Florist refuses direct order?????

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Not quite, make that not even, the contrarian is saying he doesn't have time to fight other people's battles. IF I was told by a sales tax auditor like Ted was, no, I wouldn't waste time fighting it so non-member florists can get by cheaper. Did someone forget they save about $3-5000 a year by not belonging to wire services?

Twisted I may be, but I do know how to pick my battles fairly well and l try to avoid wasting time on losing ones.....if you wish to call that rolling over and submitting so be it, I'll choose to call it smart use of finite time.

I don't have, or allot time to fight other people's battles. Twisted I guess. My family is counting on me to make us a living.

There's SO much else (productive stuff) I can spend my time doing, and for some twisted reason I'm guessing Ted does too. I thought that was fairly obvious.

Just the way I choose to run my business, which seems to be working ok.
 
Rhonda at work said:
Considering on their website (through their paid link), the sympathy section shows even their cubes starting at like $76.99 - you probably wouldn't have gotten much for your $65.00..........
sheesh.........do the PA reps blackmail or hypnotize their clients??
:poke:
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Sometimes. But...I prefer to hypnotize. Oh, are you referring to a w/s rep? Definitely hypnotize then...

inferno63 said:
I think a florist to florist falls under the "resale" exempt rule. The sending florist already collected tax on the sale from the customer. As the receiving florist I do not tax direct orders. But I do ask for the florists tax exempt number.
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OK - a PA florist here, and yes, I do know Perkasie Florist quite well - a Preferred shop of ours. And, before coming to judgment on Bob, I would want to hear his side of the story. You never know what kind of a day he was having, bad timing, not understanding the whole direct thing, etc.......

Just an FYI to all the direct, non- W/S shops out there, there are QUITE A FEW misconceptions about direct orders in our industry. I would venture to say 4 out of 10 shops have no REAL idea how direct orders work, or CAN work. I know of 2 shop owners who told me recently that they didn't want to give the sending shop a 20% comm. on the credit card. Huh? I cleared it up...

But, anyway, before calling anyone a loser, rushing to judgment on how a shop works, let's please be kind to fellow florists. Bob is a relatively new owner, as Perkasie Flst has been around for many years. The previous owners were gems in the industry (they grew local Callas that would knock your socks off...).

As far as Tax goes - use Interstate Commerce. No need to charge tax on an order you receive directly as long as the tax was collected on the other end in that state. Otherwise, double taxation. JMO...

- Herb
 
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bloomz said:
Not quite, the contrarian is saying he doesn't have time to fight other people's battles. IF I was told by a sales tax auditor like Ted was, no, I wouldn't waste time fighting it so non-member florists can get by cheaper. Did someone forget they save about $3-5000 a year by not belonging to wire services?

Twisted I may be, but I do know how to pick my battles fairly well and l try to avoid wasting time on losing ones.....if you wish to call that rolling over and submitting so be it, I'll choose to call it smart use of finite time.

- - - I choose to run my business, which seems to be working ok.
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Agree there! :rofl:

But, dead on on the runnin' biz part. Amen brudda...

- H.
 
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PhillyPhlorist said:
OK - a PA florist here, and yes, I do know Perkasie Florist quite well - a Preferred shop of ours. And, before coming to judgment on Bob, I would want to hear his side of the story. You never know what kind of a day he was having, bad timing, not understanding the whole direct thing, etc.......

Just an FYI to all the direct, non- W/S shops out there, there are QUITE A FEW misconceptions about direct orders in our industry. I would venture to say 4 out of 10 shops have no REAL idea how direct orders work, or CAN work. I know of 2 shop owners who told me recently that they didn't want to give the sending shop a 20% comm. on the credit card. Huh? I cleared it up...

But, anyway, before calling anyone a loser, rushing to judgment on how a shop works, let's please be kind to fellow florists. Bob is a relatively new owner, as Perkasie Flst has been around for many years. The previous owners were gems in the industry (they grew local Callas that would knock your socks off...).


- Herb
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It wasn't Perkasie Florist, it was Claire's Flowers. Are they one in the same? Their addresses are different. Claire's is on Callowhill, and Perkasie is on Walnut.

Sorry Herb... he knew EXACTLY what I wanted. Hanging up on me was unacceptable. I was quite polite to him and expecting the same in return is not an out-of-the-ordinary desire. I should have been treated (at the very least) just like any other customer. I didn't ask for, nor do I expect a discount. I never haggle over tax or no tax, either.

Bad day? We all have them, but any retailer worth their salt does NOT take it out on a customer. Bad timing? "I'm REALLY busy right now, can you call me back in 15?" Not understanding how F2F works? "I've never done that before, can you explain?"
Those would have been appropriate responses. Not a loud **CLICK** of the phone hanging up on someone.
In today's economic climate, I certainly hope Bob get's a grip because if he handles customers the way he handled my call... it won't be long before Claire's Flower Shop becomes Closed Flower Shop.

