WHY USING A WIRE SERVICE IS BAD BUSINESS...
**Editor's note: Information in this blog entry came from the site Florists for Change.
USING A WIRE SERVICE IN TODAYS SOCIETY IS SOOO OUT DATED ... HERE'S WHY...
We need to work together, yes we are competitors as florist, but when no one is making money except wire service then we need to evaluate. We all are in the business because we love flowers… Designing, Creating & Caring for Beautiful Arrangements, it is our chosen profession, and yes we provide a service. We like getting paid
for what we do not letting wires tell us what we are going to get.
If wecould get every florist to understand it’s a loosing proposition to accept & SEND thru the WIRE SERVICES. There is no room for bottom leach feeders for our customers sake's.
We can take the black eye away from our trade that they have given us all. Local All the Way!!!
Unfortunately customers do not understand the process of Sending thru a Wire Service. So here it goes…. I’m going to educate Everyone in the World of the unfair share of the WIRE SERVICE PIE.
The Independent Florist is sick of receiving the crumbs While the Big Wire Services eat the entire Pie…
The breakdown is the same on any amount. I’m going to base this example on a $100.00 order..
$ 100.00 (Total Order)
-25% ($25.00)
(Wire’s fee for just taking the order as the Middle Man)
$75.00 (Total the Florist Sees)
-21% ($15.75) (Fee that the wire Service charges the Florist for the Privilege of having the Order
Sent to Them)
$ 59.25
- 10.00 (Delivery Fee, Because unless you’re the Pope, no one gets delivery for free)
$49.25
- 50% (Because I & every other Florist has to make money)
$ 24.63
(Total I the Florist has to work with after all the fees are taken out)
So in reality your $100 just became $24.63
Why would any of you use a wire service at all and especially on HOLIDAY’S when you can get
100% for your money by just picking up the phone and calling a LOCAL FLORIST.
I’m sorry but I am Not in the Business to Lose Money… And by using Any Wire Service, You are making the Local Florist lose enough Money that they have to close Their Doors.
PEOPLE WAKE UP
&
SMELL THE FLOWERS…
WIRE SERVICES…BAD
LOCAL FLORIST’S…GOOD
The Wire Service has Everyone so
snowballed…
It’s so bad that even other florists send outgoing orders over the wire because they are told to… AGAIN
WAKE UP!!!
Do you like it when you lose
money, so why send out & have that Florist lose money???
THIS INDUSTRY IS SO OUT DATED.
THEY ONLY BECAME A MEGA FOURTUNE COMPANY BECAUSE AT THE TIME THERE WAS NO COMPUTERS, NO SMART PHONES, NO WAY TO GET AUNT SUSIE’S HER FLOWERS IN FLORIDA IF YOU LIVED IN PITTSBURGH WITHOUT USING THEM.
BUT GUESS WHAT PEOPLE WE LIVE IN A WORLD TODAY WHERE TECHONOLOY LIVES. WE CAN GOGGLE ANY ONE IN LIKE A SECOND SO JUST SKIP THE MIDDLE MAN GOP DIRECT AND GO LOCAL!!!
Collectively, Wire Services are fostering a negative dynamic that discourages consumers from purchasing floral products directly, and encourages them to try other forms of gift-giving. The net result is that the entire industry suffers, and we all feel the pain.
The Wire Services lack of pervasive
non-brand specific floral advertising actually lowers the intrinsic value of
our products and services by default.
The state of the retail floral industry is one of decline in both revenue and number over the last 10 years. Traditional retail florists, the so-called brick and mortar florists find themselves in an economic storm. Sales and profits have steadily declined while market share has
been lost to non-traditional floral retailers.
Why are you the consumer doing this? You work so hard for your money. Pick up a phone and call a Local Florist.
WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO KEEP DOING WHAT DOESN’T WORK ANY MORE. Florist ALL OVER THE COUNTRY ARE DROPPING THEIR WIRE SERVICES FOR A REASON.. LETS EDUCATE THE CONSUMER AND STAND UP & TAKE BACK OUR RIGHT TO CHOOSE.
CALL A LOCAL FLOIST TODAY.
AND SEND A MESSAGE TO THE
“OLD” TIMERS THAT THINGS ARE A CHANGING ;?
Joyce
5:33 pm on Wednesday, June 27, 2012
How does the local florist then send an arrangement out of state?
Cassie from CASSANDRA'S FLORALS
12:15 pm on Thursday, June 28, 2012
i google florists in the area you want to send flowers i call ask questions if i like what they say i give them the order and i pay for it by cc. see wire service (middle man) taken out. why wouldnt you want to give the florist all the money? again using a wire service is an out dated pratice and needs to be stopped.
Daniele Ventresca
12:14 am on Thursday, June 28, 2012
Aren't you supposed to give credit if you copy something directly from another person or website? Some of the above sections clearly were not written by you yet there is not a source listed for the material.
Ed M
9:04 am on Thursday, June 28, 2012
Really Daniele??????
