Open Order Day

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Paul

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Nov 2, 2002
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Toronto
www.lakeshoreflowers.com
Does anyone remember when we had "OPEN ORDER DAY'? For those of you relatively new to the business, these days were Dec 24, Feb 14, the Saturday before Easter, Saturday before Mother's Day etc. AND ON THESE DAYS any FTD or other WS order that was TRANSMITTED whether by telephone or telex (remember that?) or Mercury or telegraph (I do remember that!) had to be an OPEN ORDER. And an "open order" meant you gave the filling shop the amount of money and the occasion and the filling shop could send WHATEVER they had available that was appropriate to the occasion. Please note....this was for orders that would be RECEIVED by the FILLING shop on that last day before the holiday....(NOT for orders sent earlier for delivey on that day).

So what's my point? I would like to see that policy re-intoduced.

On VD day a florist I know and love sent me an order for "FTD 99-99-9 (or whatever) with this added and that taken out" etc....and a note "Paul, can you please help us out?" I took the time to REJ the order and went back to the lineup at my cash register. I felt guilty and started to think about the good old days when I could have just grabbed any arrangement in the fridge to value and sent it out....no problem. The sending florist could request whatever they wanted, but I had complete licence to fill the order with ANYTHING I had for Valentine's. But when there is no time to check the book for the recipe...."Ask" "Answer" negoiate....or even to call around to other shops.all you can do is say NO.

It really started me thinking about why stores turn off their Mercury or Dove as they approach the holidays. They have no choice. In order to keep the doors open you have to make a lot of hay while the sun is shining. In my case I have no DESIGNERS on Valentines day. We are all SALESPEOPLE that day. That is the only thing that works in MY shop. I cannot have someone take a half-hour to custom-make an item Feb 14 when they could be taking cash from people with ready-made items in their hands.

It is the internet that has made so many of the orders become VERY specific, and it is time for the pendulum to start swinging more towards the filling florist if the whole flowers by wire concept has the slightest chance of surviving. A return to OPEN ORDER day would be a big help.
 
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OPEN order policy

IS still in effect for FTD anyway...

I believe, it applies (in my store it does) to any order recieved after "normal" business hours the day before the holiday...

I think, that it was even in the second choice field on all dot.com orders beginning 2-13 am....
 
I remember FTD officially ending the Open Order policy several years ago, so Boss, ONE of us has been sniffing the floralife. If it was me it's time I quit! Anybody else remember Open Order day being buried? I really am certain I attended that funeral.
 
Re: OPEN order policy

Originally posted by BOSS
IS still in effect for FTD anyway...

I believe, it applies (in my store it does) to any order recieved after "normal" business hours the day before the holiday...

I think, that it was even in the second choice field on all dot.com orders beginning 2-13 am....
Click to expand...

I'm quite sure Paul is correct. It died with the birth of FTD.COM........but I know that FTD.COM received a lot of flack about it in the past and then changed their policy back to what Boss is stating above, but FTD never changed it back officially for all florists and the other order gatherers including 1-800......
 
Yep, unless FTD has reinstitued Open Order Day it kaput!

I remember one of the reasons FTD stated for this was that some florists went overboard with this policy. Examples were given like 1st choice was a nice spring arr for $50 and 2nd choice was open order. FTD said it had examples of florists sending things like cactus gardens, plush animals, gift items, etc. Nothing even close to the first choice.

I too loved open orders, since we've NEVER turned merc off. With our computer printing out the cards along with the invoice we could move out lots of last minute products with very little labor, especially on Mother's Day. Everyone was happy! Unfortunately, a few slimey florists ruined the deal.

Now with all the .coms and florists having their own websites, consumers are picking out specific arrangements, instead of say a spring arr, with 2nd choice similar or same. I had more than 1 order from FTD.com for arrs like My One and Only, not to mention some really wacky orders from florists websites-all of them which a human on the sending end never looked at.

In my neck of the woods I got very few codified arr from FTD.com or even from my website. Tried for years to find out from FTD.com what % of their orders are for codified product vs. non-codified. Have yet to get an answer. I bet that less than 40% of .com order are for codified product even though they are promently shown in it home page.
 
