If you buy flowers this year...
If you are planning to buy flowers this year for Valentine's Day (or any time of the year!) here are some helpful tips from a trained florist. :)
Do not buy from companies such as Pro Flowers, 1-800-Flowers, Teleflora, FTD, Just Flowers, From You Flowers, or ANY company that does not actually own a brick and mortar flower shop. These guys are essentially order gatherers and their sole service is to take orders and send them to actual flower shops in the area you're hoping to send to. Their call centers are sometimes situated in the U.S., more often they're located in the Philippines or elsewhere. Here are a few reasons why you don't want to spend your money with order gatherers:
1. They do not actually own flower shops, and many of their staff have never seen or touched a flower in their lives. While not universally true (I had a guy tell me they were sending him to a shop for a day), rarely will you speak with someone who can even properly name more than a few flowers let alone know what to suggest for your specific need.
2. Their strength lies in advertising and they do it well, but they use pricing methods that are 10 years old at least. Often they will sell flower arrangements at prices that their florists cannot even fill on a wholesale price because they are not aware that (or refuse to acknowledge), just like most products in our economy, the price of flowers has steadily increased. What generally happens here is the florist will reject the order or request additional funds and have the order gatherer cancel it. It's extremely common that your order gatherer will not be able to find a shop to take your order, and when they do they will be forced to either ask you to pay more or accept that the flower shop will need to fill the order to the value they have paid rather than what they've sold you. Most of these orders are delivered one or two days late due to this.
3. Beware of too-good-to-be-true deals, like a dozen roses for $20. These are almost always drop-shipped in a box, which usually they will tell you in small print somewhere on the web page. They are shipped direct in a box to your recipient, who must then put them in a vase themselves. The quality of the flowers, according to almost every customer I've had that's purchased them that way, is very poor.
4. Probably the biggest reason, any florist capable of staying in business WILL fill these orders to value based on their cost of goods and labor. All order gatherers keep 30% of the money from every order sent to the florist. To put this in perspective, an order gatherer may sell you an arrangement for $50, add a delivery charge, charge you a "service charge" of $15-20, send the florist $40 for your arrangement, and keep 30% of that $40. If you call the florist directly, every penny of that $50 goes toward that arrangement, with an additional delivery fee that's almost always less than an order gatherer "service charge."
5. Customer service. While unfortunately there are flower shops with poor customer service and all are capable of human error, who you talk to is usually the designer of your arrangement. You speak to the very person who is using their physical hands to craft those premium flowers into art, and can communicate directly your exact specifications. When an order gatherer sends the florist your order, it's usually paraphrased with a vague and uncaring description. Miscommunications are extremely common. And if problems do arise, most people would rather speak directly to the florist rather than speaking to someone in the Philippines to speak to the florist.
6. Flowers from an order gatherer = "Oh eh, it doesn't look like the picture, it's kind of small, but nice I guess. Thanks!"
Flowers from a premium florist = "Holy CRAP omfg you didn't have to do this omg they're gorgeous what it's been a week and they still look amazing!!"
So if your loved one loves flowers, by all means send them some! Remember, florists stock grade-A premium flowers and in that way do not compete with grocery stores. People don't realize that our flowers last 3 times (or MORE) longer, and are given tender loving care through their entire journey by skilled artists. Remember, the price of a flower is the price of a flower. You can pay an order gatherer $50 for a $30 arrangement, or you can pay a florist $30 for a $30 arrangement, $50 for a $50 arrangement, or $100 for a fabulous $100 arrangement!
And if you're not so much on the flowers, that's fine. Just be sure to let your loved ones know you care not just on a holiday, but every day. <3
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