DSA
9:12 am on Thursday, June 28, 2012
It looks like it's from: http://sassycassieguidetotheworld.blogspot.com/2012/06/why-using-wire-services-is-not-only-bad.html
These are a part of everyday business. It's not ideal, but you need them and plenty of businesses are successful while using them. Be one of those businesses. Complaining doesn't lead to more customers, putting out a great product at a fair price with a 'can-do' attitude leads to more customers. Adapt or perish. That's the life you've chosen as a small business.
Erin Faulk
9:33 am on Thursday, June 28, 2012
I am addressing this.
Cassie from CASSANDRA'S FLORALS
12:16 pm on Thursday, June 28, 2012
yes really daniele, grow up
Cassie from CASSANDRA'S FLORALS
12:23 pm on Thursday, June 28, 2012
dsa,
i was not complaning, i was stating a fact. i am sick of losing money to the wire services. this is why i no longer have any in my store & a fact is florists all over the country are following suit because they do steal from you the customer and dont even tell you. they take 25% for just redirecting the order, come on really? i do beautiful work, i give a very fair price and i think the public needs educated on how they work. did you know that is how much money i have to work with on an $100 order? no you did not. i belong to many groups and organizations who are saying the same thing. we are sick of losing money, we are sick of the wire service lying to the public & we are sick of giving away our product. like i said in todays society it will take you less time to google a shop and send an order your self than use a wire service and you'll be saving money in the process.
Cassie from CASSANDRA'S FLORALS
2:33 pm on Thursday, June 28, 2012
Ok Folks, Hold on to your Keyboards, I can admit when I make a Mistake. I didn’t realize I had accidently plagiarized in this post. What happen was this...about a month ago I had a LinkedIn comment sent to me from a group I’m in (I’m in like 50 groups)...It stated facts that I have been saying along...Ask any one of my networking groups, I have been saying these facts for about a year now. I read the comment & I thought when I do my post, I have to include this. Since the comment was from and individual and not a website/article I didn’t realize I had to post it as a resource. So My Bag. What happened was that person posted it without stating where they got it from. In reality this happens on every level of society from K – 12 grades, College & Beyond. It evens happens at the professional business level. Can you image this, maybe our self appointed patch grammar police person, should move on to a more lucrative career, calling out people on a community newsletter/website is getting old and kind of childish. On average we plagiarize daily, although a vast majority of us do it without even realizing it. (pt.1)
Cassie from CASSANDRA'S FLORALS
2:33 pm on Thursday, June 28, 2012
I came to this conclusion by reading many articles but didn’t “steal it from anyone” there are a lot of facts and numbers about who does it and when and why, but if you really read them they state we don’t even realize it when we do it. Yes there are some who do and say who cares, but for I say like 80% of Americans, (I came up with this figure myself after trying to calculate some figures) mistakes happen daily and one would hope that if it is brought to our attention it would be treated as it is a mistake. So rest assured Patch grammar police person, I will be careful from now on. But remember no one asked you to police our friendly little community site and mistakes again do happen, so maybe you might want to start a journal to keep these thoughts in, since no one really wants to hear them. And for honesty sake I had Erin add the site where the info was taken from in the first place. I hope you all have a lovely day, Cassie (pt 2)
Cassie from CASSANDRA'S FLORALS
2:35 pm on Thursday, June 28, 2012
But lets get back to whats the key focus here people...DO NOT USE THE WIRE SERVICES. THEY STEAL FROM YOU AND THEY STEAL FROM THE LOCAL FLORIST!!!! CALL A LOCAL FLORIST TODAY!!!!
Cassie from CASSANDRA'S FLORALS
8:45 pm on Thursday, June 28, 2012
People lets get back to whats the key focus here people...DO NOT USE THE WIRE SERVICES. THEY STEAL FROM YOU AND THEY STEAL FROM THE LOCAL FLORIST!!!! CALL A LOCAL FLORIST TODAY!!!!
Erin Faulk
9:39 pm on Thursday, June 28, 2012
Daniele and Cassandra, I have deleted both of your most recent comments because they both contained personal attacks. Cassandra and I discussed the issue at hand this afternoon and it has been corrected.
Let's keep the comments here geared toward the topic of the post, or a related topic. Thanks.
Ac
12:49 am on Monday, January 28, 2013
Cassandra's rant should be fact checked. Here is the correct breakdown:
$100 order
$20 or 20% goes to the sending florist or whoever generated the order.
Wire service get $7.00 or 7%
Cassandra now has $73.00 to fill the order.
Assuming Cassandra's driver is an hourly employee it costs her roughly the same amount every day to have all of her orders delivered.
Assuming Cassandra is not trying to sustain her business on inbound wire orders she could use a wire service to help her business and reach more local customers. Ideally she would capture the recipients information and market to them effectively.
So that $100 order that she received $73.00 for gave her an opportunity to reach a new customer and make an impression on them. It also gave her valuable consumer data that she can add to customer database (assuming she keeps one).
Let's get our facts straight. Cassandra may not use a wire service but nearly every other florist does. As long as you manage your wire service correctly and use it as it is intended to be used you can find your business in a more profitable situation.
There is a difference between a wire service and an Internet florist (order gatherer). Cassandra clearly does not understand this and has placed both in the same category.
Let's not misead and make sure we have facts before ranting and bashing other businesses. How would Cassandra feel if an uninformed customer gave her terrible reviews before researching all of the facts.