Teleflora delivery confirmation part 2

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Also...

Like Cheryl said, I don't CARE where you got the order from, and then send it to me on the pool.

I can only see it as A DELIVERY I must make for you, and treat as if it were one of my own. I expect nothing less from my fellow pool members in return.

I also would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE fully automated Delivery Con's as that would make life much easier. I don't like MANDATORY D-con's - they are unfair, and not just. A Status Update is fine - as sometimes stuff happens (patient discharged, patient dead, left work early, etc...) But, d-con only is a waste.
Ways need to be in place for tracking of these issues, and we ALL have our own ways in place.

- H.
 
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How long have we been kicking this around Herb? 3-4 years now you and me?

We even had a name... Delivery Pool Technologies... I still have the notes...

It boils down to a technologically achievable goal, that is not supported by enough florists to proceed with development, sad to say.

But, once the field is narrowed, and fewer florists exist, it will happen...
 
Hey - maybe this will help to thin them out?
 
PhillyPhlorist said:
Missing the whole point here, Lori. Orders sent TO a delivery pool cannot have ACCURATE delivery confirmations, unless there is a uniform way all XX members agree to adhere to. You can just "make it part of the end of day" routine when you don't have good data. It's anything but routine...

Tech DOES exist to get D-cons from a pool, problem is our industry is not tech-savvy. I have a work flow plan done, and the application on paper. The entire system is web-based. It would take less than 30 seconds to log in & upload your Inbound pool deliveries (deliveries you put in the pool) into the system. At a given time, you could then print out a report of all Received pool deliveries you would get at the pool, that day - even before your driver gets to the pool meeting (you could email the driver this report provided he/she is using a SmartPhone...)

The sticky parts are:
- Getting the data out of the POS (as ref. to by BOSS-MAS)
- Importing data INTO the POS delivery module, so driver routes could be entered/electronically done.
and, the stickiest...
- ALL pool members would have to sign up to the system in order to make it work.

I have much more on this, but protecting my ideas from virtual eyes.

- Herb

PS - so, the issue on THIS thread is NOT to do the D-cons, but HOW to do the D-cons, when you put in 50,60,70,80% of your deliveries into a Pool.
Click to expand...

They can have accurate delivery confirmations if the rules were that at the end of the day everyone must give the delivery cons to the other shops...I realize it is a PITA, and I do realize how delivery pools work, one huge reason I do not belong to one...and I do realize that I do not have the vast amounts of deliveries that some of you big people have...My point is that the way we do things must evolve and we need to give the consumer what they want or they will just leave us more and more for these big companies that just make it a requirement and get the job done...

So again it is a matter of make it a requirement and it will get done...implementing new things is never easy especially where "we have our ways" stands in the way....but we all must do it at some point...
 
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BOSS said:
How long have we been kicking this around Herb? 3-4 years now you and me?

We even had a name... Delivery Pool Technologies... I still have the notes...

It boils down to a technologically achievable goal, that is not supported by enough florists to proceed with development, sad to say.

But, once the field is narrowed, and fewer florists exist, it will happen...
Click to expand...

I have my notes too. The field is narrowing. The word "mandatory" might be the catalyst. Be mindful of the eyes, my friend.

- H.
 
lori042499 said:
They can have accurate delivery confirmations if the rules were that at the end of the day everyone must give the delivery cons to the other shops...
Click to expand...

Rules without consequences are rules not followed.

You left out the HOW the d-cons are given to the other shops. Calling - not an option.

- Herb
 
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Besides Joan, I cannot recall how many people were/are in a pool delivery set-up. I am glad to see some progress being made. Hopefully, some workable ideas get tossed out for Joan and others to at least look at and try.

Thanks to all that has posted so far. I appreciate the efforts.
 
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My Lord, Can we please get off the commentaries and lectures! This is not about it be a good or bad idea for business.

It is about:
How to implement it.
It being mandatory.
How it can be done cost effectively.
How it can be done with/without high tech capabilities.
How it can be done in a way to benefit all florist without financial burden.

I would suggest that you big senders, (myself included) find a way to make this work or some of your best fillers will not be part of the club that fills your orders leaving you with tech run florist with no little knowledge of floral product and no personal customer service, who will eventually go away to.

Let's not fool ourselves here... the customers that go by foot, or phone or web directly to the local florist are not the ones demanding a DCon. It is the customer who sends out of town who does not know the florist that is going to deliver their arrangement who wants the reasurrance it got there. Even then with all the hundreds of orders I sent out of town this year I have only had a handful of request to find out if it did get there, all were asked on a holiday delivery, and most of even those few were call just after noon on the Saturday before MD and early in the day VD.

What really gets to me about it being mandatory by any wire service is that they allow crap florist that do not even follow any of the rules they have in place already to remain members and then impliment another demand, another rule that all must find a way to impliment. Oh, I am sure they will come up with a method, that method will work great to leverage florist to use their technology.

I find it ironic that one would make a statement to "just make it one of your rules in the pool" and then turn around and say they do not belong to a pool because they do not like the rules.

It has been said time and again that everyone has the right to run their business the way that works for them, and their customers, and not every good or great idea will work for everyone. So why is it that some insist that this is the way for every florist tiny or large, big city or small to jump on board with or be gone???

Joan
 
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PhillyPhlorist said:
You can't do a Dcon on an order you don't know is ACTUALLY delivered.
Click to expand...

I do get your point (and Cheryl's and Joan's). I understand that "Let's do this!" doesn't work if you are dealing with a pool of people with different opinions and varying computer abilities.

