What do you get for $70 total Funeral Piece??!!

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master J

master J

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Jan 8, 2005
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Havertown - Philadelphia
www.belvedereflowers.com
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My designers aunt passed away this past week and she asked us to send flowers to the funeral home for her, we had to wire it out since it was out of our delivery range...it went to penns grove NJ....

She is far from the type to complain and isnt even asking for her money back but she told me it was horrible!!!!

This is exactly what was in it-

10 pink carns, 3 burgundy snaps and 2 burgundy glads, with baker and tree fern, THATS IT!!!!

YIKES, can you say fugly!

I will call later today and let the florist know , we'll see what kind of response i get....
 
master J said:
My designers aunt passed away this past week and she asked us to send flowers to the funeral home for her, we had to wire it out since it was out of our delivery range...it went to penns grove NJ....

She is far from the type to complain and isnt even asking for her money back but she told me it was horrible!!!!

This is exactly what was in it-

10 pink carns, 3 burgundy snaps and 2 burgundy glads, with baker and tree fern, THATS IT!!!!

YIKES, can you say fugly!

I will call later today and let the florist know , we'll see what kind of response i get....
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You probably should have gotten a 60.00 piece if delivery is not free which I doubt it is. That sounds to me like it was a 50.00 piece. Not too sure why you would WO instead of employee putting it on CC direct...but anyhow looks like you may have been skimmed by 10.00 unless local delivery is more than 10.00 or they pay a whole lot more for flowers than most of us...
 
We don't charge delivery to funerals (I know...I know... small town and word spreads around)...
But here's what we put in $70.00 funeral design last week:
10 snap, 8 carnations, 5 stems alstromeria (5-6 bl) or
10 volkefrieden delph, 5 iris, 5 tulip, 5 alstro
Includes, emerald, tree fern or plumosa, and ribbon.
Both done in low mache.
 
Lori, agree, should have used a cc, but, yes i know they take out for delivery, and I know $60 funeral piece doesnt get you much but, I have problem with what was used, it just says " we dont give a crap", I would never send out a piece with the description I listed above, its just not professional!

My mistake, should of used cc for her, BUT, what about my customers that i wire out for? YIKES!
 
MasterJ - agreed on the skimming, probably that "incoming wire service charge" we hear about. I once sent a funeral piece for my husband's cousin's funeral, and the receiving florist told me I would get better value if I used my cc instead of the shop's TF account. I was working for another shop, and wanted them to have the income associated with my access to their TF book - when I saw the piece, I estimated value at $90-$100, and we spent $140. Lesson learned.


tracy
 
How many shops here use a credit card and place orders directly? I see many suggestions to do so, but I wonder how many do? Myself, I go through the wire service. And even for a personal order, I would use the wire service, although I may give them more money to make the arrangement. This doesn't seem like a proper arrangement regardless of the price. If the flower shop isn't going to make a proper arr. for the $, how does using a credit card with an out of town zip make it better? Maybe I am naive, but if they are going to rip you off, it doesn't take a wire order to do it.

Maybe we should do a poll.
 
OK, 2 things.....

The reason for a cc order and a ws order to differ is that some shops take out the percentage they "lose" from wire orders, not right not good but done none the less. Credit card orders are done to value in most shops, there are still some that are turds and don't give full value on anything....


Master J, There really wasn't anything wrong with what was sent that is a funeral basket...granted the designer could have used a few stems of poms in place of some of the carns or some filler, but that was a 50.00 basket....you should have gotten a 60.00 basket, but they skimmed. Either that or they charge a 4.5 time mark up or a 30% labor charge which is being done these days in certain areas to make up for the xtra charges on fuel from wholesalers and xtra fuel charges for delivery etc etc.
 
DOUG- I asked them to do a pretty funeral piece, nothing specific, their choice...

LORI-
I understand markups can be different but again, they sent a piece of crapola! Who in the right mind would use that kind of recipe to make something???? I just don't think you can justify sending this out for anybody at any price! I would fire myself & my designer for sending something like that out!

If it wasnt enough money for them to make an arrangment that looked half decent & finished, then they should of refused the order!
 
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master J said:
DOUG- I asked them to do a pretty funeral piece, nothing specific, their choice...

LORI-
I understand markups can be different but again, they sent a piece of crapola! Who in the right mind would use that kind of recipe to make something???? I just don't think you can justify sending this out for anybody at any price! I would fire myself & my designer for sending something like that out!

