Free Delivery - venting
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Mikey the Flower Guy
It's a GREAT DAY to live, and love!
- Nov 10, 2002
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I have watched....
this thread with great amusement and interest.....
You CANNOT deliver "for free".....there IS a cost to YOU the florist, so, it is NOT FREE!!
You CAN offer the "incentive" as a "hook" to entice customers to your shop, BUT, the cost WILL BE BOURNE by you, no different than advertising costs, or donation costs.
After all our years in business, and steadily rising costs attached to delivering flowers, we had hit an "impasse" with our customers, whereby they are NOW starting to question our delivery costs that we charge, and we are pretty much in line with all of you!
More and more clients are either opting to pick up the orders themselves, or making other "arrangements" to get a gift to their intended victims/recipients.
Something called economic fear, is once again raising monetary concerns, and after a number of years of prosperity, the consumer is feeling pinched again, and IS INDEED fighting back, AGAIN!!
FREE DELIVERY DOES WORK, however, you MUST set a "minimum order value" BEFORE offering such a scheme, and stick to it!!
this thread with great amusement and interest.....
You CANNOT deliver "for free".....there IS a cost to YOU the florist, so, it is NOT FREE!!
You CAN offer the "incentive" as a "hook" to entice customers to your shop, BUT, the cost WILL BE BOURNE by you, no different than advertising costs, or donation costs.
After all our years in business, and steadily rising costs attached to delivering flowers, we had hit an "impasse" with our customers, whereby they are NOW starting to question our delivery costs that we charge, and we are pretty much in line with all of you!
More and more clients are either opting to pick up the orders themselves, or making other "arrangements" to get a gift to their intended victims/recipients.
Something called economic fear, is once again raising monetary concerns, and after a number of years of prosperity, the consumer is feeling pinched again, and IS INDEED fighting back, AGAIN!!
FREE DELIVERY DOES WORK, however, you MUST set a "minimum order value" BEFORE offering such a scheme, and stick to it!!
BOSS
FlowerChat Administrator
What'da ya thunk?? I think it would have to be around $65.00 to be able to garner the necessary funding to "market" **free delivery** ??Mikey the Flower Guy said:
Why not an 'Amazon-like' delivery fee schedule?
Free delivery for any order over $_____ and a 2-3 day window in which to deliver it. (That way it's always piggybacked with something close to it.)
Base delivery charge for guaranteed day or below 'free delivery' minimum purchase.
Premium fee for guaranteed date/time-range or expedited service.
This kind of schedule would reward the customers that allow us to provide our services more efficiently.
Anyone doing this now?
Free delivery for any order over $_____ and a 2-3 day window in which to deliver it. (That way it's always piggybacked with something close to it.)
Base delivery charge for guaranteed day or below 'free delivery' minimum purchase.
Premium fee for guaranteed date/time-range or expedited service.
This kind of schedule would reward the customers that allow us to provide our services more efficiently.
Anyone doing this now?
PhillyPhlorist
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- Feb 7, 2004
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Mikey the Flower Guy said:
Yup, and not only that, you need to have the terms of your FD offer spelled out clearly for the customer. But, most importantly, you have see how feasible it is for YOU to offer a FD. In some shops, it's economically not possible (as BOSS was eluding to - I think - in the prev. post...) - just would cost too much.
OK...in our shop, we are able to use a delivery pool for many of our orders. The costs of sending an order through the pool are very reasonable - in fact MUCH cheaper than making the delivery myself - hence WHY we are in a pool! After all the math is done, we are able to offer a Free Delivery promo. during certain times of the year, and in some advertising media where there is much competition. Those who use offer FD ARE paying for the free delivery - no matter how you may show it on the books (as cost of Advertising, a Discount, etc...). Also, we watch the costs of EACH promotion - if we find that we can't afford to do it, or the response is getting TOO much attention, we discontinue the offer ASAP, while keeping the Ad running - just edit the next ad release with no FD offer...
There is no doubt FD can be a double edged sward, so you need to watch your costs!!!
- H.
