Teleflora delivery confirmation part 2

[RWK]

In essence JB -Doing it your way would force the filling florist to deliver the arrangement, even if it was outside the delivery service area of that florist.

The area might be served by another florist in that pool though.

The filler would have to be the deliverer.

 

[CHERYL BAKIN]

Doug, Darryl, JB and others...
You guys all talk about delivery pools like they are the plague.

You cannot imagine "someone else" handling your package.

Delivery pools started in the 1970's when the price of gas jumped from under .30 to over .75. Ours in Pittsburgh was one of the original ones.

They do work, and they work very very well.
It's a way for me, a local florist, to cover a very wide geographic area, with my product. we can service all the hospitals and funeral homes, etc in the COUNTY, AND PARTS OF 2 OTHER COUNTIES. We would not physically be able to do that without our pool.

Our drivers generally take a great deal of pride in what they do & how they do it. Out of the thousands of packages we deliver thru-out the year, our complain/problem rate is very, very small. Trust me when I tell you that rough treatment of packages is not tolerated. (Our training to drivers is to treat it and handle it like it is a package coming from your own shop). Mistreatment menas that your shop could be paying for a replacement package.

It also significantly helps to geographically group larger amounts of deliveries into a specific area or zip code. Instead of 5 drivers going to XYZ house on ABC street, one driver goes, with packages from 5 shops. It really is pretty efficient.


Every pool has rules.
Rules about pick-up times, how packages are to be tagged and wrapped, whether they can be left on a porch or not; how hospital discharges are handled, and so on.
Membership votes, and rules change.

However, in order to make rule changes to a group of 40 florists (in my case), you need to have a good, viable plan --- the "how to" of making this work. It needs to be presented well & be well thought-out.
If it meets those objectives, and is explained properly, a rule change will pass.

That is all that Joan, Herb and I have been saying.
However,
1.Faxing pieces of paper back and forth between and among 40 flower shops daily is inefficient and a total waste of time.

2. Calling 40 individual flower shops with Dcons daily, with the loads of deliveries we do thru the pool, would be a nightmre! As I stated earlier, at a holiday, my delivery teams may not be returning to my shop until after 6 or 7 pm. Chances are that the other pool member shops are closed, or at least not answering the phone.

3. Using Twitter means that all drivers must be sauvvy enough to use it. I'm pretty bright --- and I don't use Twitter. I highly doubt that my 65+ year old drivers will be "cool" with it.
Additionally, it will slow down the driver delivery process.
Remember, our goal, as a pool, IS TO GET THAT PACKAGE DELIVERED!!

4. Our green dot idea on those packages that need an absolute Dcon may work -- It's not perfect, but it is a start.
We will be attempting a trial on this one in the next week or so.

5. Herb's idea of some type of email or spreadsheet via the internet is interesting. Waiting to here more about this.


Again, we (me, Herb, Joan) are not bashing the idea.
We are vetting it fully, so that you completely understand what you are asking us to do..... and at what cost.
We have to ask you back : "for what bottom line reason??"


cheryl

 

[bloomz]

Cheryl, respectfully submitted - Teleflora is the one asking to have this done, for now.

Bottom line reason? More confidence in our industry which *should* help all who are willing to utilize it and take advantage of it.

I'm positive it has had *something* to do with our growth and dominance in our area, like every other t crossed and i dotted we can think of.

 

[LJVF]

Doug, Darryl, JB and others...
You guys all talk about delivery pools like they are the plague.

You cannot imagine "someone else" handling your package.

Cheryl, I am not in a delivery pool, but I never expressed anything negative against them...at least in these recent threads. With that said, you make some very valid points and I do agree with you in that there are some definite logistics challenges.

I'll leave the "cannot imagine someone else handling my package" comeback to bloomzie.

 

[CHERYL BAKIN]

JB:
I do not think this is customer driven, in spite of what you, and Doug are stating.

I think this is a way for TF to play CYA.

TF HQ orders come in to us all the time with:
incomplete or bad information; no phone #s, wrong streets, cities and states (Pittsburgh, pa is NOT near Philadelphia, Pa!!)

All of our requests for Dcon have come from TF HQ orders in the last year (I took the time to have someone check on this for me after all of yesterday's posts).

In the last year, only once (1 time) have we been asked for a Dcon from a real florist -- flowers were for Mom; Mom was traveling; did we get them to her.? Not a problem; we filled the order & delivered it & Dconned it.

