looking forward to orchid show next spring in Calgary. My orchid lady friend said she used to go there and buy the left over at a dirt cheap price. Most of them were not knowing of what kind because out of bloom but she didn't care. She got them and nurtured them and most of them turned out pretty great for her. She's an elderly now. She said her passion has faded and she's getting ready to go to a condo. She'd like to give me some of her orchids for very small price but I don't have a conservatory house like her. Most likely they will not survive in my living room. Anyways, I just gone to Safeway and got a Christmas gift for myself. An iron umbrella planter! It has 5 pots around so I can put 5 phals in them and they don't take a lot of space in my living room. I am holding up untill spring to fill them. After Safeway I then went to Wal-Mart for last minute shopping. Of course the place I go was orchids... they are all dying and there was a worker near by, I asked him if he ever put those on sale. He said "no! if they died, we'll get all money back from green house". So, that's it! They don't care for the plants.
Thank you Terp for your advice and have a wonderful, Merry Christmas!

Tanie

I realized that I didn't tell the truth about greenhouse! We actually have more than 1 greenhouse but only 1 opens all year long. That is the one greenhouse I said above post. The other 3 or more greenhouses open only for summer. Selling summer outdoor bedding flowers, shrubs, trees and gardening plants. I don't recall seeing any orchids in those greenhouses but I could be wrong.

Tanie

I realized that I didn't tell the truth about greenhouse! We actually have more than 1 greenhouse but only 1 opens all year long. That is the one greenhouse I said above post. The other 3 or more greenhouses open only for summer. Selling summer outdoor bedding flowers, shrubs, trees and gardening plants. I don't recall seeing any orchids in those greenhouses but I could be wrong.

Tanie

I realized that I didn't tell the truth about greenhouse! We actually have more than 1 greenhouse but only 1 opens all year long. That is the one greenhouse I said above post. The other 3 or more greenhouses open only for summer. Selling summer outdoor bedding flowers, shrubs, trees and gardening plants. I don't recall seeing any orchids in those greenhouses but I could be wrong.

Tanie

Every so often over the years these threads come up...What about those lovely people, the shoppers?

Every year, I do about 9 days manning the Society Sales Table at Shopping centres.
It takes about 2 days for an orchid with pristine blooms to be reduced to a wreck by prodding, feeling, testing shoppers.
You need to make sure that the price tags are tied to the plant. Otherwise that tag on the $5 plant will be switched with the $20 tag on a much more desirable plant.
Every one wants to bargain. a bit difficult if the owner isn't present and even if the owner is present marking down involves labour, free if i'm the cost centre, not free at Kmart.
Breaking a flowers stem to try and get a reduced price. it happens.
Turning up like a swarm of angry shopping bees when the show is ending. They figure that the orchid society is a business and they will get a bargain.
My worst nightmare is owning an orchid nursery.

Hello Everyone,

I'm new to orchids but I find them beautiful and have rescued a few from Albertson's for the low price of $1.99. They're putting on growth and have formed new buds. I love to see their progress and can't wait for it to bloom.
I too have had the experience of pulling out plants from the garbage and was told that they're not allowed to give them away. This was very sad because the plants were nice and healthy and would've done well.
Does anyone know of a good online store that sells fragrant orchids?

Happy holidays and stay warm!

Bo

Unfortunately there are dishonest shoppers everywhere. But I do believe there's lot more honest, goodness shoppers too. Everyone want to have some advantage and we just need to be cautious even though it's hard to prevent those intent to do bad and hope for enough good people to make up for the loss from dishonest people. I do hope you don't have to deal with those too often. It is discouraging to have that happen to people who follow their (our) passions and have to run into such thing....I am very looking forward to orchid show which I never attended. I found out in Calgary will be next June.. I am starting to make room for them.....

Taine