the trend is Real Florist's saying no to FTD and 800flowers and order-gatherers

and this is happening

It's Spreading.... did you hear it?
Posted 46 Minutes Ago at 09:31 PM
by BOSS
Tags
I have been saying for years it would happen. I and others have quietly (not
so sometimes) been spreading the word.... the movement is moving (punny huh)
ahead almost unseen across North America, and around the globe.Traditional brick
and mortar mom and pop slob florists are saying no, pulling the plugs on wire
service communications, and dropping out of the services that for decades were
once a blessing, now turned burden and standing up to be counted.The first
evidence came about May 3rd when we downloaded the wire service directories and
all noticed the reduced numbers of memberships. Not just FTD, but the numbers
for Teleflora and 800Flowers too were all down. Yes, some of this is from shops
closing, but truth be known, the vast majority are simply disconnecting from the
mother ship. That was the first sign.The second, for me anyway, was the numerous
shops I talked to directly that told me about the likes of order gatherers and
the Black Hats at 800TFTD...florists are wising up. I feel strongly this trend
will continue. For me, I'm making the wire biz, nonessential to my future
success. Finding it much more productive to focus on direct customer sales and
eliminate the issues caused by wire orders, both in and out.Also, I think this
is *perhaps* how the trend will go forward....First we'll continue to see a
decline in wire service membership. It will become increasingly difficult to get
orders out florist to florist. At the same time the volume will continue todrop
anyway. Eventually you'l see fewer and fewer shops to send to and the wire
services will begin to (if they are not already) become insolvent and cash poor
because of declining membership dollars from directories, products and service
they are now raping the florists over.What will be left, is many strong
individual florists that have very little outgoing volume but very healthy local
sales. There will be a group too, todays OG's that will still have orders but no
where to get them filled, then whatchya gonna do?Eventually all will be right
with the world, and there will just be florists again, oh and probably
ProFlowers.... But I can live with that.Happy Mothers Week... I hope you were
blessed, I know I was.

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?