Florist News

Has anyone ever used this company or heard anything about them?

Head office in Ontario Canada; sells mainly in to Canada and US with mostly SA product but recently added Dutch I believe. I haven't used them in a year and a half because of shipping problems (I'm in Newfoundland) and claims.
Are you in the UK?

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www.Atkinson-Flowers.com

Yes I'm in the UK.

I'd never heard of them but I got a mailer from them recently and opened the free account to have a look at what they do, the quantities are quite large but seem very cheap.
I'm always a bit worried about things that seem to good or cheap to be true so I thought I'd see if anyone else had had any dealings with them.

Elaine

Elaine,
Buying from flowerbuyer CAN be good BUT also CAN be bad! There are hundreds of farms selling product through flowerbuyer and you have to know who to buy from and who to avoid.

Another florist here in Newfoundland buys weekly through flowerbuyer and instead of using the usual process of buying / shipping set up for Canadian florists he ships direct from Florida (where most shipments arrive for North America) in bond to St John's and he saves money but on small shipments you cannot save enough to compensate for the various import handling costs and possibility of having them bumped at some air freight terminal between.

There are flights from Miami, Florida to Heathrow so you might be able to arrange flowerbuyer shipments BUT you have to do your homework re what farms, flight schedules, import restrictions, costs etc. If you would only buy a half dozen cases a week it probably would not save you enough.

Hugh

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www.Atkinson-Flowers.com

Hi Hugh

They are charging a flat fee of ?55.70 delivery per order, I think you're right though about it not being cost effective for the quantity i'd need, and also it could be quite expensive trying to determine whos best to buy from especialy as I can't buy a small amount to try them out. Thanks for replying, I think i'll stick to the two markets I use and try to find a decent dutch delivery.

Thanks again
Elaine

Elaine,

Only 55 pounds per shipment! Wow! I pay more than that for air courier for 1 box (probably dbl size) from Toronto Ont to us overnight!

Just to give you an idea how we get our flowers - we have a broker who deals with various farms in SA. We place standing orders with the farms through them and they arrange to get our flowers to us.
Our flowers arrive in Miami, Florida via air then to their cooling centre, to their refrigerated trucks to Toronto, Ont (abt 35 hrs) to their cooling facility in Toronto (actually to Mississauga next to Toronto airport) then via air to us for next day delivery.
Flowerbuyer would work essentially the same way for us but the problem for us was for credits because of where we are. If there were quality problems there was usually little problem getting credit for the bad flowers BUT I would still have to pay the air freight from Toronto to me and that is usually substantial so even though I got credit for the flowers I had to cover the freight and obviously couldn't sell them as they were DOA!

If you're buying case lot quantities of 150 stems of 60 cm roses as they offer or 350 stems carns etc etc then it should be worth your while BUT the price they quote you may be higher because they may build some freight in and then charge you the 55 pounds, I don't know. You also have to consider how they'll be delivered to you and how long they'll be unrefrigerated along the way.

I've noticed comments that some florists don't keep their flowers cold. COLD is essential to get flowers to last. Our cooler is about 3 to 4 degrees Celcius and it really makes a difference. We cold hydrate and keep cold until the flowers are arranged and delivered.

I feel that our number one priority should be quality. Once you've determined what various suppliers have proper handling procedures then work on price.
I don't know enough about what sources shops have in the UK or what you pay so it's hard to make any kind of assumptions whetehr it's worth your while to buy all case lots. If you try them out don't do it on a holiday!

My wife and I are visiting the UK next year so we'll definitely be visiting some shops then.


Hugh

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www.Atkinson-Flowers.com