FTD Fees

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

Yo, Mikey...is Domestic Retrans still asking for 27% more money on each order?

To cover the cost of the "service" they provide when they have to use the corporate credit card?

No thanks...been avoiding DomRet for over a year. Do a search, put it on your own credit card, and collect the points!

Exactly.....funny thing IS...DR was reporting back that there were NO shops available in the area to fill my orders...I HAD NO PROBLEMS getting them to fill my orders...funny thing eh??

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

And that's the sole criteria for being a member of a certain wire service?

The size of their directory??

Ya' gotta be kidding Joe...please...

that kinda raised my eyebrows a little as well, BUT, the "dirty" secret IS, I HAVE been known to accidentally look thru old TF directories, once in a while, cause the likelihood of finding a shop in THAT rag is just a little more likely!

 

[sfox]

And that's the sole criteria for being a member of a certain wire service?

The size of their directory??

Ya' gotta be kidding Joe...please...

Let's get this right.

We florists understand that the real money is made sending out orders.

We florists are supposed to belong to a wire service to send out orders.

So wouldn't that mean that the wire service with more florists to fill our orders, ie thicker book, be the better choice to spend all the money it costs to belong to a wire service.

Wow, don't tell me, Joe is a businessman and makes his decisions on business, not the fluff that "other florists" do? What a novel way to do "business"!

 

[prestonway]

Exactly.....funny thing IS...DR was reporting back that there were NO shops available in the area to fill my orders...I HAD NO PROBLEMS getting them to fill my orders...funny thing eh??

Customer called FTD.

Wanted to send flowers to the Cayman Islands.

International Retrans told them no service to that area.

So customer called us.

We said yes, we service the Cayman Islands!

Instead of Cayman Islands, just look under Grand Cayman instead...

:>:boggles::>:boggles::>:boggles:

 

[Dior]

Ya know what just amazes me - I' ve been telling the WS their business model is not working (at least for the florist) for years, and they haven't changed a thing! They can't be unaware of the hundreds of florists who have quit. They can't claim they don't know what's going on. I'm dumbfounded by their lack of insight into the future of their own business. They continue to bite the hand that feeds them, and for some strange reason, the dummies are still in business. How is this possible? We quit FTD last month, and I'm seriously thinking about quitting TF. At worst, it means I'm done with the real work earlier in the day. Just once, I wish one of the top executives would explain why they do business the way they do. They can't be making real money - they change hands every few years when the owners become discouraged. God help us if the Government hands them bailout money! It seems to me that they are paralyzed.

They are still in business because their model is churn-and-burn...they are all constantly having sales blitzes, signing up shops free for 6 months or whatever, and hope some will stick and/or make the florist jump through hoops to resign their membership, taking forever to terminate them and keep charging fees and dues.

Also, the reason why you can't get an answer from the execs. as to what their business model is, is because of what you said in your message, the company keeps getting turned over, none of the new executives understand what the floral industry is all about, or why the w/s model is what it is. Heck, even CPA's who try to look at florist statements with hidden fees, with obscure names for the fees, don't understand what they are seeing.