Show me the data that supports that the CONSUMER is after a Dcon. requests for Decons are not often found here.

All I hear is that "we should be like everyone else."


As someone else said, receiving an email telling you that "something has shipped" is not confirmation of delivery. I receive shipping confirmations all the time........rarely do I get a Dcon.

cheryl

 

[bloomz]

I didn't mean anything negative about it - I simply can't imagine someone else handling our packages.

Knowing Cheryl to be one of the sharpest cookies on this board - I'm sure that has occurred to her and I'm sure she knows what she is doing.

I seriously know nothing abuot delivery pools - in my mental picture they look very convoluted and confusing....

Like everything else upstairs likely.

Joan's descriptions about give 5 take 11 take 4 give 3 stuff went right over my head.

But I'm not that tall.

I think I said several times I didn't mean to make light of the problems this will create that will have to be worked out.

But work them out you will, cuz you're sharp and resouceful.

and in the end you're gonna love doing them when you feel the response you'll get to services that weren't even asked for, as in, exceeding your customers expectations.

Customer driven? Once they get them, they will grow to expect them - it will spread. Bloomnet has been doing them for a long time now. Teleflora is soon to catch up. I'm glad we've been doing them for longer than both of them put together. I've lost enough customers to them. We've been providing them for 7 years now.

I think its a way for Teleflora to play catch up - with proflowers and other gifters - and remember, Teleflora is also a drop shipping company with Franklin Mint and their other holdings, and they are data monsters - so I'm sure they know something about what makes customers happy and confident.

If you ask me, doing them for your own customers is more important than doing them for Teleflora's customers.

Change is never comfortable. And often not easy either. But in my life, it's always been for the better. [/deep thoughts]

 

[RWK]

Good question Cheryl. The whole point of the dconn is to benefit the sending CUSTOMER......NOT the florist.

You have a point - Whether or not I send a dconn to JB's shop for an order wired to me does not change his bottom line any.....the customer still paid, he still got the money. My dconn don't affect his bottom line.

Your post asking for the data backing up the customer benefit is worthy of a thanks and a greenie.

( have to settle for a thanks....says I gotta spread it around before I give it to you again )

 

[RC in Dayton and Cincinnati]

Cheryl,

It is a piece of cake to provide DeCons on Internet orders. You already have their email adress and if you have a POS system you probably have the capability to confirm delivery automatically.

On phone orders it's a different animal. You have to ask the customer for their email address so you can confirm delivery. It's my experience that overwhelmingly the customer say, "No thanks, not necessary."

So the question to ask is who really needs the DeCons? The florist who sells primarily to local customers by phone or walk-in doesn't. The Internet Order Gatherer, on the other hand, who gathers orders on the Internet from people who don't really know or have confidence with the company they're dealing with does.

The next question to ask is who does the burden fall on? The Internet Order Gatherer has no added work. DeCons only enhance his business with no additional burden. All the burden falls on the filling florist who receives very little added benefit.

I find it humorous Doug says "MY" when referring to who the customer belongs to, but when he wants YOU to be forced to do extra work for HIM he uses terms like "OUR CUSTOMERS" and "OUR INDUSTRY." (He's really talking about his customers and his business)

The fact is most florists don't need DeCons for their customers but Ordergatherers do. So if ordergatherers, including the wire services, need them the burden should fall on themselves, not the florists.

RC

 

[goldfish]

3. Using Twitter means that all drivers must be sauvvy enough to use it. I'm pretty bright --- and I don't use Twitter. I highly doubt that my 65+ year old drivers will be "cool" with it.
Additionally, it will slow down the driver delivery process.
Remember, our goal, as a pool, IS TO GET THAT PACKAGE DELIVERED!!

(1) Can older drivers use Twitter?

Using Twitter over a cell phone would be exactly as difficult as sending a text message.

Sure, some older people might resist initially. They always do. But that's really not the problem of their intelligence. Rather it's the problem of attitude; some older people don't feel comfortable learning new things. I'm getting closer to that age (I'm 48), and I know what I'm saying.

Still, this isn't an insurmountable problem. I'm sure anyone can learn to use Twitter.

(2) How long does it take to send dcon Tweet.

I'd say less than 30 seconds. If you get used to it, probably in 10 seconds.

