This isn't wedding related, but it's important enough to the floral industry to mention here.
FTD's press release reads, in part:
The lawsuit states that ProFlowers claims that "flowers are picked the day before - or sometimes the day of - the order, and are then shipped direct to the customer with no middlemen involved," are false and misleading. The lawsuit also asserts that ProFlowers misleads consumers by stating that its flowers are "shipped direct [or fresh, or straight] from the fields, bypassing middlemen, extended stays in refrigerators or warehouses before they reach your doorstep."
...
Rather, in documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, ProFlowers discloses that:
- it owns a refrigerated warehouse in Miami, where it often stores many of its flowers before they are sent to consumers;
- that it uses at least five other refrigerated warehouses around the country, owned by third-parties, where flowers are often stored before they are sent to consumers; and
- that it actually keeps flowers in inventory, especially at busy holiday times, meaning they are not cut to order as said in many of ProFlowers' advertisements.
ProFlowers has made the claim over the years that their flowers are cut at the time of your order, and shipped directly from the growers. We've known this to be total B.S. all this time, so it's good to see this brought to the forefront.
In actuality, ProFlowers' flowers are flown from South American growers, into Miami. Here, the flowers are stored in large cooler and orders are packed in a long assembly line process. The orders are then trucked to other warehouses around the country, spending 1-5 days in a refrigerated vehicle. FedEx or UPS picks up the shipments from ProFlower's warehouses, and transports them to their final destinations, with orders spending 1-2 days in unrefrigerated vehicles. When FedEx or UPS makes final delivery, they can (and do) leave the order at the recipient's door. Not such a good thing if you're in Arizona in the summer, or Pennsylvania in the winter. By the time the flowers reach the recipient, they are 3-7 days off the plant, spending all of that time out of water, and some of that time in unrefrigerated vehicles.
In contrast, our South American flowers are flown into Miami, where they are cross-docked and flown to airports around the country on commercial flights. From the airports, local trucking companies or the wholesalers themselves bring the flowers to the wholesale houses. The more tender flowers are cut and placed in water, and all are placed in large coolers. The wholesalers then pick and pack our orders, and make delivery that day or the next. We receive the flowers, inspect them, cut and hydrate them in a nutrient solution and place them in our coolers. Afternoon deliveries often conatin flowers that are 3 days off the plant, transported in cooled vehicles, properly hydrated, and placed directly in the hands of a human. In the case of our Holland and Canadian flowers, we receive them direct overnight, where the have been off the plant about 24 hours.
Now, not every arrangement is made with flowers at their peak. The flowers for your bridal bouquet, for instance, are usually received in our shop on Tuesday. This allows us to let them open to perfection (who wants a bouquet of tight rose buds?), and make sure we choose only the most perfect flowers for your wedding. Even daily arrangements are made with flowers that can be 5 days old. These are usually flowers such as carnations and daisies, which are pretty hardy. Scientific studies have shown that several days time makes little difference in the vase life of of flowers when held at the temperature of our coolers (a chilly 36 degrees) and with proper hydration. The worst thing to happen to flowers on their way to the recipient is to let them get warm without proper hydration, which ProFlowers does not do (remember those warehouses and FedEx trucks above?). Professional florists are well trained and keep current on proper care and handling techniques, and we strive to maintain the highest quality.
You can read FTD's press release at http://www.ftdi.com/pressroom/082405.htm, which contains a link to the full filing. Business 2.0 covered ProFlowers' delivery chain (albeit with a very positive spin) recently, at http://www.business2.com/b2/web/articles/0,17863,1047683,00.html.
We hope you don't mind the interruption of our usual wedding coverage. We'll return to that in our next post.