WS Delivery Charges...

BOSS

BOSS

FlowerChat Administrator
Oct 31, 2002
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www.smithsflowers.com
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Don't you think it's time? (I asked this question on FB last night too)

[h=6]I mean really, what's up with this? Florists allow wire service companies charge a $15.99 service charge, and a $25.00 same day (pimping the $) delivery (florist exclusive feature service) charge...

Whys that?

Don't you think it's time the wires PAID florists for that service? They pay FED/Ex no problem. Why the hell not you? ?

Silly florists¿[/h]
 
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After reading some of the posts prior to VD about what Boss wrote about, I called TF customer services and told them that if we filled orders here how it had to go:

They at first they were like "whatever"......until I said, don't be like.........someone else and be caught holding the bag. They complied and followed our rules for (10 orders). If you want a quality product, quality service, then here's how we roll, like it of not..................
 
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Local 'delivery' dollars are a murky subject.

I've yet to hear of anyone who can produce documents from FTD about the amount of delivery dollars included with their orders filled by florists. It appears it's not disclosed to florists, and definitely not disclosed to consumers.

Bloomnet has a dollar amount (or at least they had) in their contracts with florists.

IIRC TF was including a line in Dove transmissions indicating the delivery dollars part of the orders. Are they still doing this?

Not a single WS discloses the 'local delivery' portion of an order - or that the price shown on each florist-delivered product includes local delivery.

And all 3 explain 'service charge' under the heading of 'delivery', so it's no wonder consumers think the service charges pay for delivery.
 
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Yes, Cathy, TF is that way on all orders. If you call or ask, they tell you that SAF says, "$7 is what they recommend, so that's what's included in all the prices". I asked them how they could take that word from SAF as "gospel", they said from their research data. The last time I remember any research data by them was 2007/2008, in the last few years many things have changed, now triple the gas prices. That was one of the main reasons I got rid of FTD was the .com orders were dragging down the P & L in the delivery area (worse than GOS) to the point that we began to "lose" money on delivery. Delivery should have (2 - 3 thousand) left over each year for vehicle replacements, enhancements, etc. My old FTD rep. did tell me that they also included $7 delivery in each order, but that was not consistent with the order and price.
 
This is one of my biggest beefs with ALL order-gathering sites. I had a heated "discussion" with a certain someone about it on facebook. I maintain that there oughta be a law.....

Transparency would go further than almost anything else to help the consumer understand what EXACTLY they are paying for. I am absolutely certain that the reason they have a "built-in" delivery fee is so that they can con the consumer into not being upset about the $15.99 service fee ~ the consumer clearly believes this is the delivery fee. If there were a line by line listing for each individual charge, I think we would see more benefit for all florists.



I've been told the consumer won't pay it. Duh!
 
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Exactly, and if florists continue to allow (yes, I said allow) it by accepting it and the orders, they're just as complicit in the deception. IMNSHO of course.
 
We charge $13 per wire delivery. This nets us $10 or so for delivery which we charge our customers sometimes a bit less. Wire services are also customers so there is no exception. Now, if I get an order for $40 after deducting $13 I have $27 left for the flowers. Will I do the order for $27.00? Depends on the flowers and how far we have to deliver it - perhaps some carnations down the road? It is very rare that we accept something for $40.00 for the same reason. For other zip codes we charge more and timed deliveries (non funeral) incur an additional fee. All that gets relayed back to the wire service. 1800flowers have the tendency to send us orders for $39.99 going to the other side of town. Sometimes I ask for the full $15.00 delivery fee that they collect as "service fee" because we are looking at a 45 minute round trip and there is no way I can do the arrangement for $27.00 minus 30% and break even. When I send the message back to the wire service I always state the reason and advise: I need an additional delivery fee due to distance or please send the order to a closer florist and cancel. We have not been doing this long but I already noticed increase in the average product sale for wires. I feel that it is wrong for wire services to take % from delivery fees considering that they are already collecting that in the name of service fee.
 
As most of you know I sell some stuff on eBay. Years ago you could list "shipping & handling", you could lump all of your expenses into it like the cost of the packaging, label, tape, and of course the actual shipping cost. Now you have to show 2 charges ~ The actual charge for shipping and the actual cost of handling. You can choose to add a handling charge to the item or go without. This helps the customer see where the money is going. They can then compare the cost from each of the sellers based on this knowledge. I just don't see why the Wire Service can't do the same. W

When we had a wire service we would tell the customer, this is the cost of the arrangement, plus the shops delivery charge, and this is what we charge to transmit the order. If they questioned the "service charge" we would explain that we sometimes have to call florists in that area to find just the right arrangement, follow up to insure delivery, and other "back office" expenses, we would even mention that we were charged by Teleflora to transmit the order and that went towards paying for that.
 
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secretgarden said:
As most of you know I sell some stuff on eBay. Years ago you could list "shipping & handling", you could lump all of your expenses into it like the cost of the packaging, label, tape, and of course the actual shipping cost. Now you have to show 2 charges ~ The actual charge for shipping and the actual cost of handling. You can choose to add a handling charge to the item or go without. This helps the customer see where the money is going. They can then compare the cost from each of the sellers based on this knowledge. I just don't see why the Wire Service can't do the same.
Click to expand...

I would like to know if TF, FTD or 1800flowers explain customers what they get for a $35.00 order? This is how it should go:-
1.Out of your $35.00 flower order comes $10-$13 which is the florist's delivery fee.
2.The $22-$25 that is now left for the florist to make an arrangement out of still has to go through a 30% margin cut so some flowers may have to be substituted due to availability and season.
3.The $14.95 service fee we are charging has nothing to do with the flowers; it is just for us for taking this order and handling all future complaints which I am sure you will have once you see how tiny that arrangement is.
4. Have a great day!
 
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secretgarden said:
As most of you know I sell some stuff on eBay. Years ago you could list "shipping & handling", you could lump all of your expenses into it like the cost of the packaging, label, tape, and of course the actual shipping cost. Now you have to show 2 charges ~ The actual charge for shipping and the actual cost of handling. You can choose to add a handling charge to the item or go without. This helps the customer see where the money is going. They can then compare the cost from each of the sellers based on this knowledge. I just don't see why the Wire Service can't do the same. W

When we had a wire service we would tell the customer, this is the cost of the arrangement, plus the shops delivery charge, and this is what we charge to transmit the order. If they questioned the "service charge" we would explain that we sometimes have to call florists in that area to find just the right arrangement, follow up to insure delivery, and other "back office" expenses, we would even mention that we were charged by Teleflora to transmit the order and that went towards paying for that.
Click to expand...

It isn't that they can't, they won't. Clearly they WANT the consumer to make the assumption that the service fee is mostly a delivery fee with a few dollars tacked on for service. People don't mind at all paying $5 or so for a service fee, but I'm SURE they assume the other $10 is for delivery. When the WS up it to $20-$25 for major holidays because of the high demand, it just re-affirms that this fee is for delivery when nothing could be further from the truth.

Smoke and mirrors.....In the complaints I read after holidays, this is especially obvious. Very, very often I see the words "I paid extra for guaranteed delivery and the flowers never showed up...." They have NO clue what that extra fee is. None. And the wire services don't WANT them to have a clue.
 
It's not that the wire services "can't" show them separately, they WON'T ....

Unless of course they're forced to by florists demanding the charges they collect given to them UNdiscounted.

I don't know why anyone would want to associate with known crooks. The antics today, are unethical at best, and likely border on criminal.

Silly florists~
 
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