Stashing is the ultimate mark of shame for a tree planter.  It is a topic that is joked about in some situations, treated as dead serious in others, and exaggerated into fantastic stories in others. Rookies are simply told “don’t do it or you will be fired”, but seldom do people talk about it in a purely analytical manner.

Stashing. Is it worth it? Clearly I would not be writing this article if I thought the answer was “yes”, but let me explain exactly why I think the answer is “no”….not just from a moral and legal perspective, but simply not worth it from a financial perspective.

To begin, “stashing” means hiding, burying, or disposing of trees and claiming them as being planted. This is different than over-claiming, which involves claiming you have planted more trees than you really did.. I will talk about overclaiming a bit later, but for now I will focus on stashing.

Yes, stashing trees is essentially an act of fraud, and potentially punishable under Section 380(1) of the Criminal Code… Every one who, by deceit, falsehood or other fraudulent means, … defrauds the public or any person, whether ascertained or not, of any property, money or valuable security or any service.

Note the underlined print, because I will come back to that. So, stashing is potentially a criminal act, but why exactly is it a bad idea?

To put it simply, it is not easy to get away with it and if a planter stashes a lot, they are almost certain to be caught, and if they stash too little, the effort is not likely worth the benefit. Let’s take a closer look.

Stashing a lot

Simply put, this is easy to catch.  Any decent crew boss or supervisor can usually look at a piece of land and quickly estimate how many trees will fit into it within a few hundred trees. This process of estimation is now even more accurate with the ability to use Avenza and other mapping systems that permit accurate measurement within a few meters. The crew boss simply needs to measure the area, throw some plots to determine the average spacing of the trees, and do some basic math to determine if the number of trees that are claimed to have been planted in an area matches reality.

Measuring and counting is not the only way to catch a stasher. Usually, a crew boss gets a pretty good sense of a planter’s speed it by watching them work (some even use a stopwatch), and if a planter’s numbers seem to be out of line with what the crew boss sees, suspicion grows. Remember, most crew bosses are good planters themselves, and have watched dozens of workers, and they can use many methods to catch a stasher.

• They can watch a planter, especially when they are close to the tree line.

• They can walk the tree line and look for buried trees.

• They can set up a planter with a pre-measured piece of land and wait to see what they claim.

• They can individually count each tree in an area and then compare with the claimed numbers.

• ...and other methods that will not be revealed here.

  
  

Now remember what was underlined earlier? “Whether ascertained or not”…that means that it is not necessary to find the actual stashed trees to be found guilty of fraud. If the numbers show stashing, it is hard to argue with math. It’s also important for new planters to understand that it is even easier to detect stashing with a slower planter because the discrepancy between 1000 and 1200 is easier to detect than between 3000 and 3200. So, if a person is new to the job and struggling, they should be aware that their attempts to stash will be that much easier to catch.

Stashing a little.

Really, if a planter wants that extra $30, they are better off refining their planting techniques and spending less time at the cache. Here’s the thing. Stashing still takes effort regardless of the amount, and a planter would have to take some level of care not to be caught. The reward for that effort needs to be worth it. If a crew boss can potentially detect as little as a few hundred trees missing on the land, there is little point in stashing if a planter can plant the trees with a similar level of time and effort as it would take to effectively conceal them.

Think about it. You would have to wait to be in the clear, find a suitable place, and then make sure your crime is suitably concealed without a chance of it being easily found or dug up by the supervisor’s dog  yes, that has happened). And, you would have to do this each day for it to amount to anything worth the risk. If a planter really wants that extra $30, they are better off refining their techniques and spending less time at the cache. This will make them faster EVERY DAY, and they will likely end up with more money by becoming a better planter rather than stealing a few nickels and dimes.

What about overclaiming?

Overclaiming is generally considered worse than stashing, because now a planter is actually committing fraud in a manner that hurts the company financially and spreads mistrust across the entire crew. Overclaiming is something that is more common where planters report their totals by the “honour system”, and less common where planters have to submit box-tops or box-stickers to prove how many trees they planted When overclaim occurs, the entire operation is dragged down as crew bosses now need to closely monitor the number of trees at each cache, and may even have to start collecting box tops.

I had the privilege of working in a company for 12 years where we followed the “honour system” for our tallies, and we hardly had any overclaim. In fact, on several occasions we had underclaim. Admittedly, planters sometimes make an honest mistake with their math, and end up unsure of how many trees they planted. We were told that when in doubt to claim low, because it is our responsibility to keep an accurate count. Our crew took that to heart, and as a result our crew boss was able to focus on doing an awesome job, getting boxes of trees to us where we need them, and keeping the operation moving smoothly, instead of trying to figure out who was cheating the crew.

A drag on everyone

Whether it’s stashing over overclaiming, dishonesty with tallies is a drag on an operation. It forces the crew bosses and supervisors to divert energy from supporting the to catching a thief. Everyone loses in this scenario because the operation slows down, and morale goes downhill. When there is overclaim or rumours of stashing, people start looking at each other differently over the dinner table, wondering which one of the crew members is cheating the system. Once the planters start watching each other, the imposter finds themselves more and more alone.

Future options.

As I’ve said, stashing and overclaiming are very hard to get away with at a scale where there is actually a financial reward. However, even if you are not caught, there is a good chance a crew boss or supervisor will be suspicious. They may not fire you, but those suspicions are likely to prevent them from ever promoting you, trusting you with a truck, or recommending you to another employer. When another company calls for a reference, the suspicious crew boss may simply say “no comment” or “I would not rehire this person”. Now your chances of getting onto another crew just dried up.

Crime and Punishment.

No, I’m not talking about Section 380(1) of the Criminal Code. I’m talking about the great writer Dostoevsky and his novel of that same name. In Crime and Punishment, the central figure Raskolnikov commits a heinous crime and is consumed not only by the guilt of what he has done, and not only the stress of being pursued and potentially caught by the authorities, but by confronting the all-consuming nihilism of his own worldview that allowed him to commit the crime in the first place.

Okay, we’re talking about stashing trees and not murder, but still…how much less relaxed would you be, knowing that you could lose your job, your reputation, your friends in camp, and maybe even face charges for stashing trees. How much rest might you lose? How much energy will you expend trying to maintain a convincing lie? Why challenge yourself with one of the hardest jobs there is, only to take the easy way out and have to confront that failure internally?

And if this argument hasn’t convinced you, remember this…..there are traceable microchips in all the trees, and that little bird that just flew by is actually a miniature drone with a high-definition camera.