FTD sold!

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Thanks as always Cathy.
 
Yup dat be da troof

Smart gurl our Cathy.

Good synopsis
 
........and if Cathy was a bike riding woman she'd be the catch of the century.
Kudos and best wishes Phil for many years of bliss !
 
> sigh <

Cathy -

Thanks for keeping us up to date - and thanks Boss, Manorville, JB and everyone else for the additional info.

I don't see this acquisition as a positive benefit for the retail florist. I see this as another "third party" taking a slice of our business.

Sadly, how many of the approximately 22,000 florists nationwide are aware of this information? This move affects all of us - not just FTD members.

Here's a link to the slide presentation that accompanied the April 30th conference call: worth a look:
http://library.corporate-ir.net/lib...ted Online-FTDInvestorPresentation4302008.pdf

More reason for florists to look out for themselves, and to become wire-service free. (And just last week, my boss committed to getting FTD's POS - I am soooo conflicted!)

Valerie
 
As usual, Cathy said it better than I :)

United has 50 million people who are paying $9.95 for dial-up internet. Congrats, FTD members, how many more $19.99 specials are we going to see going after THAT demographic?

Ryan
 
devil's advocate re: dial-up service...

I agree with many of the points mentioned having just read the entire thread. We have been considering a withdrawl for FTD, but nervous to cut the cord. Do we cut quick now or see what this brings????

About dial-up....I am logged on dial-up right now, because it is the only thing available in my location. I am not elderly, nor am I low income. I just don't have any other choice. We live in a rural setting, on an inland lake, our neighbors are definately not elderly or low income. We do not have digital phone lines on our road. We could get satellite DSL is but is very costly, especially considering everyone's dish goes out weekly due to weather. Not reliable enough for me.

Just my humble input.
Midwestowner (rural Wisconsin)
 
Laughable!

Absolutely hilarious...like they know anything about the floral industry.
If they continue to use a boxed product and continue the Proflowers approach the profits will continue to drop for FTD no matter who owns them. Talk about ruining BRAND NAME RECOGNITION. It is gonna take a whole lot more than the strategy they outlayed to fix the damage FTD has done so far.
 
midwestowner said:
I agree with many of the points mentioned having just read the entire thread. We have been considering a withdrawl for FTD, but nervous to cut the cord. Do we cut quick now or see what this brings????

About dial-up....I am logged on dial-up right now, because it is the only thing available in my location. I am not elderly, nor am I low income. I just don't have any other choice. We live in a rural setting, on an inland lake, our neighbors are definately not elderly or low income. We do not have digital phone lines on our road. We could get satellite DSL is but is very costly, especially considering everyone's dish goes out weekly due to weather. Not reliable enough for me.

Just my humble input.
Midwestowner (rural Wisconsin)
Click to expand...

No one can help you decide. It has to be a decision you can live with.
It sounds like you are going through what all of us experience, Fear of the Unknown.

You did not mention considering switching to another wire service. Give that some consideration.

If you drop a wire service and have fewer orders, can you also cut payroll? It is a critical must do.

If you are the payroll, that is a different factor. You are not going to want to take home less pay, in other words, not cut your payroll.

I've been a member of several wire services, then a wire service free member [sent orders direct but did not get any] and now am a member of Teleflora and watching closely that we do not increase payroll.

I am in southern Wis, Janesville. If you want to :argue: one on one, give me a call. 608-755-7700
 
Time will tell how this plays out ... but if you asked my impression of the merger right now it's probably this:

procreationfail.jpg
 
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Rluceroism said:
Absolutely hilarious...like they know anything about the floral industry.
If they continue to use a boxed product and continue the Proflowers approach the profits will continue to drop for FTD no matter who owns them. Talk about ruining BRAND NAME RECOGNITION. It is gonna take a whole lot more than the strategy they outlayed to fix the damage FTD has done so far.
Click to expand...

or how many shops they've left in ruins financially, and emotionally
 
Infinite said:
Time will tell how this plays out ... but if you asked my impression of the merger right now it's probably this:
Click to expand...

I don't want our beloved Frank S. and his team to be the ducks, THAT'S the way I see it!!
 
My take on it

midwestowner said:
I agree with many of the points mentioned having just read the entire thread. We have been considering a withdrawl for FTD, but nervous to cut the cord. Do we cut quick now or see what this brings????
Click to expand...

I understand where you're coming from as many UK florists feel the same. This is my blog on the events so far. We will be doing interviews and comments in our June issue but will upload to www.fandwb.com as obviously it affects florists all over the world.

What do I feel about the news that FTD/Interflora is planning to sell to United Online?

Relief it’s finally happened, admiration for those who stood by their guns three years ago and said incorporation was wrong, irritation I’ve had to put up with so much garbage while it seemed Interflora/FTD plotted and planned, sadness for all the florists around the world who built the brand up but will get diddly squit from this latest deal but most of all excited … yes EXCITED in big capital letters.

Because this is a fabulous moment for all florists and other relay companies to fight back and really get themselves into a strong position. You see it isn’t quite a done deal. It’s subject to some conditions and therefore FTD/Interflora hasn’t quite achieved their goal of baling out.

