Teleflora to require DCON's in August

[Knife's Wife]

This has been a fun read.

I have a couple of points to make, and a potential solution for the delivery pools.

1. I think that in this age of technology, the dcon is a must for orders sent through a wire service. There are way too many issues with the WS system, (read on and on for weeks here on FC) and I think this is a great step forward for the industry as a whole. Sorry to say it, but let's get out of the dark ages people. Dcons are a proven method of customer communication by ALL delivery services and mail order providers throughout the world.

2. Local customers that walk in assume it will be delivered when you said it would, and have talked to you or your staff face to face. I don't think a dcon is required here, but it is great to get their email and market to them under the guise of a dcon if you have the technology.

3. Customers ordering from an internet site expect this these days. It has been said in many posts here. That's just the way it is. See point #1. (Thanks FSN for adding dcon to your system!)

4. Doug made a very good point about multiple wire services, and if that is a problem, you will have to deal with it. (This IMO is the root cause of all the wire service issues in my opinion, although very few will admit it here)

5. We use a floral delivery service, not a pool, but have somewhat the same issue with this as the pool people. Our orders go to a central staging area, where they are distributed city wide 2 times per day. To make a mole-hill out of a mountain on this one, why not suggest only non-delviery confirmations from the pool for the day. You could have this information by 7 or 8PM, and send out all confirmations in the morning. How many orders actually don't get delivered the same day they go out anyway?

D

Thank you for finally having a suggestion... I been waiting for that for 24 hours.
Now I will read on and see if there are more built upon this..
We already require this of our delivery pool members for non delivered items. If a signature is requested or a left with neighbor info or other, it will not be this easy though. It will be interesting to see how TF sets this up and the requirements.
Thank you again, Joan

 

[CHERYL BAKIN]

Doug,
Thanks also from me for your suggestions.

You asked how many orders do not get delivered in the same day they were sent out.

On a normal day, not that many. (less than 10 perhaps out of 500) (estimating here).

However, the reasons can be many.....discharged from hospital; buried already & funeral is over (ouch!!); in an ICU unit - no flowers; cannot access building (apartments); no-one home & no safe place for the package to be left; unable to locate such address (because it was for Philadelphia, Pa -- not Pittsburgh, Pa!); we attempted at home & missed her -- now we must try at work.

Holiday times increase the # of non-delivered packages, but not an overwhelming #. The majority of non-delivered pieces at holidays are due to bad or incomplete information/addresses.

for instance: package is for 1234 Highland 152xx. There are over 30 Highland (road/street/avanue/circle, etc) in the greater Pittsburgh area, and a great number of them have the same house # sequence. If you have the wrong zip code, and do not give us a correct phone #, we will not locate the correct house on the right highland in the correct zip code.

Please Doug, and others, come down from your ivory Towers, and walk the walk as well as talk the talk and help us find good, reasonable, workable solutions for very real world problems.

Truth is that I, like RC, find very little need for a Dcon.
When we have needed a Dcon, we pick up the phone and call the shop we sent the order to. Usually it is because some long & involved tale of stuff has happened -- not usually the sending or the receiving shops faults. When we relay back to the sender verbally what is going on, they are satisfied. I call this the PERSONAL TOUCH OF CUSTOMER SERVICE.

I'm not in India, or West Africa or in the middle of the Pacific ocean answering phones, and promising things that are not true.

When we tell you we will get an answer for you, we do.
When we promise you a delivery, we deliver.
If you are not satisfied, for any reason, we offer you a 100% money back guarantee.

While I agree that collecting emails for Dcons is a sneaky and smart way to gather the email addresses for marketing, I do not agree that every customer NEEDS OR REQUIRES a Dcon.

Again, this is not about being anti - Dcon.
This is about making this work in the real world in which we work and live every day. and having you, the Sending Florist, understand the hows/whys of what you are asking us to do -- and how it DOES impact our operations.

