On June 1st, FTD will roll out new charges for flower shops that do not promptly reject orders - charging as much as $20 for a florist to reject an order! Yet another blow to the harried, underpaid florist.
On its FAQ page, FTD couches this in terms of the benefit to the fulfilling florist: “The goal of the Delayed Response Program is to increase the level of quality in the industry by proactively asking for quicker response times from our network of filling florists.”

So when do rejected orders happen most often? It is during busy holiday seasons like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, when FTD is advertising unreasonably priced items. Florists are too busy to check orders every thirty minutes to see if they entail reasonable pricing. Make no mistake, the burden should be on the order gatherers like FTD and Teleflora to offer reasonable pricing and ensure that fulfilling florists actually deliver to a given area.

Below is the pricing penalty structure from FTD’s website. Still more evidence that FTD is succeeding in squeezing the margins of local florist.

When you buy the latest Harry Potter bestseller on Amazon, you know the intimate details of the order process, from the day and time it leaves the warehouse to the exact moment it is hand-delivered by FedEx at your door. So why isn’t it the same for the flower business?

Actually it should be. Why do Amazon and FedEx offer this service to customers to update them on the status of their order?

1. Because it is a good way to advertise their brand.

2. Because it’s good customer experience.

3. Because it stops customers from calling to check up on their order.

So why don’t florists do the same? Well most of them are not set up on the scale of an Amazon or FedEx, so they don’t have the tools to give customers the same kind of experience that the big guys do. But the reality is that it’s not so difficult to offer this kind of service if you are set up with the right ecommerce infrastructure.

The advantages of keeping customers informed about their purchases are clear. Florists can use these tools to give their customers a better experiece - which will bring them back a second time. Update emails serve as free advertising. And, especially at busy times like Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day, these emails can stop the customer from calling in to check on a delivery - and prevent the prospective customer from getting a busy signal rather than a live person.