I live fifty miles from NYC, and I know a tree farm where all the trees are $50, 3 feet tall or 20 feet. I bought an 11 footer a few years back for only $40.
A couple high school boys will help you put it on your car, but setting it up, you’re on your own.
And if you are so inclined, you can fight your way into the City to do business there reselling those trees for whatever the market will bear.
So it goes. (And $50 for a 3-foot tree is outrageous.)
Back when I observed Chr*stm*s; I scored a beautiful tree from a man set up on the roadside in Roan Mountain, TN for a mere ten bucks. A beautiful tree.