1800 doesn’t want to open warehouses. They would much prefer to have their orders fullfilled through local shops, too. The problem is that 1800 can’t rely on shops in key markets. They’ve got orders with no one with the ability or capacity to fill them.

Personally, I don’t see WalMart delivering flowers. They’ll do what the supermarkets do. Put stems and arrangements in displays and put rock bottom prices on them, and for the arrangements that need delivery, they’ll either use a local shop (by way of FTD or Teleflora) or partner with 1800 and utilize their warehousing distribution center. Some supermarkets try to do the delivery thing, but they’re in the grocery business, and their not able to successfully fill orders either.

Thanks for the great comment. I think you are the first florist to acknowledge that there is a problem that must be addressed. You’re right, most local florist could not survive without the OG’s, and the OG’s obvioulsy need someone to ditribute their orders.

But with 1-800-flowers creating their own warehouses, and the possibility of a Wal-Mart sized company moving into the florsits space, I question who is more at risk. Both sides of the business would obviously be hurt, but OG’s would survive.

I would love to see a solution come in to play that leverage the Web to allow OG’s and florist to coexsist without the issues we see today. But isn’t that what FTD is supposed to be? So I guess the real question is, where does FTD fall short, and how can it be fixed?

These guys are idiots!

On to Peter Coleman. First, thank you for the long response. I like it when someone actually spends some time on their response. But, you’re an idiot. You asked some questions about me, so I’ll answer those first.  I’m 34, so not much water left behind my ears. I have never been married, not that I understand what that has to do with anything, but I have sent a lot of flowers to girlfriends. And yes, I have been to partys, weddings, funerals, etc… that have flowers. And I mentioned that I believed that’s how most quality local florists will stay in business. And as for the OG sites not deserving money, that’s insane. They are in the business of providing you leads. And FTD and Teleflora are also acting as your PR firm, promoting the floral industry, letting people know that they need to send flowers. You may want to give them a little more credit.

And I don’t know why you refer to Walmart as Wally, that’s just lame. But they will get into the floral space in a bigger way, and they will kick the crap out of most florist.

On to the “Boss” who says I have a “few key points completely wrong…but then only corrects one of them. I will believe you if you tell me that florists refer to these sites as “order gatherers” not “order takers”.

For the record, I’m not saying that florists shouldn’t make money. Only that they should charge the same accross the board so that everyone, especially the consumers, knows what they are paying for. And since I have written this, I have seen the amount of florists order go down a lot. The ProFlowers business model is working. Florsits are much like the Middle East, they will never overcome the problems that plauge them until they start working together in a logical way. Now that oughta get me some comments!

I’m glad some of us “talented local flowers shops” will be able to “hang on”… in fact I think many of us will grow and prosper…by the way, I don;t do weddings…nor do I fill “gathered orders”.

Thanks for the space…

You also have a marked lack of appreciation for what we lowly creechers of the food chain do.

To you. Sending, Dehydrated flowers, at best Five days from the field. Absent for the most part of refrigeration in route. Fits the bill.

The 30 bucks must be up your alley. Seems you forgot the shipping charges. You can be cheap on that too if you want a few more travel days added on.

No doubt the skill of the recipient covers the technical aspects of the how twos of re-hydrating the product. No doubt your loved ones are as half skilled in rendering that web photo as the Professional half skilled labor the likes of 1-800 flowers employes.

Forget about the 4-7 days extra we extract from re-refrigerating the product recieves after we process them. What do we know and why bother you with details.

I always wondered how the companys you refer to can really show those “pre-made” product then only ship the parts. Oh, sorry, forgot about the half skilled labor force. Wish I could find some half skilled labor that could make any of those Items fresh off the Curb.

I have to wonder if your old enough yet to have the water behind your ears dry out yet? Or if you have been married once or twice. Better yet. Even to have climbed the Ladder enough to be invited to a fancy party. Had you noticed, Wally mart really hasn’t moved into that field. Let alone other Big Box Distributiors. The direct shippers really have a hard time with that one for sure.

On the other hand. I doubt you even noticed nor cared if there were flowers at any event you attended.

I agree with you about FTD. what ever slam you gave them. Ftd only let Companys like the one you represent into the system in direct conflict with the intrests of the members and the purpose for which Florists joined. But why boor you with petty details of events that occured while you were to young to notice the positive reactions to our petty ways.

There was a time where Florists had sales that represented either 100% of the sale or 73% of the sale. But your flabbergasted that we Pesky,Ignorant people are not thankful for a generous 60% of All sales????

Florists really are developing a taste for refusing work clients like yours generate simply because there is no MONEY IN IT. So why should we work for free? Do you work for free? Try it some time. See if you like it.

It could be that, in the end, what you say will come true. When it comes time for you to punch out. I’m sure Wally will have something on the rack all set for you. I’m not talking Suits here either.

It’s OGs LIKE YOU WHO HAVE and are TRYING to ruin the local floral industry, and now you complain because the disruptive technology of direct ship threatens your little gravy train?? YOU and YOUR KIND, for far too long, have sucked the value from wire order system and put more mom ‘n pops out of business then all the direct shippers combined, but now you expect people to feel sorry for YOU when your little kingdom is threatened??

Man, enough with your crap…

- mark