Perhaps...but here's my but...ewiee that does sound weird....
If we on this community cannot even get a consensus and continue to expound on the same thing over and over without providing a solution or a plan..then how in the world are we going to do that with at least another 35,000 florists across the country. For the most part, I do not think the ws are the best thing for the industry....but saying that, I do not think some of the florists that produce an inferior product, or who will take your order , take days to get it out, have a lame excuse as to why, not offer 100% satisfaction ( and some of them are ones I have used my own cc to send the order too) , do little or nothing to promote the industry in a postive light etc etc are any better than the WS in creating industry problems.
What I do see, is that a WS model, done the best way possible would eliminate those that suck for lack of a better word, and provide a means to get orders across the country and offer some consistency ( yes I know they need to have a real quality assurance program) until we can do it ourselves ...I am an OG like many of our FC Community florists, I have an 800, number, I take orders from out of town and I send orders out of town...I need a method to do that. The fax to me is archaic and to call the order out ranks up there also...I love the concept of a "paper trail" so for now, the WS offers that...they come with their own set of warts as well...my plan is to get as many orders away from them as humanly possible....market like a wild woman to every order that comes in until I take my last breath and hopefully make a dent in their business in my own way. They are a Vendor to me...they will provide my need of xyz service with my requirements until something better, more cost effective etc comes along...and I will beatch and moan when they do not do it for the price, the speed, the qualilty and the color that I want it in. They can be fired like any other vendor but before I do that, I want my ducks in order.So far my ducks are all over the pond....
( with a big assed florida alligator just waiting under the surface). I think the biggest mistake we make is that we do not hold them accountable, we have not formed an association....people power.... and we cannot even agree on things here that would be for the betterment of many....thank god the general public cannot read some of the unprofessional comments that have been made to fellow florists or the brow beating some have taken all because they disagree....if we want to represent the florist masses then we need to not be asses...
Ok, I am done...thank you all for listening...I must go feed my alligator...I heard that my staff saved me a nice 800 rep today....a big fat juicy one full of #$%@. Here Allie..... come to mama....