Respectfully,

Cheryl

 

[Knife's Wife]

1. Delivery confirmations are good practice and makes good business sense.
2. Delivery confirmations are usually unnecessary and only useful for wire services and og's with ulterior motives.
3. Delivery confirmations are a good service to provide local customers but should not be made mandatory by wire services.
4. Delivery confirmations are unnecessary, but a good tool to acquire emails for marketing purposes.
5. Delivery confirmations seem like a good idea, but not worth the trouble due to logistics
6. Delivery confirmations are unnecessary, period.

The one left out was mine... Delivery confimations have merit, but we need to come up with a solution for those of us in large pools and with large volume.

Joan

 

[RWK]

Joan, I gave a possible solution as well based on what we do here in SC with our delivery pool. Would that work for your situation?

 

[goldfish]

Fifth, you can't simply make it "mandatory" that a delivery pool member supply a d-con. Bylaws are voted upon by the membership, and in our pool, a preliminary poll shot down the idea of mandatory TIMES *or* SIGNATURES. What makes you think a d-con will pass?

Customers' expectation... customers in the ner future will be expecting a florist to provide delivery confirmation.

If I am right and d-con is an inevitable future, it's better to start offering it now, before anyone else does. It's no good to start doing something only after everyone else started doing it.

 

[LJVF]

The one left out was mine... Delivery confimations have merit, but we need to come up with a solution for those of us in large pools and with large volume.

Joan

Ok Joan, added it, #7:

1. Delivery confirmations are good practice and makes good business sense.
2. Delivery confirmations are usually unnecessary and only useful for wire services and og's with ulterior motives.
3. Delivery confirmations are a good service to provide local customers but should not be made mandatory by wire services.
4. Delivery confirmations are unnecessary, but a good tool to acquire emails for marketing purposes.
5. Delivery confirmations seem like a good idea, but not worth the trouble due to logistics
6. Delivery confirmations are unnecessary, period.
7. Delivery confirmations have merit, but wrinkles from being in a large delivery pool need to be ironed out.

 

[RC in Dayton and Cincinnati]

I really wonder how much sympathy the wire services have for delivery pools. After all, the pools must be removing millions of orders that would otherwise be transferred through the wire service.

As far as wire services are concerned pools are unnecessary. I know when we wire flowers out to a florist we've always assumed they'd deliver it themselves. If not why accept the order?, let the real delivering florist accept it.

My bet is in a few years most delivery pools won't exist.

RC

 

[Doug Munro]

(Emphasis mine)

Anti-dcon camp probably doesn't see it that way. In their mind, dcon means "opportunities that will (primarily) enhance the value of their products and services at our expenses."

They = OG, WS, and sending shops.

The idea of doing something for the sake of our entire industry will not persuade any individual florists who don't believe "our industry" includes OGs and WS companies.

I think that's more or less what's happening in this thread.

With that said, I still firmly believe that dcon is a must for florists. If any florist doesn't want to do it for their enemies (OG + WS), fine, but I hope they would at least start experimenting this service with their local clients.

Then they will see, as we have, a tremendous positive feedback.

Well said, however the definition of an OG seems to vary by individual florist. I have over the years met many big order senders that also ran successful retail flower shops. So who officially defines these individuals?

Equally important, there are still some on this board that actually believe that consumers know of, care about, or can be educated about order gatherers. I however believe that the average individual that sends flowers out of town on occasion has no interest. They just want to send flowers. When you buy groceries do you want to be educated about the entire farming and wholesale industry behind a frigging head of lettuce? So when they do send flowers and say perchance happen to use a dreaded OG and have a problem due to no delivery confirmation.

How does this help the industry?

You now have a consumer that stepped up to the plate and bought flowers only to have a bad experience. Chances are next time they will take their business to another gifting sector. Flower Industry - Down 1

My premise hasn't changed on Dcon, do it because it is good for the entire industry and will in the long term enhance the value of our services in the eyes of the consumer.

If you are so dead set against OG's or anything that appears to be one don't accept their orders, then there will be no need to confirm delivery. Problem solved.

 

[Doug Munro]

1. Delivery confirmations are good practice and makes good business sense.
2. Delivery confirmations are usually unnecessary and only useful for wire services and og's with ulterior motives.
3. Delivery confirmations are a good service to provide local customers but should not be made mandatory by wire services.
4. Delivery confirmations are unnecessary, but a good tool to acquire emails for marketing purposes.
5. Delivery confirmations seem like a good idea, but not worth the trouble due to logistics
6. Delivery confirmations are unnecessary, period.