For dcon purposes, you don't need to send "text." All you have to send is a code. 1 for successful delivery, 2 for left at door, and so on, followed by some ID to identify the package.

(3) Benefits

- Here's the BIGGEST benefit: Your driver does NOT have to call multiple shops. He needs to call only ONE number, a short code for Twitter (40404) to which he sends all the dcon messages.

- You at a shop simply "follows" his Tweet and tweets from other drivers. These tweet from many different drivers will arrive to your Twitter account one by one.

- If the number of deliveries is large, say >100, the number of Tweets you are receiving could become overwhelming. Most of these tweets are for other shops' dcons. But there will be a solution. Some tech guy should be able to write a simple App to sort/filter these tweets to select only those that interest you.

- Oh, I almost forgot. Each Tweet comes with time stamp.

 

[Joe Mioux]

I come back to the tried and true method used by Martin's (multiple delivery services, couriers, drivers, etc, covering a very large territory).

All delivery problems must be reported by the driver at the time of the incident. No report by 5:30pm = delivery done (later deadline at holidays). Send DCONs as a routine part of the day end.

Until drivers get more sophisticated technology, it really doesn't need to be more complicated than that.

Ryan

No report by 5:30pm = delivery done????


What does that mean?

 

[RWK]

Using twitter is certainly a possible solution....... it would require all the member shops to use twitter, supply their drivers with text-ready cell phones.

-----------------------------------

Now, how many florists service your town/area......How many of them do you know for CERTAIN/FOR SURE/PROOF POSITIVE use twitter?

 

[Joe Mioux]

Cheryl,

It is a piece of cake to provide DeCons on Internet orders. You already have their email adress and if you have a POS system you probably have the capability to confirm delivery automatically.

On phone orders it's a different animal. You have to ask the customer for their email address so you can confirm delivery. It's my experience that overwhelmingly the customer say, "No thanks, not necessary."

So the question to ask is who really needs the DeCons? The florist who sells primarily to local customers by phone or walk-in doesn't. The Internet Order Gatherer, on the other hand, who gathers orders on the Internet from people who don't really know or have confidence with the company they're dealing with does.

The next question to ask is who does the burden fall on? The Internet Order Gatherer has no added work. DeCons only enhance his business with no additional burden. All the burden falls on the filling florist who receives very little added benefit.

I find it humorous Doug says "MY" when referring to who the customer belongs to, but when he wants YOU to be forced to do extra work for HIM he uses terms like "OUR CUSTOMERS" and "OUR INDUSTRY." (He's really talking about his customers and his business)

The fact is most florists don't need DeCons for their customers but Ordergatherers do. So if ordergatherers, including the wire services, need them the burden should fall on themselves, not the florists.

RC

I think it is interesting that large shops, small shops, metro shops and rural shops are saying the same thing.

This issue is being driven by OG's and not retail florists for the reasons Randy has mentioned in the above quote.

joe

 

[prestonway]

Cheryl,

It is a piece of cake to provide DeCons on Internet orders. You already have their email adress and if you have a POS system you probably have the capability to confirm delivery automatically.

On phone orders it's a different animal. You have to ask the customer for their email address so you can confirm delivery. It's my experience that overwhelmingly the customer say, "No thanks, not necessary."

Must disagree with the bolded content.

We don't ask for the email address to confirm delivery.

We request email addresses to provide the sender with the service of an Order Confirmation Invoice with full details of the order.

The Order Confirmation allows the sender the ability to verify addresses, phone numbers, card messages, and to alert us to any typos which can & of course do occur.

The DelCon is simply provided as an additional service, when one is available.

...and a quick review shows that we capture 96% of our customer's email addresses on phone orders.

Instead of asking for their email to confirm delivery, ask for it to provide an order confirmation.

Your success rate should improve markedly, RC.

 

[bloomz]

The fact is most florists don't need DeCons for their customers but Ordergatherers do. So if ordergatherers, including the wire services, need them the burden should fall on themselves, not the florists.

RC

Ahhh but RC you miss an important fact in your statement of fact.

Fact: Order gatherer orders are growing. Florist gathered orders are diminishing (yes including mine - the both side of the fence guy, like you, as I would *guess* your wireouts are diminishing as well)

Since order gatherers, especially the Gorillas, see the value in them - I plan to remain competitive with them. Hence my glee at this new turn of events.

So the fact is, the people with the orders are gonna send them to the florists that chooseto provide them.

