Teleflora fee increases

[Bigted]

From the latest statement. Apparently they need more money to maintain their current high standards. :hammer:

"Findaflorist.com and eFlorist, we continually develop programs for the success of retail florists. In
order to maintain the level of service our shops expect, the monthly membership fee will be increased
$10.00 effective February 2007.

Order Processing Update - The Growth of the Dove Network Soars
With over 20,000 shops, The Dove Network has the most comprehensive coverage in industry history.
We are dedicated to maintaining the leading-edge systems that bring you the most orders in the industry.
To continue to process your orders accurately and efficiently, effective February 2007, the order
received fee will increase by $0.25. Additionally, the processing fee will increase by $0.25 per order
reported when using the Dove Network or myteleflora.com and by $0.50 when reporting using a Delivery
Report Form."

 

[Eric S]

That is very interesting.

I guess the next question I will need to ask myself is how long is long enough to keep this service because of our POS.

We will just have to keep passing the cost to our customers and since more our realizing they can send just about anywhere via internet its going to just get worse for the Wire Service To exist.

I have already seen a large amount of international orders being placed on our website this year and talking with florist in europe they are tired of being held hostage.

 

[CHR]

Just want to throw in that my independent website hosting costs us just $39.95/mo with no per-order fee.

So now Dove or phone receiving fees climb to $1.25 unless you report on paper. In that case, they're $1.50 each.

*insert my standard rant about the real cost of filling for OG's here*

 

[Luc]

See you fight fire with fire....
I am sorry It cost me $10.00 more per .com orders... So send a ask for every .com order or HQ orders to cover the increase.

If every shop did this. wonder what will happen...
Not only teleflora, but do it for every .com , etc etc etc
Hit them in the pocket book like they hit us.
Luc

 

[specialoccasion]

That is very interesting.

I guess the next question I will need to ask myself is how long is long enough to keep this service because of our POS.

Eric, we are in the same boat. Don't feel bad... until we can make enough money to pay ours off and find a handy dandy work around for our credit card processing, we too are stuck. Dam**, got to be more careful!

 

[BOSS]

Eric, we are in the same boat. Don't feel bad... until we can make enough money to pay ours off and find a handy dandy work around for our credit card processing, we too are stuck. Dam**, got to be more careful!

Sad but true, I'm so glad I was able to dump Advantage and move on....

Maybe you could go out of business (legally of course) and get out of your contract?? In your case all you would have to do is change your shop name to "Special OccasionS Flowers"

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

See you fight fire with fire....
I am sorry It cost me $10.00 more per .com orders... So send a ask for every .com order or HQ orders to cover the increase.

If every shop did this. wonder what will happen...
Not only teleflora, but do it for every .com , etc etc etc
Hit them in the pocket book like they hit us.
Luc

I'll go for that!!...why not turn the tables on "THEM??"

 

[Kimber K]

Well, How Ironic. I couldn't sleep because I'm so upset about my Teleflora bill and thought I'd come do some reading on Flower Chat.
Come Monday morning.... I dump Teleflora! No more letting the sales rep talk me into hanging in there for a few months for "free" to let them see how it will help my business grow.
I figure my "free" service cost me about $300 this last month. (over and above the send/recieve difference, of course)
$300 that I really can't afford.
The rep failed to tell me that "free" only covered the cost of the Dove fees.. so I'm still paying $139 membership fees. I still got charged $1 per order recieved, and I still got charged the advertising fees.. plus all the other little fees they need.. $19.95 here, $10 here... Good Lord..
If you get charged for advertising, charged for the Dove, charged for every order recieved on the Dove, charged a percentage of every order that you send...... What the heck do your "membership fees" cover?
This is garbage!
Teleflora can burn! :fdevil:

 

[Holly]

The one that frosts me is...I have to pay (now) $1.25 to claim an order that a florist called to me over the phone. If I'm carrying all your technology, and paying the fees that come along with it, then why not charge the guy with out the ability to send over the Dove? He's not paying any of the Dove fees and being rewarded for living back in the 60's.