Because my first idea, Twitter, was quickly dismissed (IMO too quickly), here's idea #2: homing pigeons with color bands indicating delivery status. They are slower than Twitter, but cuter.

Seriously, the question is how to force the florists and delivery guys who (believe) would not gain anything by doing timely dcon. Particularly the florists who don't belong to WS.

No one can force them. Penalty? The chance of passing a rule to punish non-complying florists would be zero.

However, even very stubborn florists would change their minds right away in the following scenario.

  • All the major WS implement non-mandatory dcon.
  • OGs stop sending orders to the florists who don't dcon.
  • Some local florists start doing dcon for their local clients. They report a great customer feedback.
  • Trade magazine starts talking about dcon as a way to steal customers from competitors.
  • Increasing number of customer complaints start showing up on the Internet, claiming that their florists didn't dcon. They say they would never use that florist.
....

At this point, I don't see any rational florist would still refuse to do dcon.

Once there is a will, there will be a solution.
 
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all that stuff is coming Goldie...just a matter of how fast and who gets left behind.

bank on it
 
Perhaps the wire service should require each florist to list zips that they personally cover. (Deliver with their own vehicle)

  • Orders for a zip code that the shop lists as an area they deliver requires a mandatory dcon
  • Orders for a non listed zip, dcon is not mandatory

This will allow for some flexibility to the sender and the filler and keeps everyone in check.
 
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In the face of pools and the like......that might be an unlikely option, but an option nonetheless.
 
This raises another serious concern....

goldfish said:
I do get your point (and Cheryl's and Joan's). I understand that "Let's do this!" doesn't work if you are dealing with a pool of people with different opinions and varying computer abilities.

Because my first idea, Twitter, was quickly dismissed (IMO too quickly), here's idea #2: homing pigeons with color bands indicating delivery status. They are slower than Twitter, but cuter.

Seriously, the question is how to force the florists and delivery guys who (believe) would not gain anything by doing timely dcon. Particularly the florists who don't belong to WS.

No one can force them. Penalty? The chance of passing a rule to punish non-complying florists would be zero.

However, even very stubborn florists would change their minds right away in the following scenario.

  • All the major WS implement non-mandatory dcon.
  • OGs stop sending orders to the florists who don't dcon.
  • Some local florists start doing dcon for their local clients. They report a great customer feedback.
  • Trade magazine starts talking about dcon as a way to steal customers from competitors.
  • Increasing number of customer complaints start showing up on the Internet, claiming that their florists didn't dcon. They say they would never use that florist.
....

At this point, I don't see any rational florist would still refuse to do dcon.

Once there is a will, there will be a solution.
Click to expand...

Who will clean up after the homing pigeons? Does this warrant the start of a new thread?

"The role of homing pigeons in the floral industry?"

But seriously folks, getting back to Dcon. I can not believe that in today's age anyone can oppose the concept and benefits of Dcon. I can however believe that there will be challenges to overcome to make this process one that is performed with every order.

As far back as I can remember virtually every proposed innovation in the industry has had its opponents. This is a slow industry to change mainly due to the fact that it is made up of tens of thousand of individual mom & pop businesses, each with their own way of doing things.

Unfortunately the closest thing we seem to have to a national organization or marketing board is by default the wire services. They do after all have the single biggest membership ranks. So I suspect if we are ever going to see Dcon become a reality of life it will have to be on the WS's say so and probably a mandatory requirement.

One last question,

Can anyone on this board actually state with conviction that the principle behind the DRP program is wrong?

I suspect that the reason it takes so much flack is that most shops believe that some how it is a profit center for FTD?

I also suspect that when introduced by the WS's Dcon will also be painted with that brush and equally as hated.

Maybe this is a battle SAF needs to lend support to by educating florists to the need and benefits of Dcon.
 
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Doug Munro said:
I suspect that the reason it takes so much flack is that most shops believe that some how it is a profit center for FTD?

I also suspect that when introduced by the WS's Dcon will also be painted with that brush and equally as hated.
Click to expand...

oh you know that is coming - as soon as they announce the "penalty" for not dconning.

Were you around here when DRP was announced Doug?

It was another shtstorm, maybe even worse than this one.

Funny one about that was all the arguments against Professional Order Handling.
 
There was a lot of favorable and unfavorable commentary on the why, how, yes, and no of DCON's in the other thread. I don't think we need to continue debating the issue. Now, it is time to find solutions.
 
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RWK said:
In the face of pools and the like......that might be an unlikely option, but an option nonetheless.
Click to expand...

This is an option because of the logistics of the pools.

By requiring a florist to list zip codes that they directly deliver, allows the sending shop the confidence that they will receive a mandatory dcon in return if sent to this shop.

But by not requiring a dcon if a shop receives an order in a zip that it does not list, solves the delivery pool issue.

If DCON is a priority to a sending shop, they will find a florist who lists it as a zip they directly cover. This will create a natural flow of orders to a shop in the actual area of the address of the recipient and in return the sending shop will get their DCON.

With this flexibility, senders can still send orders to their preferred shops, but a DCON is not mandatory if not on the dcon zip list. Since the shop is on the preferred list, the sender should be confident their order will be handled correctly and professionally regardless of a DCON. Fillers can still get orders they deliver indirectly (via delivery pool), but not be pressured into sending a mandatory DCON.

This will provide checks and balances to the fillers and senders.

At least it's a start and gets florists into the DCON mind frame.
 
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Trouble with that Darrel is - we used to choose fillers based on zip codes, back when.

We have a lot less problems now using preferred shops that are clear across town even in huge cities like Houston and Dallas.

However - I'm fairly sure most of them don't use pools.
 
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