a bit of good news from FTD - controversy invited

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

interesting "side note".......
To be honest, I think FTD is in a real pickle......based on what I've "heard" so far, the number totals across the .com network were.....humbling.
If every shop turned away 10 .coms, as is being reported, I'd say FTD has burned one of it's last remaining bridges.

 

[Joe Mioux]

Mikey, I don't know about you, but I only received 3 or 4 or 5 orders from .com and maybe a couple orders from fTD member florists this week.

Take ftd off the barbie,

joe

 

[hinrich]

FTD is attempting to force florists to fill OG's orders that the florist does not want to fill or does not have the ability to fill. What I see is that FTD will force many more to leave. It is very easy to place blame when a order goes bad when you are the sender. All you have had to do is sit behind a computer keyboard. But the filler has to deal with flower availibility problems, labor constraints, delivery capacity limitations and by imposing financial penalities which makes an already bad situation worse will not solve the problem. If anything it will make matters worse. The result most likely will be that more Mercurys will be shut off at peak times and more flower buying consumers will be disappointed.

Given that FTD is one of the worst OGs, that's exactly what I see. The minute I got the four-page from them I cancelled, as I was already on the fence. I already refuse more FTD orders then not and almost all from FTD and related OGs because they are at least 10 bucks short by the time delivery fees are included. FTD "knows" full well what my delivery charges are and yet they still send me lowball orders with $7 delivery, and now it's on me to refuse them right away? For an extra 10 (or 20) bucks, they can go play with someone else. Incomings are already barely worth it and now they just aren't.

 

[bloomz]

Well I'm either dense or blinded my my own perspective on this, but I just don't get why anyone would worry about not handling incoming wires professionally. Or why that one person would call it an impending nighmare of fees.

Can't handle them in a timely manner? I guess one should get out of FTD.

But the bigger question as I see it is, why can't you?

Or is it just "on principle"? Most of my florist friends I talk to that I consider asture think this is a great plan. (most I said, not all cuz opinions vary, and for a few the jury is still out as to how this will play out)

My one example from today is a perfect one - they held the order til I had no other choice, then they hijacked me to get it done. If this "fine" was in place - I'd get back the money I had to put on my credit card.

There was no good reason this soldier shouldn't get his flowers before Mother's Day when he ordered 4 days early other than sheer unprofessionalism. They claimed "overloaded". In my opinion (that word again), knowing projected workloads for a holiday is a part of professionalism.

Our mercury is still not suspended as I type. We are open tomorrow, and Monday and if someone needs an order, as long as they pay the Sunday delivery charge ($19.95) - we'll deliver it.


So here's a real life example - should they be penalized for rejecting 4 days after order was placed? Whaddya think?

Opinions invited.

 

[sfox]

You answered your own question

Well I'm either dense or blinded my my own perspective on this, but I just don't get why anyone would worry about not handling incoming wires professionally. Or why that one person would call it an impending nighmare of fees.

Can't handle them in a timely manner? I guess one should get out of FTD.

But the bigger question as I see it is, why can't you?

Or is it just "on principle"? Most of my florist friends I talk to that I consider asture think this is a great plan. (most I said, not all cuz opinions vary, and for a few the jury is still out as to how this will play out)

My one example from today is a perfect one - they held the order til I had no other choice, then they hijacked me to get it done. If this "fine" was in place - I'd get back the money I had to put on my credit card.

There was no good reason this soldier shouldn't get his flowers before Mother's Day when he ordered 4 days early other than sheer unprofessionalism. They claimed "overloaded". In my opinion (that word again), knowing projected workloads for a holiday is a part of professionalism.

Our mercury is still not suspended as I type. We are open tomorrow, and Monday and if someone needs an order, as long as they pay the Sunday delivery charge ($19.95) - we'll deliver it.


So here's a real life example - should they be penalized for rejecting 4 days after order was placed? Whaddya think?

