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I feel compelled to share this, since the Teleflora ads are cropping up all over my email. Sigh... 'tis the season.
I worked at a florist for two years, and can tell you some ways to save money if you're going to get your mom flowers for Mothers' Day.
First of all, never ever order from an online service. Or a phone service either, for that matter. Places like 1-800-flowers, 1800flowers.com, ftd.com and teleflora.com are all middle-man services. Every order you place with them is then called to an ftd florist in the area and given like a regular order, minus some service fees. They also have the nasty habit of selling you a price-specific bouquet, then tacking on a fee for delivery (as all florists will) and a processing fee. When they re-route the order to the florist, they wire over only the amount of the bouquet and instruct the florist to subtract their delivery fee from that. If the florist is naggy, he'll wire back and tell them he needs extra for delivery, he can't subtract it out of an already standard-priced bouquet without compromising quality. The .com people will always immediately authorize the extra money for delivery, so you know they already charged the customer for it and were just going to keep it unless asked otherwise.
You'll be much better off to do a phone book search for a florist in the area you want the flowers delivered and call them directly. Chances are, they would have filled the order anyway, and this way you're not giving $15 - $20 of your money to someone who has done nothing more than turned around and called your order to someone else. Also, the wire service people are notorious for not knowing anything about actual flowers, so your order specifics get lost in misspellings and stupidity. Talk directly to the florist, you'll get much more for your money.
Also, try not to order roses around a holiday. The growers have to stock them in advance for Valentine's and Mothers' Day, so they're less fresh and they cost more. Flowers that will last a long time include lilies, carnations (though they're a little tacky), and wildflower-like smaller blooms. Tulips will die in a day, especially if it's at all warm.
What I would reccommend, if you're trying not to just send boring old flowers, is talk to the florist and see if they send gift baskets. Most do, and smaller non-chain shops will usually do custom buying for each basket rather than just having lame stuff in stock. Get her a basket filled with gourmet cookies or chocolates or tropical fruits. Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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One of my best friends from high school recently took over a florist shop. She absolutely hates doing teleflora and 1-800 orders because she makes not money on them. I think she might have already stopped doing them.
BTW, the best way to get flowers for your Mom is to have a best friend that owns a shop and that knows your Mom really well. That's the method I recommend.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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You actually get 80% of the price when you fill a wire order. This is supposed to be offset by the 20% you make when you send flowers to other shops. So the trick is to send out more than you receive.
Oh - another thing; you usually get more for your money when yougive the florist more leeway. When you want a standard FTD arrangement in one of their pre-made containers, you're paying a lot for the container. You'll get much nicer flowers if you let them use a utility vase for two bucks and put the value in the arrangement.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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Yep, I was just thinking about this thread. I was thinking about the family of the woman who died last week. What would be an appropriate arrangement/florals/plants for them? Sister Keller was buried in Washington and they won't be home until later this week, but I wanted to do something. Is a week after the funeral when Sis. Keller is buried far away an innapropriate time to send/take flowers? If not, what should I get?
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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I would think they would be appropriate then. But I might send a plant rather than flowers. They will likely have lots of flowers, and many different flowers (indoors) can be overwhelming. Cut flowers are also rather ephemeral . . .
Most florists should be able to do a nice potted plant, I think.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Either a potted houseplant (you can suggest a low-light, easy-care plant like a Chinese Evergreen or a Dracaena) or a dish garden would be nice.
Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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