Wire Services Are Buying Your Customer

Status
Not open for further replies.
Just a thought....

Although I know that this world doesn't exist.....what would happen to the OG and WS businesses if there were absolutely no real florists to fill their orders. In a land far, far away from here where all real florists refused to be a part of the WS and refused OG orders could they even exist? In the balance, who needs who more? I know that I am a small market shop and every time I tell Bloomlink that I am canceling my membership they practically write me a blank check to stay. It reeks of desperation to me. The same thing happened when I canceled FTD. I relented the first time but a month later when I was writing yet another check to them, I couldn't be talked into staying with them. I am currently trying to cancel Bloomlink and I am being told that all I have to do is call each month and if the fees heavily outweigh my participation they will credit the "technology fee" and "association fee" back to me. I can't seem to shake them......easily....but this time I am done. It seems that if they didn't need me they would simply let me go. Thoughts?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
inferno63 said:
Although I know that this world doesn't exist.....what would happen to the OG and WS businesses if there were absolutely no real florists to fill their orders. In a land far, far away from here where all real florists refused to be a part of the WS and refused OG orders could they even exist?
Click to expand...
No they could not...

reminds me of a tune by Styx.... "Grand Illusion"....
 
tit for tat

steve said:
A big issue with the F to F direct business is the manual cost of labor. When I receive an order via computer from a wire service I merely print the order out and fill it to value. When a florist chooses to call me with an order I have a phone line tied up that could be accepting a full price local order. I have a sales person or a designer having to answer that phone I have to pay for the processing of that credit card.


Your comments made me stop and think, for a moment. If you pay your Sales person, let's say(for my feeble minds sake) $10/ hr. It costs you 17cents a minute to have them take my or any order. CC fees are about let's say 3%, and as far as tying up your phone line, I hope I'm one day so busy that all my lines are tied up, then I guess I should just add more lines. I could fax or email you an order if you prefer. Then the cost is simply paper and ink just like a wire service. Oh i forgot you would still have the CC fees. Maybe we should just go back to selling flowers from carts in the city square and then we wouldn't have to worry about any of these unwanted expenses. We can beat this "horse" to death can't we, It's all a matter of what we're each willing to do for the other. I guess, again, we'll just have to agree to disagree. Best wishes mrflowermarket
Click to expand...
 
Right on Kevin.
I am with you, Man, Courtesy is a very rare commodity these days.
Must be another gift from our leaders.
I will give you gladly 20% and I will be happy to design something so exceptional that the sender will have to call you again to thank you for your very nice job.
On the top of that, I will always be happy to hear you on the phone or one of your people.
Somebody could say and have said, too many calls, too much time, too many people being paid to tie up the telephone line.....Oh well we won't call them then.
We have 4 telephone lines, we use them all.
Some very successfull man told me a long time ago..." you have a phone....
use it ", he was and is a multimillionnaire, now.
May be I am going to call you Kev, just to tie up one of your lines.
I love you Man.........but you can't have my BUD.
Warmest regards............Hollywood!!:musical:
 
That's what I'm talking about Girl!!!

inferno63 said:
Although I know that this world doesn't exist.....what would happen to the OG and WS businesses if there were absolutely no real florists to fill their orders. In a land far, far away from here where all real florists refused to be a part of the WS and refused OG orders could they even exist? In the balance, who needs who more? I know that I am a small market shop and every time I tell Bloomlink that I am canceling my membership they practically write me a blank check to stay. It reeks of desperation to me. The same thing happened when I canceled FTD. I relented the first time but a month later when I was writing yet another check to them, I couldn't be talked into staying with them. I am currently trying to cancel Bloomlink and I am being told that all I have to do is call each month and if the fees heavily outweigh my participation they will credit the "technology fee" and "association fee" back to me. I can't seem to shake them......easily....but this time I am done. It seems that if they didn't need me they would simply let me go. Thoughts?
Click to expand...


:bow_flowe:bow_flowe:bow_floweThere is hope after all-----We are not alone.:bow_flowe:bow_flowe:bow_flowe
 
:blowkiss::blowkiss::blowkiss::blowkiss::blowkiss::blowkiss::blowkiss::blowkiss::bouquet2::bouquet2::bow_flowe:bow_flowe:bow_flowe:bow_flowe

Hollywood................
 
inferno63 said:
when I was writing yet another check to them, I couldn't be talked into staying with them.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Deep thought from bloomz:

I love writing checks to wire services - the bigger the better.:>

Serously

It's a bit like writing checks to the IRS - it means you made money. :>

If I started getting checks from them - I would be looking for alternatives.
 
bloomz said:
Deep thought from bloomz:

I love writing checks to wire services - the bigger the better.:>

Serously

It's a bit like writing checks to the IRS - it means you made money. :>

If I started getting checks from them - I would be looking for alternatives.
Click to expand...