Opinions invited.

bloomz, you answered your own question. You see no problem with the fees and it's because you are looking at it from the senders side. But look at the whole issue.

FTD is the wire service that has been seeing a steady decline in it's numbers. A lot of good florist shops have left FTD. And in the real world no organization will ever be made up completely by good members. There will always be bad apples in the group.

Could the horror stories you and the others are posting about be caused because now that FTD shop counts are down so low that you are forced to send to shops that are not not of the highest quality?

Think about it? Once a good well established shop leaves FTD, many times they go out and sign up anyone just to fill the area. Now you have coverage but at the expense of quality. You as a sender have only two choices, send to a bad shop or don't send at all. And even the bad shop will eventually see that they are losing money with FTD and they will leave as well.

Couple this with the fact that FTD has just been sold and the new owners have a huge debt to service, fees and charges will be going up. This will force even more and more florist to leave putting even more pressure on the system. More merc will be shut off early and the quality of handling of the orders will decline.

opinions vary.............the truth doesn't.

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

My one example from today is a perfect one - they held the order til I had no other choice, then they hijacked me to get it done. If this "fine" was in place - I'd get back the money I had to put on my credit card.

There was no good reason this soldier shouldn't get his flowers before Mother's Day when he ordered 4 days early other than sheer unprofessionalism. They claimed "overloaded". In my opinion (that word again), knowing projected workloads for a holiday is a part of professionalism.

Our mercury is still not suspended as I type. We are open tomorrow, and Monday and if someone needs an order, as long as they pay the Sunday delivery charge ($19.95) - we'll deliver it.


So here's a real life example - should they be penalized for rejecting 4 days after order was placed? Whaddya think?

Opinions invited.

To be honest, there IS no good reason this customer was almost "let down". It was YOU, Bloomzie, that saved this order from peril.
However, and as is quite usual these days, it was YOU that "saved" the day, and NOT FTD, and YOU would have solved this issue, even if you absolutely HAD to go do it YOURSELF...(not FTD).
JB, FTD has landed itself on a landmine, whether they move ahead, or try and back up, this things gonna blow!!

 

[LJVF]

FTD is the wire service that has been seeing a steady decline in it's numbers. A lot of good florist shops have left FTD. And in the real world no organization will ever be made up completely by good members. There will always be bad apples in the group.

Could the horror stories you and the others are posting about be caused because now that FTD shop counts are down so low that you are forced to send to shops that are not not of the highest quality?

I don't think the horror stories are new, bloomz story is just one of many that has been repeated for years.

But this year has been pretty good so far ::knock on wood:: we haven't had any problems with our wire outs. The truth will be told next week...the aftermath

 

[steve]

Couple this with the fact that FTD has just been sold and the new owners have a huge debt to service, fees and charges will be going up. This will force even more and more florist to leave putting even more pressure on the system. More merc will be shut off early and the quality of handling of the orders will decline.

Yes the new owners are faced with a a lot of debt on this deal and although this is improbably if they have astute business minds they may figure out but installing ethics back into FTD and working with the florist they may actually get a return on their investment. Its improbably but its also possible.

 

[TOTO]

Well I'm either dense or blinded my my own perspective on this, but I just don't get why anyone would worry about not handling incoming wires professionally. Or why that one person would call it an impending nightmare of fees.

Can't handle them in a timely manner? I guess one should get out of FTD.

But the bigger question as I see it is, why can't you?

Or is it just "on principle"? Most of my florist friends I talk to that I consider astute think this is a great plan. (most I said, not all cuz opinions vary, and for a few the jury is still out as to how this will play out)

My one example from today is a perfect one - they held the order til I had no other choice, then they hijacked me to get it done. If this "fine" was in place - I'd get back the money I had to put on my credit card.

There was no good reason this soldier shouldn't get his flowers before Mother's Day when he ordered 4 days early other than sheer unprofessionalism. They claimed "overloaded". In my opinion (that word again), knowing projected workloads for a holiday is a part of professionalism.