Open orders at 2002 Christmastime........

from FTD.COM had 2nd choice open order/flowers. I can't remember exactly how it was worded, but it implied you can change the item but it still has to be flowers (if flowers were chosen). Every .com order had this on it from Dec 23rd until they stopped coming for Christmas. Florists mostly ignored the open order policy in the past in my experience. We always use it when sending out, but I explain in special instructions to pay attention and not fill it with just any old thing. You're right, the few florists that filled it with any old thing they were trying to get rid of blew it for the rest of us. We quit the dot com program a few weeks ago so did not have any for Val. Day. What a wonderful difference it made for us.:cool:
 
Re: Hey Lady Biker!

Originally posted by Paul
The last line of your post left me begging for more! I think I know what you mean, but can you spell it out for me...why was it a wonderful difference?
Click to expand...

This being our first dot com free holiday was a little hard when ordering flowers. I knew we would need less as we did fill a whole lot of dot com orders. So I ordered less, had less to clean, had less to store, paid less.

As far as hecticness goes, that was the real difference. I had the same amount of people as normal and my cooler and every room and shelf and open space was filled with arrangements to sell. Usually we are spending our time filling dot com picture specific orders and never seem to have enough pre-made arrangements to sell to 100% customers. This year we had enough. Three left.

Normally when filling dot coms we are constantly taking orders off the merc and looking up pictures and recipes. This year I put all the books on a shelf and we didn't touch them. The florist FTD's & TF's were generic types.

This year I had five delivery people instead of eight. I thought that would be about right. TIt was even better as they were back so fast I was able to take deliveries as long as customers wanted them. 100% customers!

All in all I have to say the whole feeling in the air was just more relaxed and focused. There is a cetain hecticness that dot coms present and it was not there. We were still very busy and we still did good. We are not computerized so I don't know %'s & $'s.

So that's why it was so wonderful this year. Now I hope by next year topick the pace back up with 100% local orders, but that's ok!!! The pace is much more acceptable if it is also profitable. Dot coms weren't.

Good Luck!
:cool:
 
We're lucy out here. I only had 6 incoming wire orders for V-day. 3 of those were from FTD.com and I gladly filled them becuase they were for big dollar roses in a vase with chocolates and teddy bears. Grabbed the vase out of the cooler, the bear and candy off of the shelf and out the door they went. The other three were from shops two rose orders and one open order. Piece of cake. So the rest of our business was all at 100% and we did as much business this week as we did in all of Feb last year. I don't know how we pulled it off actually. Sold out of roses, sold out of most of the mixed flowers. Have one bear left. And the only complaint that we had was we missed a bear and had to redeliver but we sent out a free rose bud vase to make up for that and all was well.
I must say that having a nearly wire service free holiday was a blessing. The interesting thing was that we sold out of the FTD V1 and they were'nt even from wire orders. The boys came in and saw the vase and the poster on the wall and that was what the ordered. $65 bucks a pop and no discounts. You gotta like that. The TF talking bear was the biggest bust ever. Not a single order for them. Not one. We did get rid of the ones in the cooler by marking them way down late on Friday. I won't ever buy another TF keepsake.

Jim
 
To Lady Biker:

You said it well! Just what I thought because it's the same here. I think I am bent out of shape because I just could not take care of myself and fill my friend's order too so I picked ME for a change. It's the guilt of saying "NO I can't do that today" that is still bothering me. Tomorrow I would love the order probably.

And to Jim....someone called the TF specials for VD "double dogs".... I have to agree...I have virtually every one still here, and a lot of those teensy tiny "talking" bears are also mute. But in my experience it is the first bomb from TF so I will give them another chance. The FTD Bear was a winner here.
 
Funny thing is...

at least in MY city...the orders from Da Dot, were WAY HIGHER $$ orders than any from florists, and from most of my own customers....

Every order for roses from Da Dot was for 80.00++ and mine were only 55.00 locally, thus they recieved a much nicer vase, and seeded euc and so on, along with MY advertising on every arr...

I do understand why folks decide to fill or not to fill for Da Dot, but many of these same florists still fill those 29.99 orders for 800...I just can;t figure that one out....

Im not trying to defend Da Dot in anyway...just MY experience...when I run the numbers, I make way more off their orders than I do of florist orders....many had not only a stuffed animal, but a box of chocolate, and a 3.50 card added....something not ONE florist order had this year...
 
Mark,

Your experience with FTD.com is surely different than mine. The last time I check my figures on my FTD.com orders was last Mother's Day. The vast majority (something in the 70% range) were for custom made arr out of the selection guide and I'm not talking simple ones like dz roses, mum plant, etc.