Tracy D'Amico
Well-Known Member
Free Delivery question
I have another question about the free delivery debate ... I forgot it until today when a local restauranteur came in to place a delivery order. A thought was triggered in my mind about restaurant deliveries ...she delivers her lunches for free. Like us, hers is a "hand crafted" item, with a much shorter time window than we have. Think roses on the 14th need to be on time? Try showing up late to a hungry lunch crowd!
Is there much more profit in her product than ours? How can someone deliver a $15 lunch, or $12 pizza for free, and our product of $35, $75, $100 does not have enough profit to cover delivery costs? Don't they have to have comm auto insurance, like us, or at least hired auto insurance for personal vehicles?
I did have to explain to a customer yesterday that we charge delivery to pay for gas, insurance, blah blah blah. She thought it was solely to cover the driver's salary, and thought that enough people tip delivery drivers to compensate them. My driver only occasionally gets tips, but would you ever not tip the pizza delivery person?
Just a random thought,if anyone can shed some light ...
tracy
I have another question about the free delivery debate ... I forgot it until today when a local restauranteur came in to place a delivery order. A thought was triggered in my mind about restaurant deliveries ...she delivers her lunches for free. Like us, hers is a "hand crafted" item, with a much shorter time window than we have. Think roses on the 14th need to be on time? Try showing up late to a hungry lunch crowd!
Is there much more profit in her product than ours? How can someone deliver a $15 lunch, or $12 pizza for free, and our product of $35, $75, $100 does not have enough profit to cover delivery costs? Don't they have to have comm auto insurance, like us, or at least hired auto insurance for personal vehicles?
I did have to explain to a customer yesterday that we charge delivery to pay for gas, insurance, blah blah blah. She thought it was solely to cover the driver's salary, and thought that enough people tip delivery drivers to compensate them. My driver only occasionally gets tips, but would you ever not tip the pizza delivery person?
Just a random thought,if anyone can shed some light ...
tracy
PhillyPhlorist
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Tracypieface said:
How much does it cost to make a pizza??? $3~4 maybe? I have heard even LESS... If you sell a $75 arrangement, you mean to tell me there is not enough profit to cover a delivery cost of $6~8??? I would say that you DO need a min. order for free delivery (we have one always - usually $40-$50 depending on the ad. and time of year...
Also, MANY of the pizza del. people here use there own cars/vans, and are contracted drivers...get paid per delivery or something...some do pay by the hour...
- H.
Tracypieface said:
That's because florists pay the driver's wage. In case for pizza delivery, basically the customer pays the driver's wage in the form of tips.
The driver brings in his own car; he pays gas, insurance, and maintenance.
Pizza shops pay their drivers a per-delivery-fee (I think right now it's about $2-3 per delivery). But this is intended to offset the car expense paid by the driver, not a wage. It goes up and down, depending on the gas price. They also pay hourly, but that's usually way below a minimum wage. Some shop don't even pay anything.
carol
New Member
Yes. But a pizza or lunch driver ALWAYS gets a tip. Because the person who orderd it is usually the person who is getting it and paying for it and the tip is assumed to be part of the cost. perceived to be the drivers pay.!
With the gift of flowers.. the person who receives them is rarely the person who ordered them.. and people don't assume they have to pay for a gift, and a surprise gift at that!.. so very few people pay driver;s tips in our business.
Which is why most stores need to pay a living wage to drivers unlike food delivery drivers
With the gift of flowers.. the person who receives them is rarely the person who ordered them.. and people don't assume they have to pay for a gift, and a surprise gift at that!.. so very few people pay driver;s tips in our business.
Which is why most stores need to pay a living wage to drivers unlike food delivery drivers
NavyBrat
Well-Known Member
Our drivers receive tips from blue collar workers, but hardly ever from the elite in our town...interesting! We do have a lot of sports celebrities in our town, if the celebrity accepts the package drivers often receive $20! If the celebrity's wife anwers the door...no tip! Bummer! Tips are also received by our drivers if the recipient knows that a delivery is coming...they have the time to think about tipping and have a tip ready. We have a lot of customers who will ask us to include a tip for the driver on their purchase. One of our drivers always has a few dollar bills attached to his clipboard...when the recipient signs for the delivery, it makes them think about tipping...works well for him!
BOSS
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