Flowers insolita Blog

(from Long Islander, a local Huntington newspaper)

• A man on Otsego Avenue in Dix Hills called Suffolk police on Saturday, October 21 at 4:52 a.m. to complain about money he was missing. He told police he was eating pizza with his nephew and discovered that $150 was missing from the kitchen table after his nephew left.
• A homeowner on Pineridge Drive in Melville called Suffolk police on Sunday, October 22 at 7:20 a.m. to report an unknown male looking through the garbage, possibly for cans for deposit refunds. The man was gone when police arrived.
• A man from Hemingway Drive in Melville called police on Saturday, October 21 at 10:49 a.m. to report that his son went to the front of the house from the rear of the house and could not open the door. The caller opened the door for his son and let him in. No police action was required.
• A homeowner on Romeo Lane in Commack called Suffolk police on Friday, October 20 at 3:41 p.m. about an unknown male soliciting house alarm systems. The caller told police that the alarm salesman was very persistent. Police advised the salesman, who represented a company called Firstline Security, not to be so persistent.
• A homeowner on Bellerose Avenue in East Northport called Suffolk police on Saturday, October 21, at 9:09 a.m. to report an ongoing property line dispute with his next-door neighbor. The caller also said that there were parking issues that the two have been fighting over. Police noted that all issues with the neighbors are currently in litigation.
• A woman called Suffolk County Police on Friday, October 20, at 3:04 p.m. to report that a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt began screaming at her, accusing her of almost striking him as she turned onto Evert Street in Huntington Station. The man fled before police arrived.
• Suffolk police responded to a noise complaint on Saturday, October 21 at 12:47 p.m. on Main Street in Huntington. The complainant reported that someone was using a jackhammer behind an adjacent wall, causing noise and some equipment in his store to fall apart. A building inspector from the Town of Huntington investigated and determined that the work would have to continue.

Hmm… Looks like they (Police) have been very busy these days.

It is an open secret in the florist industry that some florists pay “commission” to the funeral directors who refer their clients to the florists. While many funeral directors are not engaged in such practice, some are.

At Flowers insolita, we do not pay such commission. Although opinions may vary, we believe that this “commission” system is at least unethical. We would want the business, not based on how much kickback we pay, but rather because of our quality work and trust from funeral directors.

• Flower Buzz in W. St. Paul, MN
• Canada Florist Flowers

Basic facts about “(Flower) Order Gatherers”

“Order Gatherers” are the companies that advertise themselves as “Florists” on the Internet or local Yellowpage. They take flower orders through their websites or over the phone, which they subsequently wire out to the real florists in the destination city.

Perhaps the best known examples are 1-800-flowers.com and FTD.com, while there are hundreds, if not thousands, flower dot-com sites all over the Internet.

How do they make money? At least two ways. They earn:

1. So-called “Service fee” from the customer (which is usually about $10)
2. 20% commission from the florist to whom they send the order
3. In addition, some Order Gatherers further “skim” the order to steal additional markup (see “Example of Order Gathering…” in this blog)

While some “Order gatherers” are real florists, most are not florists.

Our store hour is now 9 am – 3 pm, Mon-Sat.  Thank you.

Here’s a video of beautiful lotus bloom.

This is a video of flower arranger in Vietnam.

This is not a flower video, but I like these songs.

Song from secret garden.
Nocturne.

Let’s say you want to order Sunflowers. You type in “Flower delivery” in Google and find flowerdelivery.com, which is one of many, many web sites run by JustFlowers.

You look for Sunflowers and here’s what you might like. A bit pricey, but the arrangement looks good for the money, if that’s what you will get (which you won’t as we will show below).

Now they say that’s $59.99. But if you click on a tiny link (pricing info), you will discover this disclaimer.

That’s right. The $59.99 “may” include what they call “handling fee.” In plain English, you won’t get $59.99 worth of flowers. Hmmm… whatever. Most people don’t really understand what this means anyway. They don’t want you to understand. So you just go on to checkout.

OK, let’s look at the final checkout screen. Look very very closely, before clicking on “Place Your Order.”

First, they added what they call “shipping and service fee” of $9.99. The total is now almost $70, not $59.99. Most Internet “florist” sites will charge this rip-off fee (we don’t).

Second, they devalued $7.20 from the value of flowers as “handling fee”, so the value of your Sunflower is now $52.79.

You know, Internet “florists” don’t make/deliver your flowers. They are telemarketers; they just send out this order to a real florist who fills the order for them. The amount they will transfer is $52.79, not $70 you paid. They just pocketed $9.99 “Service fee” and $7.20 “Handling fee” from your money. That’s their business, folks.

The florist who actually makes this arrangement is allowed to further subtract their delivery charge, a fact that JustFlowers chose not to disclose. The average delivery charge is about $7. This is not a rip off. The filling florists are allowed to deduct our delivery charge from the money we receive from another florist or a middleman.

Thus, after all those fees and charges, the money left for Sunflowers will be only about $45. That’s right. Imagine that, you pay $70 and get $45 flowers!

With only $45 left, our professional opinion is that it is highly unlikely that recipient of your Sunflowers will get the gorgeous 12+ Sunflowers shown in the picture. Instead, s/he will get probably only 6-8 stems depending on the season and locality. The scariest part is that, you most likely won’t find out about the smaller Sunflower arrangement, because you are sending it to someone else and you won’t see it yourself. Most recipients of gifts will say “How nice” to you as a matter of courtesy.

We at Flowers insolita believe this is a terrible, terrible deception that’s hurting our industry.

If you call a local, real florist, you will not be cheated like this. Please don’t go through a middle man. Go to Yahoo-local or Google-local instead, and look for local florists. Alternatively, you can just call us. We can take your order and send it to anywhere in the world, at no service charge.

Today is a very difficult day for me. I have to say good bye to my co-worker Danielle. I will miss her tremendously. She has been a true joy to work with. She ALWAYS could make me smile and laugh no matter how bad things got. She is a one in a million person no matter who she is in contact with she always makes that person feel special. I know I will still see her and talk to her, but work won’t be quite the same. It will be TOOOOOOOOOOO quiet.

GOOD LUCK AND MUCH SUCCESS IN YOUR NEW POSITION.

I KNOW YOU’LL DO GREAT! ( yes Danielle I am yelling)

love ya,

Lori

Gulf Daily News (The Voice of Bahrain) Oct 19th 2006

By Sara Sami

A FLORIST who allegedly beat a competitor with a shovel for talking to one of his customers, has been arrested.

The 26-year-old Indian is accused of attacking another florist who came into the shop where he works, in Isa Town, said a Public Prosecution spokesman.

He reportedly accused the other man, also from India, of trying to steal his business.

However, he has denied the allegation and claimed he accidentally hit the neighbouring florist with the shovel when he was closing the door.

The alleged victim claimed he was attacked when he entered the shop of the accused and greeted a customer.

“He got angry and thought I wanted to take away his business when I said ‘hi’ to the customer in his shop,” he said.

“He hit me on the head with a shovel once the customer left.”

The accused has been charged with assault and staying in the country illegally. He has been detained for seven days until his case is taken to court.

source

Well, that will work… :-)

Ikebana Video 1

Ikebana Video 2

Beautiful!

• Production of Alstromeria is tightening and prices rising.
• Because of “All Saints Day” in European market, there will be a huge demand for Red and non-Red carnations for the next two weeks. Their availabilities in the US will tighten.
• Orange Calla Lilies are in extremely high demand and their prices too high to be for everyday use.
• Delphiniums are in short supply due to the rain in Calfornia.
• Colorful fall foliages and fall-color fillers are just starting to come into the market.