For that’s what this is really all about. Baling out while they can because they know the writing is on the wall for the company and want shot of it. Hell, they’ve been trying to sell it for the last 18 months ever since they took on Interflora – the only bit that’s really showing profit and even that, in my humble opinion, is not doing as well as it should be.

Well fine and dandy for all at FTD HQ. Yes, the fact the deal isn’t all cash means that Interflora/FTD are taking a hit … but they'll still sit pretty. Meanwhile, in my opinion, for florists and the industry at large it's a rubbish deal. You see somewhere along the line it has to be paid for and the only way that will happen is by squeezing florists and suppliers even harder.

So to everyone: Please, please take this news as a huge opportunity, not a threat. Use what’s happened and the time lag between announcement and sale to seriously look at your own business and your own conscience and ask yourself what you want. Because it strikes me anyone who executes a relay order is simply propping up the beast that is, in my opinion, now actually doing more harm than good.

Unless it helps you and your customer then all you are doing is shooting yourself in the foot and making an awful lot of money for other people. And maybe that’s why now is the time to stop. If that sounds like a call for a rebellion, it is and I’ll be at the front!
 
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Carrington said:
I understand where you're coming from as many UK florists feel the same. This is my blog on the events so far. We will be doing interviews and comments in our June issue but will upload to www.fandwb.com as obviously it affects florists all over the world.

What do I feel about the news that FTD/Interflora is planning to sell to United Online?

Relief it’s finally happened, admiration for those who stood by their guns three years ago and said incorporation was wrong, irritation I’ve had to put up with so much garbage while it seemed Interflora/FTD plotted and planned, sadness for all the florists around the world who built the brand up but will get diddly squit from this latest deal but most of all excited … yes EXCITED in big capital letters.

Because this is a fabulous moment for all florists and other relay companies to fight back and really get themselves into a strong position. You see it isn’t quite a done deal. It’s subject to some conditions and therefore FTD/Interflora hasn’t quite achieved their goal of baling out.

For that’s what this is really all about. Baling out while they can because they know the writing is on the wall for the company and want shot of it. Hell, they’ve been trying to sell it for the last 18 months ever since they took on Interflora – the only bit that’s really showing profit and even that, in my humble opinion, is not doing as well as it should be.

Well fine and dandy for all at FTD HQ. Yes, the fact the deal isn’t all cash means that Interflora/FTD are taking a hit … but they'll still sit pretty. Meanwhile, in my opinion, for florists and the industry at large it's a rubbish deal. You see somewhere along the line it has to be paid for and the only way that will happen is by squeezing florists and suppliers even harder.

So to everyone: Please, please take this news as a huge opportunity, not a threat. Use what’s happened and the time lag between announcement and sale to seriously look at your own business and your own conscience and ask yourself what you want. Because it strikes me anyone who executes a relay order is simply propping up the beast that is, in my opinion, now actually doing more harm than good.

Unless it helps you and your customer then all you are doing is shooting yourself in the foot and making an awful lot of money for other people. And maybe that’s why now is the time to stop. If that sounds like a call for a rebellion, it is and I’ll be at the front!
Click to expand...


Reading Caroline is a great pleasure for me ,
and her opinions are a bonus !!!!!!!!! Go Girl !!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Isn't this a good time to tell FTD what we think? We can band together and send a petition or letter or something (cue the inspirational music!) telling FTD what will make the majority of us continue (or rejoin) our membership vs what will make us leave.

My husband and I have only been in the florist business 8 months. In that time I've been disgusted with FTD's unethical business practices and have been compiling a list of complaints I planned to forward to FTD. Since it was the busiest time of the year, I never got my notes into letter form. Although the list keeps growing. (We are in the process of divorcing ourselves from FTD.)

I tried to voice some of our complaints to our local rep, but he's an arrogant d*** who just brushed us off.

It seems like a good time to tell them to do it our way or we'll take the highway :)
 
People, we must keep in mind that FTD is a FOR PROFIT company, and I'm not talking about them helping you to make a profit. They make a profit by taking from you and giving to themselves.

There are many other companies out there that offer containers of higher quality in more sell-able designs. Anything that FTD offers, from credit card clearings to websites can be sourced less expensively elsewhere...

Take their TAX structure for instance...they collect taxes under the guise of a test order program that is not even in use as far as I can tell...

We will not change anything FTD is doing or planning to do in the future. The only option for change is to work your way to the door, and don't let it hit you on the way out...
 
Here's what the management team at United Online told their investors:

Bear in mind, by the way, that FTD operates a consumer business in which customers pay the company upfront for flowers ordered on the Internet. FTD then distributes all of its consumer orders to the thousands of florist partners in its network, which means that FTD doesn't actually carry any inventory in its consumer business. Even more attractive, FTD doesn't pay the florist who fulfills the order for several weeks. That's a great cash flow business with minimal Capex requirements.
Click to expand...
Emphasis mine. Lovely.

You can read the entire transcript of the conference call here.
 
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