Unfortunately, the US government has made exporting orchids so difficult that now, wonderful nurseries like Oakhill are suffering. At a time when the domestic hobbyist market is dwindling, you'd think that the government would think it's more important to ease up on the ridiculous amount of red tape and make it easier for companies to export their product.
When my greenhouse froze in 2008, I contacted Oak Hill when I was wanting to restock. However, they had given up doing exports because of the huge expense and trouble it had become. All I needed was the standard Phyto and CITES certificates; but, the USFW has made getting those documents about as easy as holding a snowflake on your tongue without it melting! Actually, the employee I dealt with at Oak Hill was fairly rude to me. I kept asking questions about their supply of the types I wanted, because I had it in mind to have the plants shipped to a third party in the USA; but, this person at Oak Hill wouldn't even give me the time of day once it was known that I was in Canada. Instead of answering my questions, I just received very curt, repeated replies that they don't export. Beyond telling me they wouldn't deal with me, I couldn't get anybody to answer my questions and help me put an order together for shipment within the USA.
I was kind of hurt because I'd been a repeat customer of theirs in the past and had, up to that point, held them in high esteem. Maybe they were just so upset and annoyed that the government was meddling with their business so much that they were cut off from the world market, that they couldn't help but be in a bad temper whenever a foreign customer approached them. So of course, I ended up spending my money elsewhere. I wonder how many other people around the world have been chased away and how much of an effect that has had on OakHill's bottom line? A reputable company like Oak Hill that sells a wide range of high quality plants should've been able to do very well if the government had made it easy for them to sell to the world and not forced them to stick to trying to survive on domestic sales only. In this age of globalisation and a global economy, it makes no sense at all for any government to create a bureaucracy that is so overbearing, problematic and self-serving that it's killing home grown businesses by making it impossible for them to operate effectively and expand into new markets. Shame on the ignorant, self-important, paper pushing bureaucrats! They are destroying free enterprise!