As for price points on FTD.com orders during last years Mother's Day. Most of my orders averaged $40 or less including delivery. Not a very high dollar amount. Maybe my area is not as upscale as yours.

Another problem with FTD.com orders in my area is the fact that some of my zips cover, unlike large metro areas, 10-15 miles in one direction. We charge varying prices up to $10 to deliver in some of these areas. Because FTD.com has a flat delivery fee we sometimes don't get enough money to cover the delivery cost, even facturing times when the arr price is higher than ours.

Yes, I know we can get a price adj, but when you get several orders it can eat up an enourmous amount of time. Time is money as they say.

I do take FTD.com orders and haven't taken 800-flower orders in years.

I can handle the FTD.com orders. My REAL gripe is the stupid transmission fee (a tax in my book) the recieving florists get stuck with. EVERY order I rejected this VD was for things like wrong town, no such street, sending a TF arr through FTD. etc. etc. I my opinion if there is only one thing FTD does this year is to get this transmission tax done away with.
 
I agree with Dean on that one. The transmission fee is a penalty for the filling florists and we should not be paying it. ESPECIALLY from .com
 
Hey Dean....

Yep I concur....

The thing ya have to keep in mind tho, is that Da Dot only sends orders to places and for the amount the CONsumer choses....perhaps they spend more going into my area....

I also agree with the transmission TAX...sender should pay, but since Bob and Greg seem unable to talk to each other...change is probably a ways off....
 
I needed to stop my wire services (tf and ftd) the day before VD just to fill my local orders. Had lot's of outgoing orders and they all had problems getting filled the day before in the morning. So what did I do for you? I informed my customers that most of the wire services were down and looked up several florists phone numbers for the to call and give you the order direct at 100% My customer was happy and even saved some money and you gained! Maybe we should do this every day and get rid of the wires altogether.... just a great thought
 
Paul,
Don't know where you are at or what FTD you have but mine on the orders I got all last year holidays and valentine's day has been the 1st choice XXXXX and 2nd choice OPEN ORDER clear as day. Shop or DOT. Com orders. Never died in my book! And yes do I remember the telex orders, we would come in the next morning and there would be a roll of paper with orders on them stretched out all across the floor. Boy, I hated cutting them up where the dotted line was. I'm so glad the technology has advanced! But even on the shop and DOT. Com orders that came thru on 12/23pm would have open order on it. I think if you are a recent shop 10yrs or younger you are not aware of the open order policy with so much that has happened with FTD breaking up adding on and then TELEFLORA buying up they don't have time for the old policy questions most of them (emps. @ HQs) wouldn't know what that meant if you asked them. But yes your older florists 10 yrs or older are very aware of that policy and it does still exist with them.
It doesn't matter so much as to what service you use, it is the experience and age of the florist that will be aware or that grandfather policy.
Only had one problem with it on 12/24 with DOT.Com $45. order, and the problem was is the operator that took the order did not explain to the customer by ordering at 9pm on the 23rd it would be open order if the first choice was not availiable. (temp. help operator) But after all over it was explained by me to the customer on how the process works on ordering so late. A good thing came out of it--- she calls me direct now and early to get her flowers and not a gourmet basket already made up!!!! Already ordered since christmas 2 birthdays and a valentine.
Best Regards,
Cyndi
 
So what I got out of this tread was

That there is confusion about whether there is an open order policy or not. I understand from those of you who receive .com orders it is in the "second choice" field. That's a good thing because then you are covered under the rules of the 10-day guarantee. I was really speaking of the florist-to- florist orders and I am still SURE that the FTD-sanctioned policy of "Open Order Day" the day before and day of a floral holiday was revoked. Here in Toronto I certainly have NOT seen "open order" as a second choice unless it is from either an old-timer or a wise new-timer.
I am now going over to the FTD site and will ask that very specific question for two reasons. First: to get the answer and Second" to see if they WILL answer....or if they want to keep the answer quiet so everyone will continue on being happy until they get a complaint and find the FTD guarantee won't back them up.
I will keep you posted on the response time!
 
Paul,
As I stated in my post I just did not get the open order from .com but from other florists as well. Also after 12pm on the 13th I started getting open order on 1st choices.
This is just not with FTD but the other services as well, that I got open order reguests by phone and computer.
But do keep us posted on what you found out. I'm interested in what the answer is myself.
Cyndi
 
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