It's demographics and semantics
The understanding of what constitutes a SPRAY or a FLORAL BASKET from one part of our country to the other, has always been IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER.
In our market and closer to the larger Cities, our customers expect a STANDING SPRAY to be mounted on no less than a 60" Easel, and more often than not, a 72" Easel.
Failing that, and in their attempts to fill those SMALLER and SHORTER requests for STANDING SPRAYS at less than $100.00 and mounting those on a 48" or 36" easel, some of the SKIMMER FILLERS wind up with a MAJOR COMPLAINT when the sender gets to the funeral home, compares what they got versus what everyone else sent, and BOOM!
It's the usual complaint beginning with: I SPENT A GREAT DEAL OF MONEY on UNCLE BILL'S Standing Spray and look what this florist sent. I'm so EMBARRASSED!
Of course, that sender never tells everyone else at Uncle Bill's funeral the fact that, they only spent $100 when everyone else was spending $200.
One of those anomalies of KNOWING WHAT YOUR LOCAL MARKET DEMANDS.
Was a time (1960s) when we could just send the SPRAY and the local funeral director would use a spray bar hook and hang them from the molding which ran around the ceiling.
They've stopped that practice long ago after their remodeling when they got tired of having to replace or repaint the moldings.
In some areas, the local funeral homes do provide their own stands for SPRAYS, WREATHS, HEARTS, and CROSSES.
However, that's not the case in our area and so, we mount everything on a 72" easel which now costs us $7.65 each.
As to the STANDING BASKET, areas like DA BRONX and NYC and the other three boroughs still allow for the florist to send along a stand with their floral baskets.
In our area, (Westchester County), some do but most prefer to use their own Grecian Style Pedestals or metal stands.
The problem which we were having ten years ago was when a customer requested a standing basket from us, and we delivered it that way to the funeral home.
Then, the funeral director chose to remove our stand, place the floral basket on the floor due to the volume of flowers, and we would wind up with a complaint from that customer who PAID FOR THE STAND but didn't get it.
The bigger joke was that, these same funeral homes would give our stands back to one of their pallbearers and he would go around and RESELL THEM to the florists.
Now, we advise all of our customers that, the funeral director will decide whether or not, their flowers will go up on his stand or be placed on the floor, and so, there is no need for them to PURCHASE one from us.
As to pricing? Well, for the most part, it takes $200 and up in our area for us to MEET and EXCEED our customer's expectation when it comes to a STANDING ANYTHING mounted on a 72" easel.
Our floral baskets start at $75 and go up from there in increments of $25.00.
Our Table Arrangements for the funeral home starts at $40 and goes up from there.
Our European Style Vase Arrangements start at $60, with higher price points of $75, $100, and $125.
When I started in the floral business as a YOUNG PUP of only sixteen, (1964) we were making SPRAYS in STYROFOAM using sticks and tubes, having just graduated from TWINE COVERED HAY FORMS. They all started at $25 and up and we never had to send along a stand.
For the FAMILY PIECES to include STANDING HEARTS, WREATHS, CROSSES, and PILLOWS, all of them started at $50 and most of them were designed for $75 and $100. A bleeding Heart of all Red Carns was $100 and Up and all Red Roses was $150 and up.
Floral Arrangements started at $5 as did corsages with most of them at $7.50, $10.00 and $15.00.
And a BRAND NEW CHEVY VAN cost $2,600.00 and gas was around twenty-five cents per gallon.
Back then, I was making BIG MONEY at $1.50 per hour for my PART TIME AFTER HIGH SCHOOL JOB.
During the week, my hours were from 3:00 PM until 8:00 PM, Saturdays went from 9:00 AM until 8:00 PM, and Sundays went from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM.
I worked 49 hours per week (part time) and my salary came to over $70.00, which I promptly handed over to my Mother to help her run the home because, in those days, that's just what you did as a kid living on the poorer west side in the City of Yonkers.
As I told my own kids when they were growing up, on occasion, I would then ask my Mother for money back to go to a movie, get snacks, and go out for pizza afterwards.
And, my Mother couldn't always afford to say YES!
Never had any regrets since I loved to work and didn't really have a lot of time to go out anyway.