 

[Kimber K]

actually, if he's a teleflora member.... he's paying the Dove fees whether he's using it or not. When I bought the shop in September, I went over all of the previous owners Teleflora bills. She did not have the Dove, but had been charged the $79 fee forever. When I asked her about it, she said that she had contacted Teleflora about it and they told her that she had to pay it even though she didn't use it. (I would have dumped them THEN.!! And I just talked to another florist in Mississippi the other day that told me that she had to pay for it too, even though she didn't use it, and Telelflora told her the same thing.)

So after going over a years worth of her Teleflora statement and finding that she was paying out over $300 a month to Teleflora for fees, I decided not to use them... again... tiny little town... no competition.. why bother with them. Well.... I got suckered in by all that "sales talk" from the rep... it's going to make my business grow... blah blah blah... we'll give it to you for "FREE" for a few months to let you try it and see how you like it....
Nothing is FREE... they nickle and dime you to death. It may be OK for the bigger shops that can afford to absorb that extra $300 a month, but I can't. And I don't need to pay a middle man $300 a month when I am perfectly capable of picking up the phone and calling a florist on my own. Heck, before we had the Dove we had to do that anyway.
And it IRKS me to no end that they charge me $1 for every incoming order... What the heck is up with that?? I realize it's ONLY a dollar... and I ONLY had 6 incoming orders last moth... but it's the principal behind it. NICKLE and DIME!!
As far as I'm concerned... the only way that Teleflora would be worth it is if they charged a FLAT fee.... ONE fee... that covered EVERYTHING.
I feel that If I have to pay a 100 and some dollars every month for membership AND they get a percentage of every order that I send out, THAT should be enough. No Dove fees... No recieved order fees.. No quality control fees... it's just rediculous!:soapbox:

 

[Sher]

The one that frosts me is...I have to pay (now) $1.25 to claim an order that a florist called to me over the phone. If I'm carrying all your technology, and paying the fees that come along with it, then why not charge the guy with out the ability to send over the Dove? He's not paying any of the Dove fees and being rewarded for living back in the 60's.

Thank you!!!! I totally agree...and the c r a p of having to ask for more money for the undervalued or les than what they show on thier website ones.......knowing they will only cancel it or you pay to rej stinks too....or the ones that send an order for a codified item that you have never been codified for....what a load.
My all time fave this week was asking for 10 more on an order going a great distance only to have snot ball tell me that they would give it to me this time but that in the future , if I was listed as delivering to that town then I should not ask for more money...My response was to tell them that I charge a minimum of 11.95 to deliver to that town for my regular customers so why would I charge them less...and that I will ask for more money anytime I darn well felt like it in order to deliver the item to full value that their customer was expecting...the darn response took 2 pages...and then I rejected it cause the truck had already left for that area and they took too long to get back to me...hope they choked...but I swear I had nothing to do with the power outage that hit them that night and has kept ftd down since then.....lol...oh to be that powerful!!!!! ube-do-bie-do...watch out cause I could get you!!!!
Sher

 

[CHR]

Here's how and why billing the receiving florist works:

Most florists sign up for WSs to receive orders so they are the most willing to accept the fee increases. Increasing fees on sending would just make the senders switch services. As has been pointed out here by Bloomz and others, big senders (whether OGs or large-volume shops) make the wire service world go 'round.

There's still a pervasive belief among most B&M shops that receiving a WS check is better than owing one, even though from a profit standpoint, it's definitely the other way around.

Do the Math:

Selling Florist:
Sends order for $50 including delivery. Even with no relay fee, his/her net is $10 plus rebate of minimum $3 for a total of $13. Add relay/service charges and the net could range from $16 - $26. Sending florist owes WS $40 and gets to enjoy that float for as much as 50 days.

Delivering Florist:
Fills order for a total of $50 including delivery but actually receives $36.50, less the now $1.25 receiving fee which reduces the price paid to $35.25. (Note that commissions/fees now represent 29.5% of the order - not 27%.) Subtract actual cost of delivery, COGS and labor for a total estimated $25 and the receiving shop has $10.25 left for overhead. Receiving florist is owed $35.25, $25 of which was generally paid out to employees & wholesalers before the payment is received. You served as 'the bank' for both the WS and sender.

