NEW HOLSTEIN, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Some businesses are already preparing for the holiday shopping season, but they’re hitting roadblocks.
At the Honeymoon Acres Greenhouse in New Holstein, one employee is cutting ribbons for holiday wreaths.
The greenhouse typically sells between 16,000 and 18,000 wreaths a year.
This year, that might not happen.
“It’s been very difficult trying to find employees. You’ll hear this everywhere, noticing it with people cutting hours out and such,” Honeymoon Acres Greenhouse owner Joe McShaw said.
Honeymoon Acres also provides wreaths for different groups to sell for fundraising.
“We really seriously have to look at who we’re going to do and who we’re not going to do because we just cannot find the employees that want to do this style of work or any kind of work actually,” McShaw said.
Fewer employees means fewer wreaths and fewer fundraising opportunities.
McShaw says the shortage of workers is only a part of the problem.
“Because the other half of the problem is being able to get the greens to make the wreaths from. There’s been a shortage out there of that because again, the same thing is happening to the people that are producing the greens for me can’t find the workers to get it picked,” McShaw said.
The problem isn’t just impacting wreaths.
Other crops have been impacted as well, like Christmas trees.
“I’ve typically sold roughly 400 trees a year and now I only got a supplier to supply me 150 trees this year,” McShaw said.
McShaw says the worker shortage is widespread.
“Some of the guys are retiring, nobody wants to get into Christmas tree growing, so then you’re going to have a shortage out there of that,” McShaw said,
McShaw says businesses are doing the best they can with what they have.
To learn about job opportunities with Honeymoon Acres, click here.
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