It seems that in today's economy, most of us have to work a lot harder for our take home pay. That's why it always frustrates me when I see hard working Americans throwing away their money. That's pretty much what consumers do when they "hire" order grabbers to place their fresh flower orders. There are a lot of these order grabbers out there so buyer beware!!!
Obviously, your best choice for fresh flowers is your local florist and when ordering out of town, find the local florist in that zip code. When looking for a florist, make sure that you find a brick and mortar shop, a shop that actually exists!! If you take our county phone book for example, most of the large adds under "florist" are order grabbers. These ads don't include an address, and they do that for a reason. They want you to think that its a flower shop but in reality, they are a point and click, order grabber who charges you a service fee and sends the order onto the shop in that zip code.
Everyone has internet now days so go to "find a florist.com" or simply google a shop in your selected zip code. Whenever I send flowers out of town, I call the shop and that way I can ask what kinds of flowers are in their cooler that day or what kind of keepsake containers they stock. Florists are "creative pleasers" they enjoy using their creative and artistic talents and strive to keep their customers happy. In our shop, the list is endless on how we have gone the extra mile for a customer. (We call it "Making the Magic" and we do it everyday!!)
It always amazes me when I see a local person's order come off of our computer printer, having been channeled through an order grabber. I get it, on the internet they offer coupons or obscenely low prices. This usually is too good to be true. When you get to the checkout point, there is usually a hefty delivery fee added on, one that the delivering florist rarely ever sees.
Case in point, there was a local woman who ordered from 1-800-(you know the rest....). She wanted two vase arrangements for a back yard party. I received the order over my computer, having the order grabber choose my shop to fill their order. I have a total of $140.00 for the two vases, arranged and delivered. The special instructions were to call the recipient prior to delivery to set up a delivery time. When we did this, she told us that she had placed the order from her home here in town. When I met her face to face with the flowers, she loved them, thanks goodness, but it gave me the opportunity to ask one question. "How much did you pay for these arrangements?" She had paid over $200.00 with tax and delivery. I was stunned and saddened for her. She paid an internet order grabber over $60.00 to simply capture the order off of their web site and send it to my computer. Can you imagine??? I don't know about you but I work pretty hard for $60.00!!!
On another occasion, I had a local "gentleman" order from an internet grabber web site to send flowers to hmmmm, how do we put this delicately, ...to another man's wife. He paid extra as well, simply because I think he was too embarrassed to call the shop. Well, if that is the case, order from your local florist's web site. (Do you think this never happens??? If I could spill the beans in my little town about all of the people who order flowers for other people that they shouldn't be sending flowers to....wow!! the town would freak!!) As a florist, what we see in our shops is sacred information. (We really don't care to know it, trust me.)
My point is that with the holiday quickly approaching us, your local florist expects you to wait until the last minute, your local florist expects to work long hours for you and your local florist wants to do everything in their power to give you the finest piece of floral art at the best price that they can offer for you so....order with them. Save yourself some money and support your local economy in the meantime!!!
Everyday my computer spits out these internet grabber orders and it is really hard to stand by and not comment when that huge corporation is pocketing hard earned wages to simply point, click,,,send!!
