Budget tip for ordering flowers

[bettymae1121]

Since Mother's Day is this weekend, I wanted to post a money saving tip about ordering flowers.

Instead of ordering from FTD's, TeleFlower, etc. websites and paying their service fee...just find a local florist near where the recipiant lives and save the fee! Not only do you not have to pay FTD's (or whoever's) fee but often the same arrangement has a lower price too!

For example, I live in IL, and MIL lives in PA. I Googled to look for a florist in her town, and ordered direct from THEIR website. The same arrangement that was on FTD's site for $39.99 I got for only $28.99. FTD's total price with fees/tax was $58.98, I paid $39.21 directly to the florist. That's a savings of $19.77!!!!

 

[Califgirl]

I totally agree with this. And if you're ordering flowers for a local delivery, I especially recommend using a local florist. At Christmas, my DH ordered floral centerpieces for me and his DM who lives in a neighboring town from a big online 'flower company'. When the flowers came, he said, "That's not what I ordered!" It was the 'same' centerpiece but the smallest version, and he ordered the largest version. He could tell right away. So I called the delivering florist and had them redeliver the correct order. They took the smaller one back. If we hadn't seen it, the recipient would never have known. The same thing happened to my MIL's centerpiece and we had that redelivered too. We'll never use the delivering florist, but instead will forge a relationship with a different local florist for our local needs. And, no more online flower companies for us!

 

[JackJack08]

Been in the floral industry 25 years.....good idea!

Better yet CALL direct (yes-gasp) and actually talk to someone at the floral shoppe. A lot of times, they have in-store specials which are a far better value, than the FTD/Teleflora specials!

 

[mrs.sammich]

I spent years working in my 'grandparents' shop. I highly recommend calling the local shop in the delivery area. They all offer the basics, but talking to the shop allows you to customize something special. If you're gonna put forth the effort to make the call and order flowers, make it something they'll remember even more. Lots of florist will go that extra mile to keep you coming back to them. Most offer so much more than just cut flowers too.

 

[disneygirl 17]

I have always done this as well. It is a great savings.

 

[Smile4Me]

Just did this yesterday for my mom for Mother's Day! I'm in WI and she's in TX. Easily saved $15! Love the hometown florist! In fact my dad has an account there, and they asked if I wanted to just bill the account but I told them thats ok I'd pay for it then. Good tip!

 

[Minnesota!]

I tried to do this for my mom last week. She lives in the middle of no where, so even the closest florist delivery would be about 15 miles.

Anyway, the arrangements are more expensive at her "local" florist, but the delivery fee lower. Where as 1-800-Flowers was vice versa. And I had a coupon code for the 1-800...plus I used Ebates. So I actually saved a good chunk going with the mass marketed florist vs local..

 

[WeDisney4]

I wish this would work for us. I've tried the local call several times w/ different Grandmothers & after being disappinted too many times I decided to only go a route where I could actually see what we were ordering. Otherwise it semmed that we got whatever cheapie leftovers the florist could put together.

 

[bettymae1121]

I wish this would work for us. I've tried the local call several times w/ different Grandmothers & after being disappinted too many times I decided to only go a route where I could actually see what we were ordering. Otherwise it semmed that we got whatever cheapie leftovers the florist could put together.

Hate to disapoint you, but you don't always get what you see at FTD's website either. If the local florist doesn't have those exact flowers in stock, they are free to substitute (though they are supposed to put in something of equal value). I've had that happen a bunch of times before I started ordering direct from the local florist. I'd order my mother flowers, and she call and tell me how beautiful they were, and describe something totally different from what I ordered! She was happy and what she described sounded about equal to what I paid, but it was still anoying (though I never let on to my mom!).

 

[ceecee]

The girl's at my office sent me flowers when I got home from the hospital and the "local" florist charged $9.95 to deliver them to me, less than 1 mile!

 

[Pixieflip]

We always order a corsage for my out of town MIL to wear to church. The first couple of years it cost around $45 to have it created and delivered!! Then we had more kids, budget got tight and I had to come up with an alternative. Not only do I call the florist directly, but my FIL is more than willing to stop by and pick it up for me!!! Now costs less than $15!

Speaking of which...I need to get that ordered today.

 

[undertheradar]

Another thing is to order for 3 or 4 days after the holiday. Prices go down and the florists are less rushed.

 

[WeDisney4]

We always order a corsage for my out of town MIL to wear to church. The first couple of years it cost around $45 to have it created and delivered!! Then we had more kids, budget got tight and I had to come up with an alternative. Not only do I call the florist directly, but my FIL is more than willing to stop by and pick it up for me!!! Now costs less than $15!

Speaking of which...I need to get that ordered today.

WoW Cindy!! This is what I love about the boards!! I'm going to order 4 toaday! Thanks so much!

 

[CLEO Z]

When ordering flowers, I always call the local florist using google in my mother & MIL's towns.Then I tell them that I want X dollars worth of flowers and tell the florist to pick out whatever is fresh and pretty. For my MIL I tell that she is artsy and likes bold, different things. For my mom, I tell them somthing "spring like." Everytime my mom and MIL GUSH about their beautiful flowers and email me photos. Many times I'm talking to the actual florist and they get very tickled to get to go with what they think works -esp when they have to do so much canned stuff. This hasn't failed me yet. My mom lives in a town of 65,000 and MIL lives in a tiny town of only 2400. My plan might not work in a huge town.

 

[Pixieflip]

Just got off the phone with the florist and it's all set. FIL can pick it up anytime after noon on Saturday! Yeah! I spend $20.99 on a 3 rose wrist corsage, no wiring fee, no delivery fee. She will be so happy.

I did call the grocery store florist who I usually use and they said they have no way to take my cc over the phone. What's up with that? I had money to give them and the wouldn't take it. Oh well. A nice little flower shop around the corner got my business instead.