Our mercury is still not suspended as I type. We are open tomorrow, and Monday and if someone needs an order, as long as they pay the Sunday delivery charge ($19.95) - we'll deliver it.


So here's a real life example - should they be penalized for rejecting 4 days after order was placed? Whaddya think?

Opinions invited.

If their system was FAIR and BALANCED, and we were talking about orders flowing from ONE REAL FLORIST to ANOTHER and vice versa, and those were REAL ORDERS and not JUNK or D.O.A.s, you would be 100% correct.

Sadly, because of the SKIMMER ANOMALY, their JUNK is what has destroyed the integrity of the OLD WS BUSINESS MODEL.

It's not that REAL FLORISTS can't handle them in a timely manner!

It's just that, REAL FLORISTS never wanted the DISCOUNTED OG JUNK with THEIR TOO LOW SRPs to begin with. Even after they have told those SKIMMERS not to send them their orders, DA SKIMMERS insist on IGNORING the REAL FLORISTS' requests.

At what point, and after a florist told these OGs to CEASE and DESIST, does a REAL FLORIST have any obligation to WASTE any more of thgeir PRECIOUS TIME on a HOLIDAY, in having to deal with the (ASK) (P) (FOR) or (REJ) process?

To suggest that, " Maybe they should get out of FTD? " is a valid question, but only if FTD refuses to separate the OG and DOT.CON orders from the mix, thus resulting in a FINE against those shops for having to do more work on orders they never wanted to begin with!

Reminds me of our current HEALTH CARE CRISIS in which, Public Hospitals all across this country, are going BANKRUPT.

With the onslaught of ILLEGAL ALIENS coupled with POOR LEGAL IMMIGRANTS, these Hospitals are forced to TREAT THEM for FREE!

After which, those LOSSES are cost shifted over to the taxpayers in the form of HIGHER TAXES and HIGHER MEDICAL INSURANCE PREMIUMS.

MED-I-CAL in California and MED-I-CARE in New York State with their cost over runs, are causing both States to GO BROKE.

Even when those two FREE HEALTH CARE systems only pay those Hospitals, Physicians, and Pharmaceutical providers, less than fifty cents on the dollar, thus causing them to work for free or eventually go bankrupt too, at what point does that system IMPLODE?

You're fortunate enough to be able to OFFSET your incoming losses by your outgoing profits, and so, you should keep your merc on and $ervice every order, most preferably OUTGOING.

Fore US, (and perhaps others too), the Lovely Linda just got tired of wasting her precious time on the holidays in having to deal with the TOO NUMEROUS DOT.CON and OG orders, which had too many INHERENT PROBLEMS, all having begun at THEIR POS.

Their orders just CLOGGED UP OUR SYSTEM when our first obligation was to ANSWER OUR TELEPHONES for OUR OWN CUSTOMERS with THEIR WANTS and NEEDS, and at a full 100% SALE coupled with OUR $ERVICE CHARGES, thus enabling us to STAY IN BUSINESS.

So, let MEE SEE HEAR ANDY? Spend our time dealing with a pile of junk OG and DOT.CON orders, or TAKE CARE OF OUR CUSTOMERS FIRST? hmmmm! That's a hard question to answer! NOT!

We'll work with other REAL FLORISTS and even try and help to fix their problems, but we're never gonna waste our time with the SKIMMERS who want to try and run their DISCOUNTED JUNK through a WS wringer, while expecting US WEE BEES to waste OUR TIME with OUR MONEY.

We just can't afford to be a NETWORK PROVIDER for TFED-I-CAL or TFED-I-CARE with payments at fifty cents on our net dollar.

"eF" ine MEE? NAW! "eF" ine YOU! lol

(Them JB! not YOU!)

 

[LJVF]

At what point, and after a florist told these OGs to CEASE and DESIST, does a REAL FLORIST have any obligation to WASTE any of their time in having to deal with the (ASK) (P) (FOR) or (REJ) process?