If it wasnt enough money for them to make an arrangment that looked half decent & finished, then they should of refused the order!
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The flowers you mentioned would make a fine funeral piece if designed properly. That would be a traditional piece in my neck of the woods. Like I said before, I would have omitted some carns and beefed it up with some daisies or filler, but every designer has their own style...

What would you put into a 50.00 funeral basket?????
 
My designer went to the funeral and saw the piece, she said I would have fired her if she made something like that! it was horrible and she was embarrased!

LORI-
I do not make $50 funeral pieces, however for the $70 total I sent them, I would of given , 6 liatris, 5 fujis, 8-12 carns, 3-5 roses, daisy poms,monti casino,emerald, etc......and it would look finished!Again, I would never send something out with such a small amount of flowers in a funeral container.It looks so sparce and unprofessional!

Not sure how you could make something nice with the recipe they used, if you can LORI, I would love to see a picture....:smoke
 
I would'nt use a Wire service if you put a gun to my head.

I would also ask the shop if they would email me a picture of the piece.
If a customer asks me to email an image I will do so. Sometimes I will offer to do so without them asking. Only one or two customers have said, "Oh thats ok, I trust you". Most customers are overjoyed that you will take the time to photograph and email a pic of the arrangement.
 
I use the follow flower charts to fill orders. I do this so I can make a profit from every order and still give full value. Goes like this:

A 70.00 order is filler like this, equalling 100%.
5% Set up fee
10% Container
20% Labor
65% Flowers, Greens

I would send all my order to Rhonda...she gives major flowers!!!

We use a standard pricing chart all year long, except on Val. when prices are not normal,,,,so we get $1.25 carnation, $3.00 snaps, 2.25 stem of poms, 1.75 aster filler etc etc etc
 
Uh............for The Wire Service They Only Recive 80%

For A Cc They Recceive 100%. I Use Cc And Have For The Last 5 Years.
Never Had One Complaint.....when You Speak Florist To Florist There Seems To Be A Bond.........and Lots Of Florists Give You A Discount....

Plus You Save All The Fees Low Sending Fees And All The Other Fees They Deem/dream Of !
 
70 Dollars !

FIGURE IT OUT...... $70 MINUS 20% WIRE FEE...MINUS DELIVERY...MINUS CAGE/STAND OR WHATEVER....SO.....YOU HAVE ABOUT $40.00 LEFT FOR FLOWERS, ACCENTS, GREENS.....IN A VASE IT MIGHT BE OK BUT ON AN EASEL OR A BASKET it would be very sparse....on a CC at least you would have $15 worth of additional flowers !
 
master J said:
My designer went to the funeral and saw the piece, she said I would have fired her if she made something like that! it was horrible and she was embarrased!

LORI-
I do not make $50 funeral pieces, however for the $70 total I sent them, I would of given , 6 liatris, 5 fujis, 8-12 carns, 3-5 roses, daisy poms,monti casino,emerald, etc......and it would look finished!Again, I would never send something out with such a small amount of flowers in a funeral container.It looks so sparce and unprofessional!

Not sure how you could make something nice with the recipe they used, if you can LORI, I would love to see a picture....:smoke
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were not talking apples and oranges,,,You are very hung up on the price of it as you should be. But for a 50.00 piece that would be what was sent. we have already established that you did not get what was ordered. but that is and can be a satisfactory piece for some areas. I do 50.00 baskets all the time. They are small and are slightly sparse but if thats what someone has to spend that is what they have to spend. Now good design is another story. Those flowers badly designed will be awful as would roses and delphinuium...I sure could make that look nice. It would look still look small but it would look nice..
 
I no longer have any wire service, I call out each order and use my credit card, I use mapquest to find the closest florist that has an address, and then verify when I call that it is a real florist. If they order a discount, I refuse asking that the money be put into the arrangement. I enjoy my conversations with my fellow florists. I have between 5-15 sends a month about the same as when i was wire service heavy. I've never had a complaint.
 
That much money for a funeral piece wired in would be small for us too, not sure how you can afford to put so many flowers in a bouquet and we don't cut the 20% off either. You guys either have low markup, are getting your product for a really great price or are stuffing the bouquets. We depend on out of town wholesalers here so we pay for that and the owner holds us to filling the order to value and no more unless it's a very special customer.
 
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