Be Careful for Mother's Day - a warning

When your grandmother wanted to send flowers to a friend, all it took was a brisk walk to the local flower shop or a call on the telephone. The florist would fill her order and if the delivery was in another town, he or she would call a florist there to fill the order. Both the florist and your grandmother were satisfied.

Poor Grandma. She didn’t have the advantage of ordering flowers from the 'Net' using one of the wire services such as Teleflora, 1-800 flowers, or one of the many others online that are happy to help with flower ordering. But was she really deprived?

How would you like it if every time you went to the local grocery store to shop you were met in the parking lot with a person that wanted to charge you almost 30 percent of the grocery cost to wheel a grocery cart into the store for you? I don’t think that person would have any takers. However, this happens every day when someone orders flowers from a wire service on the Internet. The service charges almost 30 percent of the customer cost to simply “wheel” the order into the flower shop. What’s the solution?

Simply use the florist’s own website to order from, or even better, call the florist directly (most shops have a 1-800 number). That way you can discuss what flowers are available, what you would like and get more value for your dollar.

But, isn’t it wonderful that the wire services have hundreds of choices on their websites?

Not really. No flower shop can afford to keep all the flowers on hand that would be required to make the diverse arrangements shown. Orders are often refused on that basis, or substitutions have to be made. Unfortunately, in the pictures shown on the wire services’ websites, all the flowers are pushed to the front to make the arrangements look larger. Did you ever wonder why every rose in an arrangement of a dozen roses can be seen from one side? Often, customers are disappointed with the arrangements seen on the Internet and as delivered, and the flower shops receive the blame. Misleading pictures and the loss of about 30 percent of the cost to the wire services are to blame. Caring flower shops often have to add extra flowers in the arrangements to make them look closer to the value the customer expects at their cost. But is there anything else to know about sending flowers?

Yes. Flowers shops can help you with sending flowers to another city. This can be a nice service if you like someone to do it for you, or don’t want the challenge of doing it yourself. However this service can cost up to a third of the order’s cost between wire service and the sending flower shop costs. If you’re 'Net' savvy, find a shop on the 'Net' and order directly from them.

If you are expecting flowers delivered (Mother’s Day is coming up) that are ordered from out of town, do your friends a favor and suggest they call a flower shop in town directly. Everyone wins and you will get a nicer arrangement for better value. Or call us at Carey's Flowers and ask us for a phone number of a local brick and mortar shop in that area that we have used and trust.

Remember! Anytime that a third party gets in between the flower shop and the customer, EVERYONE LOSES.