I still don't understand what is so difficult to "ASK", "FOR" or "REJ", even if you have to do it multiple times. If more "Real" florists would have done this in the beginning with "skimmed" orders, there would be less "skimmed" orders today.

With that said, FTD should add a BLOCK feature that will allow a florist to automatically block any incoming orders from another of their choice. Of course FTD will never let this happen.

 

[oaf]

this threads got legs!!!!!!!

This gem has been used UK side(British unit) for a few years now,sure iv'e posted about it several times...."its a swine"(and i am not one of the florists that as yet has incurred a fine,its anything over 4 in a month here..)it was brought in to stop cherry picking??????and to hasten rejections if they need to be rejected,nothing wrong with that.......but as iv'e said before you get a selection of ok reasons to reject(6,maybe...chances of you being able to use one of these six is slim,they are along the lines of authorised by hq,and boy do you have to jump through hoops for that one,under value...now we dont get many of them...wrong town...ummm vaguely possible and a few others....now the other side of the rejections that you will incur a fine for these are quite rigid....very little leeway for explanation....and at busy times in shop you just hit a button pronto tonto and get rid of the order,cause its @@@@ annoying and you also want to give the quickest rejection possible(courteousy wise).
Best scenario of this little money maker i can give(hq here send out over 70% of orders so that means the get the lions share of this fee....oh yes and over here you seldom get badly sold orders from member shops..they tend to do unto others as they would hope to have done to them...not so with hq badly taken telesales or web orders,no tel numbers, no surnames,incorrect delivery details i could go on,but you know where it all leads to......they have no care at alllllllllllllll....couldn't give a toss attitude...telesales is staffed by people who know zip about flowers and care less!!!now the scenario we have just gone through the shortest turnaround between mums day and valentines ever,they shared the same month overlapping their respective peak period delivery dates from feb into march.....did the 4 rejections go up...nahhhh!even though you may do 5x the amount of business to a normal month surely then it follows that the magic 4 rejections should go up by ?x whatever also....they never gave that a thought...just keep hunting the money...if as they say they are trying to weed out the bad apples then common sense should prevail when it comes to the occasional slip over theX4 rejection line "not a bleeding chance".....it's all about the money..mark my words....

Forgot to mention that not only do you get a fine in the UK,they also withdraw(if you step over the line two months running/at their discretion)your executing status(over in the US,it would appear that that might be a prize to be aimed for)and if your are a serial infringer of the over 4 rejections rule......you could lose your membership altogether...(again perhaps more a prize than a punishment)

 

[bloomz]

I still don't understand what is so difficult to "ASK", "FOR" or "REJ", even if you have to do it multiple times. If more "Real" florists would have done this in the beginning with "skimmed" orders, there would be less "skimmed" orders today.

With that said, FTD should add a BLOCK feature that will allow a florist to automatically block any incoming orders from another of their choice. Of course FTD will never let this happen.

There you go making sense again.

You better stop that or you're gonna interfere with my Head Examination business. :squish:


I said in the beginning of this they need to build some intelligence into their system to see if an order has been previously rejected by the same florist it goes back to, to stop the autoforwarding loop.

I got the JF order again today, btw, asking me to deliver it with an apology - I forwarded it cuz I ain't payin another 1.25 to reject it.

On delivering apology bouquets by the way:

If you do them for any big OG - you also need a head exam - contact me.

 

[HERO]

My new policy

Jb, I have no problem with this new policy. As of June 1st, my mercury will be off. You can send the order to me via the Dove ... errrr ... uhhhhh .... that's right, sorry.
lol

 

[bloomz]

Yer a real fart smeller, I mean smart, um, ahh you know what I mean.


But - how long til Teleflora follows suit?

 

[HERO]

I'll say they'll wait ...

to see how many orders they lose to FTD or how'll many shops they'll gain. Because if there is any question about if you can or can't fill it, Here's your REJ johnny, thanks for playing.

