FloristDetective.com

Good anatomy - to be followed with a good question....

Are "they" ever going to address skimming fillers? I know they're tougher to catch but have every bit as important of impact on the industry.

I was told once by my FTD rep years ago he thought 50% of orders were skimmed on the incoming side. If that is so - the impact is huge. Those are the florists I try to avoid using, but as important to expose as the other side. I know of some personally right in my area who have 2 price charts - 1 for local - 1 for incoming, and another who looks at a $50 order as a $36.50 order and fills accordingly.
 
UPDATE: from TEL and FTD

Much to my surprise, I got a reply from both FTD and TEL.

While FTD's was from our local Rep, and she is very new, she was appalled at the article. Brightened her eyes a bit...

Teleflora's e-mail has made it's way to Rick Davis. We'll see how far it goes...(got e-mail back from him...).

We'll see...

- H.
 
bloomz said:
Good anatomy - to be followed with a good question....

Are "they" ever going to address skimming fillers? I know they're tougher to catch but have every bit as important of impact on the industry.

Those are the florists I try to avoid using, but as important to expose as the other side. I know of some personally right in my area who have 2 price charts - 1 for local - 1 for incoming, and another who looks at a $50 order as a $36.50 order and fills accordingly.
Click to expand...
Isn't that what all those quality assurance dollars are supposed to pay for? Shop testing and monitoring. You mean the WSs aren't doing their job to assure a quality experience in the network?

If dOGs are skimming on the sending side and fillers are skimming on incomings, isn't that even more reason to call a local florist direct?

The wire service model is broken.
 
PhillyPhlorist said:
EVERY-BODY on this board should copy that link, and forward it on to your Teleflora, Bloomlink, AND FTD rep. That link is a PRIME example of what's killing our industy. Time to take action, guys and gals...

- Herb

PS - my e-mails with the link have been sent...
Click to expand...

Are florist e-mails going to speak as loud as the millions of orders being pumped through the WS's by these deceitful companies?

Bloomz brings up a good point: Many florists have already made adjustments when filling discounted orders. Do they care about the plight of the industry? They are making money, so bring on the discounted incoming orders!

Money talks...
 
CHR said:
Isn't that what all those quality assurance dollars are supposed to pay for? Shop testing and monitoring. You mean the WSs aren't doing their job to assure a quality experience in the network?

If dOGs are skimming on the sending side and fillers are skimming on incomings, isn't that even more reason to call a local florist direct?

The wire service model is broken.
Click to expand...

I was told a long time ago, if the $$$ value is shown by the filling florist, that there are no more questions asked. In other words, you charge $1.00 for a carnation for your local customers but charge $1.50 on incoming....$3.50 per rose for local, $5.00 each in an incoming order. That has been going on for a long time. I've even had recipients send a picture to the sender, I've questioned the filling florist and were given whoppers of prices on basic flowers. They've covered their bases that way. Quality Assurance Reps would need to know what "design" entailed, need to see the actual product etc to actually ding someone on QA. Most FBC's will tell you, they don't know a thing about design. As for myself, there are some arrangements that are price "standard", especially sympathy work. ($40=x amount of snaps x amount of carns etc) If I get an incoming order or a large "local" order or change my "standard" price design, I write down everything in the design just in case there is a problem. I think I've only been called on it by a WS twice in 32+ years.
 
bloomz said:
Good anatomy - to be followed with a good question....

Are "they" ever going to address skimming fillers? I know they're tougher to catch but have every bit as important of impact on the industry.

I was told once by my FTD rep years ago he thought 50% of orders were skimmed on the incoming side. If that is so - the impact is huge. Those are the florists I try to avoid using, but as important to expose as the other side. I know of some personally right in my area who have 2 price charts - 1 for local - 1 for incoming, and another who looks at a $50 order as a $36.50 order and fills accordingly.
Click to expand...
Got proof?

Bring it on...documented, undisputable....proof!:fdevil:
 
Rhonda at work said:
I was told a long time ago, if the $$$ value is shown by the filling florist, that there are no more questions asked. In other words, you charge $1.00 for a carnation for your local customers but charge $1.50 on incoming....$3.50 per rose for local, $5.00 each in an incoming order.
Click to expand...