If I am writing checks to them then that means that the fees to them are more than what they owe me. And because the fees slide depending on my participation, the more I do for them, the more it costs me. Then you dive into net percentages and every order you fill better be a high dollar to cover the fees that it causes. If you are looking at paying WS in the same like-kind as the IRS, you are comparing Apples to Road Apples.....not same, same. You pay taxes on what YOU earned with the IRS, you pay the WS what THEY earned. That is how they bill you...on what they earned from your participation. The more they send you, the more THEY earn...or they wouldn't do it!

BTW, would never be arrogant but this conversation deserves my credentials......Accounting Degree and Certified by the IRS to do federal taxes.....but love, love, love this business so much more! :thumbsup
 
inferno63 said:
If I am writing checks to them then that means that the fees to them are more than what they owe me. And because the fees slide depending on my participation, the more I do for them, the more it costs me. Then you dive into net percentages and every order you fill better be a high dollar to cover the fees that it causes. If you are looking at paying WS in the same like-kind as the IRS, you are comparing Apples to Road Apples.....not same, same. You pay taxes on what YOU earned with the IRS, you pay the WS what THEY earned. That is how they bill you...on what they earned from your participation. The more they send you, the more THEY earn...or they wouldn't do it!

BTW, would never be arrogant but this conversation deserves my credentials......Accounting Degree and Certified by the IRS to do federal taxes.....but love, love, love this business so much more! :thumbsup
Click to expand...


I said it's a bit like writing checks to the IRS.

Ok I didn't include one important caveat.

IF you aren't buying their expensive containers, directory and coop advertising and a few other basically useless things they will sell you.

- that's where the wheels fall off my theory.

Other than that...my premise is true.

The bigger check I write the wire service the more money I made. And this is after I get to keep and use their money for 30 days or so.

Many, I mean many florists assume writing a check to a wire service to be a bad thing and getting one is a good thing.

That's just not true.

My credentials - just a florist who has figured this out. :bouncy:

(don't mean to be arrogant - but I do think this is important for florists to realize)
 
bloomz said:
I said it's a bit like writing checks to the IRS.

Ok I didn't include one important caveat.

IF you aren't buying their expensive containers, directory and coop advertising and a few other basically useless things they will sell you.

- that's where the wheels fall off my theory.

Other than that...my premise is true.

The bigger check I write the wire service the more money I made. And this is after I get to keep and use their money for 30 days or so.

Many, I mean many florists assume writing a check to a wire service to be a bad thing and getting one is a good thing.

That's just not true.

My credentials - just a florist who has figured this out. :bouncy:

(don't mean to be arrogant - but I do think this is important for florists to realize)
Click to expand...

Being busy filling WS orders doesn't equal profitable. I run a spreadsheet that I fill in as each order comes in. On that spreadsheet it calculates that sliding fee scale, transmission charges, cogs, labor, discount of 27%, directory fee, advertising fees, membership fees, technology fees, rebates on sent orders, low sending fees, etc. Then ultimately it gives me a net profit percentage on just my WS orders. Based on an average of only 8 orders that I receive per month from Bloomlink, I would have to only accept $100 orders to make $80 for the month. If I owed them after all of that, I would think that I should turn in my degree in shame. I always believed I was pretty good at math.....tell me what I am missing in the equation. I truly want to see what you are seeing but I am confused.
 
Auburn Country Florist said:
Go Girl, you are winning...........Hollywood!!
Click to expand...
I did not know we were having a competition...

inferno63 said:
If I am writing checks to them then that means that the fees to them are more than what they owe me.

my credentials......Accounting Degree and Certified by the IRS
Click to expand...
Is that accounting degree in floral accounting? cuz it's a different animal than any other business...

inferno63 said:
Really?! I am not being flip here....I truly want to understand your math and logic on this. Is there something besides the numbers I am not seeing?
Click to expand...
The thing is, that based on the way wire services work, by writing a check *to them* it means that you made money. Consider that you take the monthly fee, less the 30% discount on incoming orders plus the 20% you keep on out going orders and you send them the balance, after you hold the money for 1-38 days...

