Any driftwood larger than a twig is between $50-$90 at LFSs near me. At chains like Petco/Petsmart it's even more expensive. It's literally just wood from a lake. What an I missing here, why is it so expensive?
Why is driftwood expensive?
- Thread starter BassetsForBrown
- Start date
Think about the mass and weight, then think about time to dry/cure... its all just adding value from collection to the store.
Where do you go, i see Boston in the profile. Neds is probably the best aquarium store in the northeast and typically quite reasonable, IF you have reasonable expectations. Tropic Isle also used to have an entire shipping container, in the past they let me dig through to pick out pieces but i've been a customer since i was a child and have become friends with their manager
Did some research, copy and paste:
1. Driftwood isnt just dried out, it's created by a cycle of wetting and drying over a long period of time. It's only expensive because people are willing to pay for it- take a trip to the river and you can usually get some for free.
2There’s a pretty strong demand for driftwood in aquariums (at least in the United States). Sellers are able to charge higher prices for things people really want, because they know their customers are willing to pay for it (even if they complain about how expensive it is!)
If no one was really that interested in driftwood, sellers would have to lower their prices just to get someone to take the wood off their hands, but since that isn’t the case, they can charge higher prices and know that people will pay them.
This business model is known as “the law of supply and demand.” High demand means you can get higher prices, low demand means you have to lower your prices since no one wants to buy the product.
So in conclusion humans are just really dumb and fooled by sellers to buy expensive wood lol
The vast majority of "driftwood" sold at the local LFS, is collected, cleaned, dried, and then shipped half way across the world, to wholesale distributors, where it is later sold to retail outlets. It's business, big business. About Goh Gek Peng Aquarium Trading | Malaysian Driftwood Supplier (ggpaquarium.com)
Of course there are other kinds of wood that is collected and sold in mass quantities, such as Java wood from Indonesia. A very dense hard wood that is commonly used for parrots. I personally prefer this wood, but by the time it arrives in North America from Indonesia it's not cheap either. Same with Manzanita, probably a rather low cost wood in areas where it is native, but certainly not cheap in Northwest Canada where I live. As stated above, simply supply & demand at play.
Of course there are other kinds of wood that is collected and sold in mass quantities, such as Java wood from Indonesia. A very dense hard wood that is commonly used for parrots. I personally prefer this wood, but by the time it arrives in North America from Indonesia it's not cheap either. Same with Manzanita, probably a rather low cost wood in areas where it is native, but certainly not cheap in Northwest Canada where I live. As stated above, simply supply & demand at play.
I suppose its about what your time is worth, along with convenience.
The piece above is over 2 ft long at its longest, and 6 - 8 " in diameter at its widest.
I found it on the beach in Panama, and because it was "ocean water" saturated most of it sunk right away.
Some days I beach comb and there's nothing.
Above a 6ft tank with pieces collected along the shore of Lake Michigan.
But some non-tropical woods take a long time to sink, and I've had to soak them almost a year in a barrel to water log them, whereas some heavy woods like manzanilla sink almost immediately.
And it might be about access, are you near enough to unspoiled places wood can safely be gathered.
My response was more in terms of the shipping cost associated with heavy bulky objects, like driftwood.
RD.
perhaps gave a more complete answerI've been to both places frequently, I agree they are the two best in the North East (although the TI manager always looks angry to me). However, you won't find a piece greater than 12" at either for less than $50. Most are a lot more.