The one left out was mine... Delivery confimations have merit, but we need to come up with a solution for those of us in large pools and with large volume.

Joan

Excuse me, I must have missed this part where a list was created. Are these your personal thoughts or a poll of some sort?

 

[Knife's Wife]

I really wonder how much sympathy the wire services have for delivery pools. After all, the pools must be removing millions of orders that would otherwise be transferred through the wire service.

As far as wire services are concerned pools are unnecessary. I know when we wire flowers out to a florist we've always assumed they'd deliver it themselves. If not why accept the order?, let the real delivering florist accept it.

My bet is in a few years most delivery pools won't exist.

RC

We have had a delivery pool since the energy crisis of the 70's, my father in-law was involved in formulating the original delivery pool.
I try to send to florist I know do excellent work regardless of who they have deliver it. Many surrounding towns send to us knowing that our product and design is superior to our competitors and they actually request us not to forward.
I do not see delivery pools going away anytime soon as least not in our area. Too many miles to cover, to high of expense to cover the whole territory with our own vehicles and drivers on a daily basis.
The most successful florist in our area are the florist in the "pool" because it provides a level of "customer service" that can not be obtain as cost effectively to the customer as does using a "pool" provides.

Joan

 

[goldfish]

I do not agree that every customer NEEDS OR REQUIRES a Dcon.

I agree there's no "need" for d-con.

Likewise, there is no "need" for package tracking for Fedex shipping. They almost always succeed to deliver and, if in doubt, you can always call the recipient and ask.

Package tracking is simply a covenient way to verify the successful delivery, giving an extra layer of peace of midn to customers.

Same thing for d-con. No "need", but if we can do it, it will give us a market advantage, something none of us can afford to lose.

 

[Knife's Wife]

Excuse me, I must have missed this part where a list was created. Are these your personal thoughts or a poll of some sort?

Sorry, you missed it!
It was, LJVF's simple summary of discussion.

Joan

 

[Rhonda]

Package tracking is simply a covenient way to verify the successful delivery, giving an extra layer of peace of midn to customers.

QUOTE]

tracking is not delivery confirmation to the correct recepient. Case and point all those "lost" holiday orders from PF, 800, FTD etc. including the one I ordered, tracked, stated delivered at my home and was left on a neighbors porch two doors down when my house clearly had the numbers on the front - can't miss them - and the address was correct on the delivery tag. When questioned regarding where it was, I was told the carrier left it on my front porch. I have no front porch.
To believe that order had been confirmed as delivered...no way. It was just dropped off - no one signed, no one accepted.

 

[RWK]

Rhonda's right on with this one. There is indeed a huge difference between tracking an order and confirming it delivered.

At the last shop I was at, the POS, cell phone, radio, and printed delivery sheet copy enabled us to 'track ' a delivery if the customer needed it or if a change or re-route was needed. However, we did not consider an order DELIVERED until we had put it in someone's hands and got a signature. Even if we took multiple arrangements to a funeral home, we still required a physical signature from a representative of the funeral home.

If a design had to be left.....it was cleared with the sender BEFORE it went out, confirmed that leaving without signature was ok with customer at time order was taken. Otherwise, We would bring the order back to the shop, contact the sender, contact the recipient, notate it in the POS, and then re-deliver at no additional charge when someone was able to recieve.

Regarding pool deliveries - All a cooperative delivery pool does is allow you to expand your service area without having to tie up additional trucks, drivers, insurances, etc.
It DOES require cooperation between it's members.

This is where Joan and others are finding potential problems with mandantory delivery confirmations.

Here is what I hope is an explanation of the problem.

I am shop A. I have a delivery that goes to Shop B's delivery area. I give the arrangement to Shop B at the pool. Now, How DO I AS SHOP A handle the confirmation of delivery when it is actually Shop B making the delivery?

Shop B does not have the order form paperwork.....as it was made at and the order form is still at Shop A. Shop B does not know the sender, have the e-mail, or anything at all concerning the sender. All Shop B knows is the name, address, and delivery information for the recipient.