 

[bloomz]

Good thing you gave me that REJ within the two hour window...

Thanks for your professionalism.

 

[TOTO]

It was NEVER DIFFICULT...............................

I still don't understand what is so difficult to "ASK", "FOR" or "REJ", even if you have to do it multiple times. If more "Real" florists would have done this in the beginning with "skimmed" orders, there would be less "skimmed" orders today.

With that said, FTD should add a BLOCK feature that will allow a florist to automatically block any incoming orders from another of their choice. Of course FTD will never let this happen.

If one had nothing better to do, and if one had plenty of time to do, nothing better to do, the question of the (ask) (p) (more money) or (for) or (rej) would be a non issue.

However, and when a person's time is precious, especially on a MAJOR FLORAL HOLIDAY, then one needs to ask the bigger question of: JUST WHO IS PAYING US FOR OUR VALUABLE WASTED TIME?

That's where we, and many other of our REAL FLORIST FRIENDS, have had to spend two or three hours on February 13th up to 8:00 PM and again, on February 14th by 11:00 AM, (rej) and/or (for) orders from SKIMMERS, due to their TOO LOW SRPs, or ridiculous recipes, or ridiculous delivery time constraints, and for orders which are far away from our delivery zip codes, and so, that's when A REAL FLORIST has to make a serious business decision.

Do you continue on with this problematic business relationship, which insists on wasting your time, or do you make a business decision to simply eliminate the enabler who costs you money, rather than contribute to your bottom line profitability?

Sorry, but in my usual UMBLE OPINION, we're not about to PLAY NURSEMAID to the CZARS!

 

[BOSS]

As of June 1st, my mercury will be off.

See...what did I say last week?

It's already starting...or...hitting the fan...or.....

 

[LJVF]

If one had nothing better to do, and if one had plenty of time to do, nothing better to do, the question of the (ask) (p) (more money) or (for) or (rej) would be a non issue.

However, and when a person's time is precious, especially on a MAJOR FLORAL HOLIDAY, then one needs to ask the bigger question of: JUST WHO IS PAYING US FOR OUR VALUABLE WASTED TIME?

That's where we, and many other of our REAL FLORIST FRIENDS, have had to spend two or three hours on February 13th up to 8:00 PM and again, on February 14th by 11:00 AM, (rej) and/or (for) orders from SKIMMERS, due to their TOO LOW SRPs, or ridiculous recipes, or ridiculous delivery time constraints, and for orders which are far away from our delivery zip codes, and so, that's when A REAL FLORIST has to make a serious business decision.

Do you continue on with this problematic business relationship, which insists on wasting your time, or do you make a business decision to simply eliminate the enabler who costs you money, rather than contribute to your bottom line profitability?

Sorry, but in my usual UMBLE OPINION, we're not about to PLAY NURSEMAID to the CZARS!

I do agree it can be a pain and it does take some valuable time, but I think your exaggerating the amount. Hey, it's nothing new, this has always been a part of the wire service biz. The problem has been going on before the OGs. Some of the biggest offenders were and are the "real" florists themselves. I remember back in the 80's having one person devoted only to handling ASK, ANS, FOR, REJ, IN, OUT, etc...

Aside from the annoying FU Flowers, this Mother's Day we were pretty fortunate in that we hardly got any "problem" orders, probably the least in years.

 

[bloomz]

I do agree it can be a pain and it does take some valuable time, but I think your exaggerating the amount. Hey, it's nothing new, this has always been a part of the wire service biz. The problem has been going on before the OGs. Some of the biggest offenders were and are the "real" florists themselves. I remember back in the 80's having one person devoted only to handling ASK, ANS, FOR, REJ, IN, OUT, etc...

Aside from the annoying FU Flowers, this Mother's Day we were pretty fortunate in that we hardly got any "problem" orders, probably the least in years.

Kinda what I meant - this is the way it is - we can choose to deal with it or quit.