Teleflora Firings

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BOSS

BOSS

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Oct 31, 2002
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I hear thru my grape vine that my friend Ed Cronin a TF RVP was let go yesterday, along with 4-5 other long term employees. A couple were in their IT department...long term employees all...

Hmmm...
 
I am really sorry to hear about Ed.

Heard the ax has been falling all over TF for at least a few weeks. They were already short-staffed in some key areas and resources are spread very, very thinly.

They can cut staff to the bone but until the leadership changes policy regarding the prison walls they've built around tech, gets their long-overdue tech products upgraded to have essential features needed in 2001, rethinks their relationships with the dOGs and give florists a reason to want to be members (instead of figuring out how to trap them into staying) I don't see how the company can rebound easily.
 
CHR said:
I am really sorry to hear about Ed.

...

rethinks their relationships with the dOGs and give florists a reason to want to be members (instead of figuring out how to trap them into staying) I don't see how the company can rebound easily.
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Very well put... They need to open up on all fronts...

- H.
 
Same thing applies to the other guys too Cathy...

I hear that in FTD land, they required all cubicle shelves to be removed, all posters taken down, and no personal items...in some areas they took the cubes as well??

Big Brother's watching at both companies, probably not liking what they are seeing and trying to figure out how to run a *floral business* with NO FLORISTS involved!

Awe shut up mark:soapbox:
 
BOSS said:
...
Big Brother's watching at both companies, probably not liking what they are seeing and trying to figure out how to run a *floral business* with NO FLORISTS involved!

Awe shut up mark:soapbox:
Click to expand...
Ok...its been awhile...

<soapbox>

FTD and TF are not in the flower business, they are in the MLM business, selling overpriced memberships to a club that does little more then suck dollars from naive, ignorant, and desperate small business owners who think they are buying into thier "dream" of being a flowershop owner as they are being hard-sold by the slimy sales staff.

When 90% of their profits come from "member" florist fees and sales, not flower sales, how could anyone possibly mistake them for a "florist"?? Add to the fact that

1. They will add anyone to the "network" who pays into it (just like MLM)
2. They have no quality control checks (just like MLM)
3. They will allow members to "overlap" sales areas (just like MLM)
4. They will force you to buy overpriced items to become "codified" (just like MLM)

...I dunno...quacks like a duck, flys like a duck, poops like a...

well, you get the message. I don't blame them for canning their IT guys. I can still remember laughing at our TF rep when he told me they only did dial-up and called the internet "insecure".

Cutting edge, they ain't!
</soapbox>
 
Boss,

I bet I know who you heard that from ... and I bet you'll get a different spin on that from other people :)

Too bad about Ed. He always seemed to be a decent guy, although I didn't know him.

Ryan
 
I'd be highly suspicious of any tech company that tries to tell you the internet isn't secure.

Wonder why the banking industries don't know that?
 
CHR said:
They can cut staff to the bone but until the leadership changes policy regarding the prison walls they've built around tech, gets their long-overdue tech products upgraded to have essential features needed in 2001, rethinks their relationships with the dOGs and give florists a reason to want to be members (instead of figuring out how to trap them into staying) I don't see how the company can rebound easily.
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Quote of the Day?!?:soapbox: :fdevil:
 
End of Oct I'll be TF Free! Thank GOD. In fact the TF rep stopped by to see me the other day and we had a nice conversation about why I've disowned them like a red-headed stepchild. He actually AGREED with me! The fees are too high, the concept creeps into the bottom line requiring me to lose $$ on every incoming order, etc etc. He basically said that the WS'es are for old ladies and rich housewives who decide to open a floweshop and don't know what they're doing and wait in front of that dove printer for all those orders!
Ha!

Tim - North Port Floral
 
CHR said:
...
They can cut staff to the bone but until the leadership changes policy regarding the prison walls they've built around tech, gets their long-overdue tech products upgraded to have essential features needed in 2001, rethinks their relationships with the dOGs and give florists a reason to want to be members (instead of figuring out how to trap them into staying) I don't see how the company can rebound easily.
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Sorry to bringer of bad news (yeah, right mark!), but F2F is never going to rebound. Proflowers changed the entire landscape of the OOA gift/bouquet flower business with it's direct-ship disruptive technology, and no amount of firing and "re-organization" is EVER going to put the genie back into the bottle.

Their only hail-mary hope would be to completely open the TF network, strip everything to the bone, and let OS guys start creating mash-ups using an BSD-licensed Teleflora SDK as a starting point to developing a next-gen way to send OOA orders to other shops.

Long shot, indeed...
 
[Their only hail-mary hope would be to completely open the TF network, strip everything to the bone, and let OS guys start creating mash-ups using an BSD-licensed Teleflora SDK as a starting point to developing a next-gen way to send OOA orders to other shops.

Long shot, indeed...[/quote]


ughm. im new and i have no idea what you are saying....could you explain to us newbies what OS,BSD,and OOA means? thank you :) angela
 
NPFloral said:
why I've disowned them ........ He actually AGREED with me!
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I think *most* reps know the Real Score...but they are bound by their employment needs to try and spin it the other way.

Each company has some good folks trying to make a living, and some not so good ones riding the waves... it must be hard to say things you don;t necessarily agree with.

I think we'll see in the next few years where the reps go by the wayside, unless of course they can sell technology, but that too will not be enuf to justify the number of full time staffers they have today. Eventually they'll burn through the list of florists and hit more resistance than they have to date. There will always be the newbie owners they can pick up from time to time, but as we have seen here in our community folks are asking questions of other florists before they sign on the dotted lines and making more informed decissions for themselves.

The wires still serve a purpose for many shops, but I truely believe it's the bigger shops, with outbound volume that make money from having the service, as long as they limit their exposure to the rest of the company. 800F has the right idea with paying based on the number of orders you receive, a new concept that may spread once enough leave the others...but here too the inherant problems of containers, under sold dollar amounts and a myriad of other issues come into play.
 
angelalovesart said:
ughm. im new and i have no idea what you are saying....could you explain to us newbies what OS,BSD,and OOA means? thank you :) angela
Click to expand...

OS- Open Source (Tech Term)
OOA- Out of Area
BSD- is a free software license (Did I explain that right?)

HTH :)
 
NPFloral said:
He basically said that the WS'es are for old ladies and rich housewives who decide to open a floweshop and don't know what they're doing and wait in front of that dove printer for all those orders!
Click to expand...

You forgot to add: shops who have no other alternative tech wise in sending their 200+ avg. out bound orders a month...not to metion an equal amount of inbound as well...mostly F2F orders.

I still need a w/s...I may be in the minority here, but thems the facts...

Now the WEEKEND begins for MEEE!!!:beer

- H.
 
Maybe

Maybe the reason for the firings is because of the Franklin Mint just being sold. The Resnicks just sold the Franklin Mint. They no longer have any stake in it.

The new CEO is from the Franklin Mint and just maybe the firings are a way to create openings for other ex Franklin Mint employees who just happein to be friends of Teleflora CEO.
 
*thinking out loud here*

An RTI user told me TF was building a Bloomlink interface.

For nearly 30 years, Lynda and Stewart Resnick have been the driving force behind TF regardless of whomever's been the CEO. Are they ready to move on to be just 'simple farmers' and sell off non-core assets?

I don't think 1-800 is in a financial position to purchase TF, but the Resnicks must have some sort of long-term exit strategy.
 
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