 

[Knife's Wife]

Joan, I gave a possible solution as well based on what we do here in SC with our delivery pool. Would that work for your situation?

Rick, I did see your post, took what you said and put it to a scenario, that no one responded to.

I will find it and post below.

Rick, I do appreciate the fact that you are helping to come up with a solution that might work for us.

Joan

 

[bloomz]

tracking is not delivery confirmation to the correct recepient. Case and point all those "lost" holiday orders from PF, 800, FTD etc. including the one I ordered, tracked, stated delivered at my home and was left on a neighbors porch two doors down when my house clearly had the numbers on the front - can't miss them - and the address was correct on the delivery tag. When questioned regarding where it was, I was told the carrier left it on my front porch. I have no front porch.
To believe that order had been confirmed as delivered...no way. It was just dropped off - no one signed, no one accepted.

OK - now you're milking mice.

These instructions may help

Hey - we made 20 pages - the Admins buy pizza for us all!

 

[CHERYL BAKIN]

Better order those pizzas mark.

and I would like mine sent with a Dcon, please, and thank you!



cheryl

 

[RWK]

I'm going to re-state the problem facing Joan and other's about delivery confirmations in a separate thread of discussion in the hope that you all will be able to post possible solutions. I fear that in this 20 plus pages of posts, questions, answers are going unseen and unanswered. They are getting lost in a sea of commentary.

 

[Knife's Wife]

So I send a 12 deliveries to 11 different florist on wednesday, I receive 18 from 12 florist.
Thursday I go to the pool with 12 copies of my drivers sheets, which somedays maybe several different drivers, and find all 12 florist who gave me deliveries to give them a copy, and then make sure that my driver collects 11 sheets from the florist that he gave deliveries to.

My driver comes to me in the morning and then again in the afternoon to make pick ups of deliveries. I would get this sheet on Thursday at about 2:30, and then sit down to the F-ing Dove to send dcons??

That was my question, no responses. I am having a hard time imagining the florist will agree to this, some are not even wire service affliliated.
The added volume of copies of paper would be a deterent also. Especially for pools as big as Cheryl's and Philly's.
Have you ever been to one of these pool drops?
Our's is in a giant building with tables set up for each florist. You only go to the tables that you have something to drop off to them. One day I get deliveries for 11 florist, the next day I have 20 orders for 5 florist. That day I will have to drop off the 20 deliveries to the 5 florist tables and then drop off paper work to the 11 florist tables that I received orders from the day before.
We got rid of the outdated copy machine when we went to a computer for POS. LOL should have kept that peice of out dated technology
maybe!

Joan

 

[bloomz]

So, topic drift just a bit...

I know nothing about pool deliveries and always kinda sorta thought that would be weird to be having MY product delivered in a truck labeled with somebody else's shop, also feeling they wouldn't be as careful with it as their own, knowing that their Ambassador (delivery person) could make or break you. (I've heard and believe the delivery person could be the most important person in your team - I know it was when I was doing all our deliveries, snuk snuk)

Sounds like a sticky wicket (I don't actually understand that term, but I felt like trying it out) to me.

I understand why you don't wire orders across town thank to a great post once by RC something to the effect of "How do you build your brand with their flowers?"

But, what am I getting at here - why exactly would you want or have to get everyone on board with this? Right now it only applies to TF shops - for now, oh and BN

Independent shops - why would you push them to do something like this that will level the playing field?

So, this is a Teleflora members "benefit" (I know that will choke a few of you - enjoy) - why give your pool member/competitors the same advantage it is going to give you???

This is a "you're going to provide better service whether you like it or not" matter, and I just know after you get used to it and see how your own customers like it - you'll be sold and maybe even thank Teleflora for forcing you to move into the first decade of the new millenium.


I mean, you're gonna have to do them (if you want incoming) - if you don't spread that same service to your own local customer base you'll be needing your head examined.

Call me selfish or diabolical if you like, but if it were me I would try harder to figure out a way this will benefit me and not them.

Rickie you'll have to forgive me for staying in this thread - it's cohesive to my scattered mind to have it all in one place.