I have rejected a few so far from Teleflora Headquarters. They are sending us the Upsy Daisy Bouquet for $29.99 no delivery given or in special instructions
order includes $7.00 for delivery. Hello, gas is $3.99 a gallon. I looked on Teleflora.com and Upsy Daisy Bouquet is $29.99 plus $14.99 service charge.
I just need to ask what you would charge for this as an arrangement.. I get at very most 25.00 retail for the arrangement..TF states that thier srp is 29.99 which includes their 7.00 for florist delivery. Raw cost for this is 8.30, if you cannot make it for waht they give you and your labor and delivery far exceed the 21.90 you will actually recieve for this vase, than you must reject it...now this week in particular with the possible overtime you will naturally run into labor probably will exceed...when you take out the average very local deliver costs you 9 bucks that leaves 4.60 to pay the dove charges, messaging charges, membership charges, labor to make the delivery, labor to take the order, etc etc...I am sure that will be a drain even on the smallest company...it just doesn't make any sense to stress yourself out these companies that aggressively compete against your efforts to fill at such a discounted rate...
now the srp is not a bad number. Most of us in store would sell that arrangemnet as it is made for that price maybe adjust the delivery to real and current delivery..The problem arises when you figure in the fact that these orders were marketed right from underneath you, stripped of the extra money that would make your company run healthier and given back to you all in the name of save the florists....TF claims to be doing all of this marketing to svae the orders from going to proflowers and out of hand designed hand delivered territory, I say they are doing it to save them from proflowers and the 20% in their pocket definately helps with their bottom line and they have a whole host of people lining up to take their negative $2.30 for their efforts and fill fill fill....why wouldn't they do this, they have built a very lucrative company on the backs of florists who have worked hard and given them their all to build their brand while most not knowing it their brand was non existant or suffering...now it is to the point that it is quite obvious that our businesses have lost out to the damage and many have a hopeless outlook, because they are led to believe that cannot do it without the WS..I was one of those people...
Since my decision to cut off the ogs and .com, my company has grown by leaps and bounds because I no longer made decisions on product, time or staffing based on false business, og orders and tf.com...I started making my decisions based on my local orders and what my customers wanted which has led to better quality customers, me buying better quality flowers and less staffing, less stress on me and me being able to really see where my brand and niche lies rather than be torn away from my path by what other companies sell...Once I removed them from my life I could actually concentrate on the styles my customers liked rather than what I was offering based on what I would most likely sell over the wire...I have upped my average arrangement price from 35.00 to 65.00 without even trying..I no longer stress out over what will be spit out of the machine or how I am going to purchase the flowers for that and wait ever so long for the money. I no longer need extra help just to take, produce, organize and deliver those heavily discounted orders..I now get paid full money for my efforts and no longer feel beat up and helpless at my job...I liken the wire service relationship to Stockholm Syndrom, we have been told for so long that they are there for us and they will help us, and they want us to succeed, but their actions say something so different, but because of the brainwashing that goes on we stick it out thinking we cannot do it without them..Well, take it from me you will never know unless you try...2 years ago I was filling over 60% of my yearly gross in wire service crap and thought without that I would be dead in the water...2 years later, I am doing the same or a little more in annul sales just eeping my wire ins at below 12% and just quit my second wire service...I am now only part of FSN.. I have less stress and more money to work with, I still struggle because I am a micro shop, but I can devote my full brain on developing my company on a path that is consistant with my customers instead of being led by other companies and forcing that on my customers and becoming stale with them and losing ground..I hope this is read by many of you on the fence or struggling with the decision...I will answer any and all PMs if you need support or advice on the steps I took to take back my company from the WS cloak...I may still not make it, but at least I won't be saying after that the ws ruined me, I will have the pride in knowing that the market just wasn't able to support all the florists in the area and I gave my best shot for my local people...