Please don't overlook that TF will now collected 9.5% of that $50.

But like I say, as long as florists sign up for WSs and primarily measure the performance/satisfaction based on receiving orders, why would anything change?

 

[Connie]

As far as I'm concerned... the only way that Teleflora would be worth it is if they charged a FLAT fee.... ONE fee... that covered EVERYTHING.

As far as I'm concerned... the only way that TF or FTD or similar would be worth its is if they paid ME a fee.:fdevil:

 

[Kimber K]

Hey!!! Now there's a brilliant idea!!
When they call us asking us to sign on with them, we can request our OWN fees!!! That'll put them in their place...

"Well, SURE! I'd love to sign on with Teleflora, I just have to let you know that I require X.................."
Hmmmmmm I'm gonna have to come up with some really good ideas to throw out there when I talk to the rep tomorrow morning, BECAUSE I KNOW that she'll have a comeback for every reason that I give her as to why I DO NOT want to be a Teleflora member.

 

[sfox]

reply

Recently had Teleflora call to say they wanted me to update the zip codes we served. Since we are only listed in one zip code, the one we are located in, we replied that we serviced the entire metro area zip codes.

The response from Telelfora was that they could cut me a deal to list all those zips. My reply was that for them to get access to our delivery capability that they would have to pay us. If they wanted more coverage we could offer them that but it would cost them for our service. I told them that I would keep the monthly cost low. The person on the other end of the line stammered and then tried to explain that they were offering me the service. My reply back is that I was already servicing those areas and for me to take on more discounted orders, they would have to pay me.

I also explained that, I filled the orders coming into my zip from other florists because they filled my orders, but for me to expand Teleflora's reach I would need to be compensated. They stammered some more and then thanked me for my time and hung up.

As I hung up I had a big smile on my face.

 

[Buzz]

Here's how and why billing the receiving florist works:

Most florists sign up for WSs to receive orders so they are the most willing to accept the fee increases. Increasing fees on sending would just make the senders switch services. As has been pointed out here by Bloomz and others, big senders (whether OGs or large-volume shops) make the wire service world go 'round.

There's still a pervasive belief among most B&M shops that receiving a WS check is better than owing one, even though from a profit standpoint, it's definitely the other way around.

Do the Math:

Selling Florist:
Sends order for $50 including delivery. Even with no relay fee, his/her net is $10 plus rebate of minimum $3 for a total of $13. Add relay/service charges and the net could range from $16 - $26. Sending florist owes WS $40 and gets to enjoy that float for as much as 50 days.

Delivering Florist:
Fills order for a total of $50 including delivery but actually receives $36.50, less the now $1.25 receiving fee which reduces the price paid to $35.25. (Note that commissions/fees now represent 29.5% of the order - not 27%.) Subtract actual cost of delivery, COGS and labor for a total estimated $25 and the receiving shop has $10.25 left for overhead. Receiving florist is owed $35.25, $25 of which was generally paid out to employees & wholesalers before the payment is received. You served as 'the bank' for both the WS and sender.

Please don't overlook that TF will now collected 9.5% of that $50.

But like I say, as long as florists sign up for WSs and primarily measure the performance/satisfaction based on receiving orders, why would anything change?

I did a very similar evalutation of my teleflora statements for year 2006 and my results were very similar. Very horrible actually, I learned that for the year my average incoming order was right at $60 but found that after all my expenses were deducted, I was getting paid the equivalent of $15 per order and my membership fees, advertising, and all those other BS charges averaged just over $400 per month. I didn't bother to even calculate my COGS, and I picked up the phone called Teleflora and requested to cancel my membership! Woo HOO! Getting rid of one more phone line, one more internet connection, decreasing labor etc. I am not done with my calculations yet but figure I'll be adding approximately $600 per month to my bottom line after decreasing all the expenses and that go with having the wire service. In the last year and a half I cancelled 1800, FTD, Teleflora, FloralSource!!! It feels pretty good!!!!!!