Tim - North Port Floral
 
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We take direct orders all the time...just ask for the sender's tax-exempt or resale number, and you are "excused" from collecting the tax, assuming that it is collected on the other end. If someone cannot provide the number, then we do charge the tax...just trying to keep Pennsylvania happy and my life UNcomplicated!
 
PhillyPhlorist said:
Just an FYI to all the direct, non- W/S shops out there, there are QUITE A FEW misconceptions about direct orders in our industry. I would venture to say 4 out of 10 shops have no REAL idea how direct orders work, or CAN work. .

- Herb
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I would have to agree- where I used to work, the general attitude toward another flower shop calling with a card was....."oh watch that card carefully-they must not be able to pay their WS bill..or they have been kicked out for some reason" seriously! I don't know how they came to have that attitude, but they did. and they were sincere in their beliefs, wonderful people in business 30+ years. they did go direct with just a few other flower shops they knew personally. makes me wonder what they think of me (no ws)! lol
 
as a ws florist, I have no problems getting orders from other florists with a cc. I treat them like any other customer, they are a paying customer. I do not want to give them a discount....I want them to charge their customer a service charge and that be the end of it. I will not charge them tax as long as a tax exempt number is supplied...

The reasons behind not giving the 20% are these. When they chose to forego the ws Club they forfeited their right to this 20% discount...I have to pay my percentage on their cc and they have the ability to charge back if they want to for what ever reason they want to and I have no recourse because they are the cc companies customer not me...I also because I use a ws have no way to have that favor reciprocated.

I know many will say that they should get this 20% because of the cost that it takes to acquire the customer, but for most florists it really doesn't cost that much to acquire these orders that just come with the existing customers...For those florists that market the crap out of out going wires they generally have a ws and don't do it on a cc..because it costs them to much money to call each order out....

I personally think that the WS should also do away with the percentages and just charge everyone the fees associated for marketing...I think it is like 2% or something like that. Do away with rebates and see how it goes...I am sure they have run the numbers on that and found they would lose to many senders and then would lose the fillers and be no more...which may happen in the end anyways. There will be an end to WS someday, I don't know when but it is a broken system and we need it less and less everyday...
 
lori042499 said:
as a ws florist, I have no problems getting orders from other florists with a cc. I treat them like any other customer, they are a paying customer. I do not want to give them a discount....I want them to charge their customer a service charge and that be the end of it. I will not charge them tax as long as a tax exempt number is supplied...

The reasons behind not giving the 20% are these. When they chose to forego the ws Club they forfeited their right to this 20% discount...I have to pay my percentage on their cc and they have the ability to charge back if they want to for what ever reason they want to and I have no recourse because they are the cc companies customer not me...I also because I use a ws have no way to have that favor reciprocated.
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Exactly. I agree totally. Which is why I don't ask for, nor expect a discount. If they offer, I tell them I don't expect a discount. When that happens they usually do it anyway.

Tim - North Port Floral
 
I agree w/Lori about the 20%. I don't give it and I don't ask for it. There is no need! Also a florist receiving my direct order doesn't need to know why I'm WS free, it's none of their business. I have an order for you, here is my cc#, fill it to value, we're done. Same on this end. I charge my customer a small fee for the convenience of me looking up the florist and doing the legwork.
 
NPFloral said:
It wasn't Perkasie Florist, it was Claire's Flowers. Are they one in the same? Their addresses are different. Claire's is on Callowhill, and Perkasie is on Walnut.
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Tim - my bad, yes there are two, but Claire's is the one owned by Bob.
Dang cold meds are clouding my mind...

- H.

PS - will try to call Bob sometime and get his story...
PSS - both shops are good ones, BTW...
 
SpringCity said:
I agree w/Lori about the 20%. I don't give it and I don't ask for it. There is no need! Also a florist receiving my direct order doesn't need to know why I'm WS free, it's none of their business. I have an order for you, here is my cc#, fill it to value, we're done. Same on this end. I charge my customer a small fee for the convenience of me looking up the florist and doing the legwork.
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We do the same - fill for the value I give, and we charge our standard Relay fee. We don't do many direct orders, but have done a couple in the past month...
 
Way back in my early days owning a shop, it really was different.

Back then, florists that couldn't get into a wire service tried to call direct and most of the time, their card was declined or they tried to say they were sending a check and deducting 20%. Of course, the few times I believed them....the check never came (that was before credit cards became a way of life)

Also, many consumers had figured out the system. We got calls all the time from people saying they were a florist and asking for their 20% discount. These people caused us to be much more careful about accepting orders as they always turned out to be non florists or people who had worked in flower shop that knew how to play the game.

But, today, there is no excuse for a shop to refuse a Florist to Florist Direct order paid by a credit card. this is a different world.

Carol Bice
 
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what you said yessssss we need them less and less everyday and its soooooooo lopsided.....we do all the work furnish the containers (possibly bought them from the ws) send a driver, buy the gas buy the flowers, design them and they get 27% plus every freaking extra charge they can muster.......AMEN to direct orders I will take them any dayyyyyyy....(ok, I feel better now)
 
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