FTD/Interflora delivery charge increase

[Carrington]

Are there any US/Oz opinions/thoughts on the following?

Have you had an increase in wire service delivery charges or any other increases in the last few days (other than the quality/refusal things which I've noted)

The reason I ask is that it would appear Interflora UK have raised their delivery charge on the website by ï½£1.00 but that the charge has not been followed through on the FOL sites and is not being passed onto the executing florist.

According to their member bulletins they are looking at ways to mitigate the problems of fuel increase and will use the summer to investigate ways of charging customers more without damaging the price points that are key to success in a competitive market. One florist when asking where/what the extra pound was for was told it was an on-line charge but that doesn't stack up either in my opinion.

It would be interesting to see if this is happening on your side of the puddle as well. Perhaps someone could explain your delivery charges and how much of it you get as an executing florist.

I'm away today in sunny Leeds but back tomorrow,

Thanks.

Carrie

 

[Kobe0007]

Nope, as far as I can tell, FTD.com hasn't increased delivery on the website and I know they haven't been sending us more.

 

[remus]

Nope, as far as I can tell, FTD.com hasn't increased delivery on the website and I know they haven't been sending us more.

Do you receive the whole of the delivery charge the customer has paid.
Or is it split between FTD.. the sending member.. and the important one the executing member which is the way it works in the UK

 

[Kobe0007]

When you go to FTD.com, the prices they quote to the customer at first is what we receive. So, the FTD Bear Hug is on the site as $39.99, the SRP is $32.99 and $7 delivery. And then they charge the customer a $13.99 service fee, which they keep. It is robbery, especially since FTDs SRPs in the US are almost always under priced.

Teleflora also charges the same way, SRP + 7 delivery and then takes $14 for service.

 

[cherrie]

FTD and Teleflora takes 27%.- Twenty percent for the sending florist (many times FTD, or for the order gathering), and a 7% clearinghouse fee. Plus they charge us $1.25 for every order we receive over the fax computer. Plus, many different kinds of service and directory charges.
So, our immediate total ( not counting other charges) received of $32.99 SRP is $27.94 delivered. I believe that Bloomnet - 800 flowers clearinghouse fee is 9% = 29%.
In turn, I receive the 20% commission when I send out an order.
Long ago, it would be balanced out between wire ins and wire outs. Now a days, not so much.

 

[remus]

Thanks for that so your side are using the same system the UK used a few years ago product price from which delivery is then taken out plus a service charge.

Our system changed a while back, now its sold as product plus a delivery fee. The service charge to the customer has gone.
Sending members gets a percentage of the product value
Hq gets a percentage of the product value
Executing members gets the rest, but has to make the item up to the full value at shop prices.

But and this is where the fun starts the delivery fee which you would expect the executing florist to get to help pay for fuel, van & driver. Gets split between the sending member, HQ & then the delivering florist. who gets a little over 1/2 the delivery fee.

 

[treen]

I have uploaded a little website that easily explains all the splits and breakdowns of the UK Interflora financials and is very simple to understand. I have chosen not to make this public but will happily give the address and passwords to anyone that's interested and wants to have a look. It doesn't cover every scenario and has been derived from stuff I used for my own purposes but it does give you a good base to work from for an average order. If you email me I'll send you an invite.

The increase that Carrington refers to in this thread is an interesting one. If you visit the Interflora website and add any item to the cart you will notice that the delivery charge is stated as 5.99. Member florists have not been informed of this increase and are still charging 4.99 for delivery. Moreover if an order is received which has been placed on their website the delivery charge is only passed on at 4.99. We have a disappearing pound here which the customer thinks they've paid for delivery!

When we questioned customer services about this initially they had no idea what to tell us! After consulting a supervisor they were told to say the extra pound was an internet surcharge ....... Shouldn't it say that when a customer places an order?