The thing you have to keep in mind, there are two schools of thought going on here, Bloomz, myself and many others are *sending* florists, meaning that we send way more than we fill, and others are *filling* florists, meaning they fill way more orders than they send......Just because a filling florist gets a check in the mail, does NOT mean they made money!
 
BOSS said:
I did not know we were having a competition...


Is that accounting degree in floral accounting? cuz it's a different animal than any other business...

That is the beauty of accounting......doesn't matter if it's a flower or a airplane, accounting is an exact science of numbers.


The thing is, that based on the way wire services work, by writing a check *to them* it means that you made money. Consider that you take the monthly fee, less the 30% discount on incoming orders plus the 20% you keep on out going orders and you send them the balance, after you hold the money for 1-38 days...

The thing you have to keep in mind, there are two schools of thought going on here, Bloomz, myself and many others are *sending* florists, meaning that we send way more than we fill, and others are *filling* florists, meaning they fill way more orders than they send......Just because a filling florist gets a check in the mail, does NOT mean they made money!
Click to expand...

Point well received because I would be looking at this as a "filling" florist.....from your perspective as only a sending florist then we are talking a different set of numbers and this is simply a misunderstanding. However you have intrigued me enough to get my spreadsheet back out.
 
inferno63 said:
Point well received because I would be looking at this as a "filling" florist.....from your perspective as only a sending florist then we are talking a different set of numbers and this is simply a misunderstanding. However you have intrigued me enough to get my spreadsheet back out.
Click to expand...

Sending florists get to keep more $/order than a filler. think: rebate, commission and wire service fee for a lot less work and expense than physically filling and delivering an order.

IF this wasn't the case we wouldn't have all those order gathers (think Blooms sent today, Urban, etc) sitting with phone banks sending orders to fillers and laughing all the way to the bank.............
 
BOSS said:
I did not know we were having a competition...


Is that accounting degree in floral accounting? cuz it's a different animal than any other business...


The thing is, that based on the way wire services work, by writing a check *to them* it means that you made money. Consider that you take the monthly fee, less the 30% discount on incoming orders plus the 20% you keep on out going orders and you send them the balance, after you hold the money for 1-38 days...

The thing you have to keep in mind, there are two schools of thought going on here, Bloomz, myself and many others are *sending* florists, meaning that we send way more than we fill, and others are *filling* florists, meaning they fill way more orders than they send......Just because a filling florist gets a check in the mail, does NOT mean they made money!
Click to expand...


So is this why the OG's like the WS so much.

As I understand it then, you have to Verge on joining the enemy(OG's) to make $$$ w/ a wire service?? RIGHT?
So if I live in a Market that just doesn't Send a lot, then I am right to dump the WS? What's the magic %, Outgoing vs. Incoming? Where is the breakpoint? I might just have to go to the Dark Side. If things go south.:dunce
Best wishes mrflowermarket
 
BOSS said:
I did not know we were having a competition...


Is that accounting degree in floral accounting? cuz it's a different animal than any other business...


The thing is, that based on the way wire services work, by writing a check *to them* it means that you made money. Consider that you take the monthly fee, less the 30% discount on incoming orders plus the 20% you keep on out going orders and you send them the balance, after you hold the money for 1-38 days...

The thing you have to keep in mind, there are two schools of thought going on here, Bloomz, myself and many others are *sending* florists, meaning that we send way more than we fill, and others are *filling* florists, meaning they fill way more orders than they send......Just because a filling florist gets a check in the mail, does NOT mean they made money!
Click to expand...

Ok, you win on the "sending" side and I win on the "filling" side of this argument. So if you have a healthy quantity of orders to send out, you can indeed make some money provided you are not filling much that offsets it. If that is working for you then I respectfully submit to your argument. I, for one, do not have enough orders to send out to justify a WS membership.

However, and you knew this was coming......two thoughts for consideration... first, other florists are getting hosed on filling your orders and the WS is still netting big profits from the order no matter who generated it, you or them. Second, should we all catch on to this we will all become "sending" florists and will have no one to fill our orders. This florist, for one, will no longer be filling your WS orders but if you ever need an order in my area you can call me and I will be happy to help if I can.
 
Now that we're thinking on the same scenario...

Look at this...

Sending florist:
$100.00 order outgoing, florist keeps $20.00+ rebate of up to $8.00

Receiving florist:
$100.00 order incoming, florist gets paid $73.00, less membership/advertising fee

Who gets the better deal?

And remember, most sending florists, generate allot of orders, in my small time case, yearly fees amount to less than $1.00 per order, not including rebates...factor in the rebates and I'm on the profit side and the 20% is all gravy.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back