Now opinions vary but apparently and obviously and arguably (in another thread) if they want the profit (smaller tho it may be - I do) from incoming orders, they will figure out a way to do so.

So from both angles, sending and filling, if you don't want to stay competitive with the Gorillas, you don't have to.

I do, both from the sending (my customers) and from the filling side (for your customer).

I'm not against monetizing it - but not to Joe's tune of $5 per order.

Bloomnet gives back 75 cents - I think a buck is reasonable, tho the topic is moot because they won't let me (or you) decide.

dangit.

 

[LJVF]

So many great points being made on all sides of the dcon issue it has my head spinning :boggles:

Can I fault the wire services? I don't think so, they are not a non-profit organization, they are in the game to make money. They make the rules that they feel will keep them profitable, it's up to the members to follow them or not. If members don't like the rules they can voice their opinion. If still no change, then members must make a business decision on what is good or bad for their business. If the negatives of dcons exceed the positive, then they should not accept the orders or get out of the wire game all together. If the value of incoming make sense to the bottom line, then they should accept the rules and play the game.

Whomever is right or wrong, there will be a natural correction and the fit will survive.

 

[Joe Mioux]

I was thinking about this issue this morning.

What is the value of a Confirmed Delivery if the flowers are left at the door of a recipient or left with a neighbor?

There is no guarantee that those flowers will reach the recipient. The deliveryman and the florist are making an assumption that the flowers will reach the recipient.

Therefore, there is no or little difference between a Delivery Confirmation made by a neighbor and the OG/WS sender assuming delivery was made without a delivery confirmation.

There is value when the recipient, signs off on the confirmation, but otherwise it looks like wasted effort.

 

[master J]

I cringe everytime I send a delivery to the pool.....it's hard enough to get my own drivers to handle the flowers the way I want them too, yet relying on 40 other drivers to do the same. Flowers are so delicate, and when these drivers take my packages and shove them in a crate or whatever they use to keep flowers from moving around, chances are a lily is being smashed somewhere along the way!

While my complaint rate is extremely low from these pool deliveries, I am concerned about the ones who don't bother to complain and just decide not to send flowers again. The fact is, these packageds are getting banged around at the pool, no doubt in my mind!

With that being said, like Cheryl, I need the pool, as I could never cover all those areas on my own! So , I take the good with the bad....it is what it is- I just cross my fingers everytime I send package to pool.

It would be nice if the seminole system was enforced on all pool members and also some quality assurance was enforced on the drivers to handle packages with more care. However, that could be tough, we already have pool members dropping like flies, and it's hard enough just keeping them in the pool as is.

If we make too many new rules including Dcons, we would likely loose more area coverage, with all those florists who are not willing to adjust and make changes

 

[CHR]

Fact: Order gatherer orders are growing.

Where'd you get that fact? Once again, both FTD and 1-800 reported being DOWN in consumer floral sales nearly 25% in the first quarter.

Florist gathered orders are diminishing (yes including mine - the both side of the fence guy, like you, as I would *guess* your wireouts are diminishing as well)

You've been providing DCONs to your customers for several years and neither TF not FTD have. Why are you not experiencing growth if DCONs are so important to consumers?

Could it have more to do with the deep discounting, affiliate marketing, affinity marketing programs and large ad budgets of the big 3?

 

[LJVF]

I was thinking about this issue this morning.

What is the value of a Confirmed Delivery if the flowers are left at the door of a recipient or left with a neighbor?

There is no guarantee that those flowers will reach the recipient. The deliveryman and the florist are making an assumption that the flowers will reach the recipient.

Therefore, there is no or little difference between a Delivery Confirmation made by a neighbor and the OG/WS sender assuming delivery was made without a delivery confirmation.

There is value when the recipient, signs off on the confirmation, but otherwise it looks like wasted effort.

Joe, interesting angle. But I think there is value in giving the sender the information of what the status of his/her flowers are. Ideally the recipient will sign off for them, but it's still useful for the the both the sending florist and the sending customer to know if it had been porched, left with a neighbor or not confirmed at all.

 

[Mark Anderson]

... it's still useful for the the both the sending florist and the sending customer to know if it had been porched, left with a neighbor or not confirmed at all.

I think delivery confirmations are most helpful in just this kind of situation. If I send flowers to my wife and then get a delivery confirmation explaining that they were left with the next door neighbor my next call is to my wife asking her to get them as soon as she can.