Yup...seen it in action. A few years ago, while doing an install, I ran across a shop who did that. Can't remember who it was, but they had it down to a science...if I remember correctly, the chart on the wall was quite old, and had an "add $.XX" next to each flower listed. When I asked about the 'add' part, a designer said ..."that was for incoming orders...why, don't you do the same thing?" Before then, I had never seen that before...

The worst one was the shop owner who wanted to put an automatic discount on all wire orders - i.e. the system would take the % off the order right then and there (as soon as it was printed) and show it on the order... I said I don't know if that would work........................:musical: (with a tap-dance...)

- H.
 
CHR said:
Isn't that what all those quality assurance dollars are supposed to pay for? Shop testing and monitoring. You mean the WSs aren't doing their job to assure a quality experience in the network?

If dOGs are skimming on the sending side and fillers are skimming on incomings, isn't that even more reason to call a local florist direct?

The wire service model is broken.
Click to expand...

Correct me if I'm wrong but I do believe you just made my point exactly. Why would wire services be required to examine one side and not the other? There is a point I am hinting at here....

They aren't doing it on either end any more, but why is one exempt? That's the big question. Many florists have learned to roll with the punches by skimming incoming, and an across the board examination would certainly show full intentions of making it better. Any less than that is an incomplete picture with the demonization highly limited. Why? Yes it's tougher to prove but every bit as important.

To quote a very smart florist a line he used a long time ago:

will the real skimmers please stand up?

opinions vary
 
You kids know darn well it's a huge problem as well.....

Actually FTD printed proof a bit back I think it was last Christmas?

I'm not championing this cause - just pointing out that the FD is missing a huge reason for lack of consumer value and satisfaction...my task is to figure out how to do it better and more ethically than they do, and compile and use a good list of highly professional florists that DON'T curtail.
 
Yo...Teleflora...you listening??

Ok, this time I will say it... I TOLD YOU SO!! And yes, I firmly believe that Ed's firing was due to his dilligence wqith regard to tracking this scummy operation.

E-Floristinc.com, the reconstituted Urban Florist, from Vancouver has in just a couple short months, made it to the BBB lists... This IS Urban, no matter the name, I know it, Ed, while he did not want to believe it, knew it too, and TELEFLORA KNOWS IT....

Floristdetective.com Update Read it Here
 
From the FloristDetective Mailbag

Thought some of you old timers might like to read some of the letters FloristDetective.com has received, as well as alert our newer FlowerChat members to the Detective site...

Enjoy....well...not really enjoy...it's really sad...

P.S. keep an eye out for some new stuff on one of the BIG2 coming soon...
 
Just want to point some key places where Florist Detective is positioned in search.

Google:

#13 for florist (out of 20,000,000) (appearing above even SAF & aboutflowers.com)
#3 Valentine's Day Flower Advice
#1 Valentine's Day Flower Tips
#2 Valentine's Day shopping tips (Not even using the words flowers or florist)

Yahoo:
#10 for florist (out of almost 16,000,000)

It's the links from to FloristDetective.com from florists, floral industry and news sites that help place it so highly in search.
 
Here's another angle to skimming that we haven't even addressed. What about wire services that make pictures of arrangements that are completely misleading, so the filling florist has no chance to make it right? I'm talking about round arrangements with all the flowers on one side for the picture, pics taken to make them look much bigger than they are, etc. Is that not skimming?
 
Both Tele and FTD make a common practice of this. Tele is much worse on the holidays, FTD does it with their everyday stuff. Pushing the problem off on the fillers just means "I don't want to know about it". I call it skimming because it's another example of not giving the consumer what they think they are paying for. As I said yesterday, the "cut out the middleman" is a campaign that could really work for the local florist.
 
There's also the conundrum of all WSs using open roses to make photos look more full. But when we us them 'as pictured', the customers complain their flowers don't last long enough.....

How about "3/4 stem of alstroe" - when the three blooms are placed quite a distance from one another in the arrangement? We don't often get alstroes with 8" laterals. ;)

Once again I'll put my plug in for taking your own photos, giving customers the best value with real-life arrangements, properly priced, that won't generate complaints.
 
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