a fellow florist had this to say about $29.99 flowers...

When ordering flowers one must be wise to the tricks mareters do to get you to spend way more money than is necessary. 90% of the time you could have called your friendly neighborhood florist and paid almost $10-$20 less for the same designs.

Be smart when ordering flowers.

The TRUTH about "Flowers From $29.99"
Posted 54 Minutes Ago at 09:08 PM
by kt4ye

Starting at Valentine's Day and continuing through Easter and Mother's Day,
we saw major National FLOWER BROKERS such as FTD, Teleflora and 1-800-FLOWERS
advertising "Flowers from $29.99" (or some such.) The fact is that this is a
"come on" and a "gimmick."Here is why.First, the price they show IS NOT THE
PRICE YOU PAY!ALL these BROKERS add a "service/delivery charge" of around $14.
So your "$29.99 flowers end up costing you about 50% MORE -- around $44!Second,
let's look at the numbers. The Flower Brokers INCLUDE about $7 in that $29.99
price for delivery. After the (roughly) 30% BROKER COMMISSION is deducted from
the price, that leaves the INDEPENDENT FLORIST (like the Flower Hut) that
receives the order and fills and delivers it about $21. (We don't even get the
$7 delivery fee since that is ALSO reduced by 30% to about $5.)By the way, the
$14 "service/delivery" charge is almost NEVER sent to the local florist. They
KEEP IT as an extra PROFIT source.So that leaves about $16 for the INDEPENDENT
FLORIST to buy the flowers and container, pay a floral craftsperson to make it
-- and make a PROFIT.Many/most PROFESSIONAL florists have a MINIMUM net order
size of about $25 to $30 dollars PLUS a DELIVERY FEE of $7 to $12.So... what
type of flower shop is likely to ACCEPT and FILL an order from a Flower Broker
for $29.99 GROSS; $21 NET??Is THIS the kind of shop that you want to TRUST to
convey YOUR feelings of love and affection?