Wire Charge & Minimum

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Thank you Jim, good reasons. Many of our customers are just thrilled that we don't charge the fee, and I just know they will use us for all their local business also, so it's a win/win. But when you can tell them that their whole $50 will go out on the wire, there is a much better chance of customer satisfaction, cuz the sender ONLY LOOKS AT THE GROSS. If I spend $50 + 9.99 + 8% tax I say I SPENT $65 on that order - CUZ I DID! I don't separate the fees out. When I buy a car and add all the options I don't say I got this car for 20 grand - I say, think and FEEL that I paid 25 grand for that car, cuz that's what I paid and I care not about delivery fees and dealer prep and licensing and CD player and Air Conditioning and all that crap, all I care about is the amount of the check I had to write. That's what I paid for it.

I have no shame in LETTING the florists that want incoming have them - hell they FEEL it's a favor! And I have TRIED soapboxing locally - they just look at me like I am crazy - so fill on - they can have 100% of the ins into this town! And it's got side bennys too, I know whose fone will be off the hook here in a couple weeks, and it won't be mine, and guess who gets the extra local orders? :D

One florist who called me direct told me she didn't want to pay a wire service cuz she only SENT orders and didn't get enuf in - go figure! Math deficit perhaps, or never learned to wade thru a wire service statement and THOUGHT those ins were at 100% - MANY DO. Most of the florists in my city do! I think they ALL do. Oh well, it ain't my job to run their business.

OH SHE-ITE, 800 flowers ad on the TV RIGHT NOW as I am typing this. MAYBE just MAYBE this is something we can do better than them and dotcon? Save OUR customers $9.99 on the GROSS of that gross sale? Which gets them better value for the buck.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it, until I decide to change it!:cool:
 
Paul, I wouldn't for a minute try to figure out what is right or wrong or best for the industry but in my store we still charge a service fee for all out of town orders So far my customers hav'nt complained and I'm not sur how many times you have had to make a full refund on problem out of town orders and only received "if your lucky" 50% from the filling florist or similar problems that have cost you money but I feel that the service fee helps compensate for these costs or extra phone calls etc. Not only this it adds considerably to my bottom line. We continue to encourage wire outs but its getting harder and harder to find good florists to fill the orders. Bill in Hamilton
 
Bill: It really is nice to have someone else see an issue the way I do. Doesn't change anything, but at least I feel a little less like an out-of-date old f**t. I took in about $1000 at Christmas from "service charges" and paid out ? for staff to take the orders and send them out and do followups on those that needed it...had more than the usual number of complaints this year...AND I had to pay for the technology to send these orders out ( not cheap!) plus the FTD & TF fees and charges. The service charges are for all of the above plus the "guarantee" that I will be responsible if anything goes wrong and see that the consumer is satisfied. My net profit for December would be missing that $1000 if I had gone to no fee sending as I considered doing.

I think what I find most offensive is some florists who do no-fee sending suggesting to their customers that florists who make that charge are "ripping off" the public. Is charging for delivery or designing also " a rip-off"? If you decide to do something free go right ahead, but why create the impression that charging for a service is wrong. You can prepare your taxes yourself or pay a fee to have someone do it for you. Is the tax preparer "ripping you off" too?

And as for trying to find a decent florist to fill your orders...that is a can of worms. In my opinion it is the biggest single issue we will face in the coming years. If you follow the rules there is no way to fill an order AND make a profit. At best you're treading water. Bloomz explains it best of all.
 
Paul....

then use the option WE'RE using here!!
Save the "service fees" and donate them to one of the three funds we collect for "kids issues" such as The Children's Wish Foundation. McMaster Sick Kids Hospital, or Help Kids, and use it for a tax write off, and maybe some publicity, unless you prefer the anonymoity that we prefer...
Mike
 
Wish I could do that, but we are already saving our design fees and sending them to the Cancer fund, and our delivery fees are going to Heart & Stroke so our "service charges" on wires out has to go to my trustee in bankruptcy.FTD thought I should use them to pay what I owe them, but they'll just have to stand in line, those unreasonable SOB's!

See I don't have enough to do again today. Must be January.
 
You're a GOOD MAN Paul...

you're a good man, and IF you're like the rest of us, your carrying a broom handle up the butt, and a concrete block on your shoulders, and the powers that be, can't for the life of them, figure out why you can't walk straight!!
Why do we do this??
Mike
 
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