Florist News

there thieving bastardsIf we all boycotted the wholesaler next week and all went to asda/tescos and bought all our stock that would stuff them
My asda has in today 3 stems stargazers with leaves 2.99, so im going on mon/am 2 see if theve got as wholesalers bunch lilliesx3 are 4.95exactly the same

Who did you get your stock from Pat?
Amanda I am 100% behind you if you can get the cost of stock down. It is crippling, the prices they charge up here
I know I fly in the face of everyone on here, but you can't really blame the customer when you see what the supermarkets are charging and what we are charging out of necessity. Our orientals atre stunning on beautiful long long stems, but they cut them off anyway, most folk only have normal medium sized vases. The general public don't have an artistic eye or any idea about arranging flowers in a creative manner, they simply want to plonk them in a vase to look pretty on their window ledge so our floristry talents are wasted on the majority of them.
It all comes down to how we can survive and thrive in the combat against supermarkets and our wholesalers, otherwise we are on a hiding to nothing.
I am not disputong that our talents are unsurpassed in certain areas like funerals and weddings, but the bread and butter is bq and arrangements and they have got us in a corner and all we can do is gnash our teeth and wail "wo is me". So what do we do .Ideas very appreciated

Well I have dealt with the worst wholesalers there are up here but I have also dealth with the best.

Mu current wholesaler would go sooo far out of way to help me. His prices are significantly ( sorry bad spelling!! ) lower that those of Pats and my sometimes wholesaler (Z). The quality is far superior and I have never once in my 5 years of knowing him had a problem. Pat can back me up on that one. The only stinger in the tail is that he's 300 miles away

Celticlass, ive been trying for years to get my wholesaler to open a unit further north but he's not interested unfortunately. Where about are you?

Ive always said that once i'd finished with the shop I would like to go into the wholesale side of the industry. Never thought of actually opening one of my own but you never know

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www.AmandasFlorist.co.uk

"The secret of creativity is knowing how to hide your sources" - Albert Einstein.

Easy tiger!!!!

I am not going to get too annoyed by this post as its obviously meant to try and get a reaction.

I'm a thieving bastard?

Tesco's and any other large supermarket buy "off auction" and secure deals with growers and even farms with exclusivity deals to stop the growers putting things through the auction.

If anyone wants to phone me for a test log-on code for my auction buying system you can see the horrific prices we are dealing with on the auction.

This kind of nonsense being spurted by ill informed people is giving the trade a bad name, we should all be trying to beat the supermarkets not fighting between ourselves.

I can go to a supermarket and buy flowers cheaper than the auction but thats just giving them even more buying power, so knock yourselves out, go on, give all your hard earned cash to them and next year they will be selling them even cheaper............

If your wholesalers are screwing you then go somewhere else but please don't tar us all with the same brush or start throwing comments like thieving bastards around when you have no idea what your talking about.

Pete

p.s..

I'm no keyboard warrior so if anyone wants a conversation with me in person then just call 0131 538 5799.

Hope you all have a great Valentines and stick it up all the supermarkets

Wow, so there you have it.... well defended Pete. Is there not a government thing where shops have licence to sell certain items, e.g. a hair dresser cannot sell tins of beans. Something about the products you sell like booze laws and alike. Can anyone help...? Cos I am fed up with ppl telling me I am too expensive, and there off to efin Asda.

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Good point but i'm sure that the general public do not see the bigger picture and think its only good for the consumer, they do not understand the wider implications of bulk buying and trying to squeeze suppliers.

I actually feel a bit sorry for the farms they deal with as they are getting paid so little but guaranteed a sale so always cave in. Also if the farms used the auctions like everyone else there would be more flowers going through so prices for you and I would be a bit cheaper too.

Totally agree with wht you say Pete.
I used to buy Prices candles, and my order for the tealights in 50's were supposed to be at the highest discount level.
Morrisons got them in, and were selling them £1-50 cheaper than I was buying direct from Prices. Of course I had words, Prices said they were paying the same as me. I then said sod it and bought all the stock Morrisons had in.
The buying power they have lets them dictate what price they are going to pay.They screw the farmers in the same way, as anyone married to a farmer will tell you. Milk, sheep,beef cattle. All rock bottom prices, and top dollar when it goes on the shelves
Like the fairtrade stuff, ''oh we pay 8% extra for FT goods, '' but 8% of bugger all is bugger all and still making them money.
Joe Public is still very uneducatedwhere business is concerned.
Asda used to be able to restock a whole store, and sell everything twice and THEN pay for the first lot.

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www.floralpride.co.uk

So true, I used to sell to them but when they were squeezing me for retainers for the right to sell and then sending back stuff that was allegedly "off" when it didn't sell so I told them to stuff it.

They are ruthless beyond belief and as you say ask anyone who has had any dealing with the majors and its not a nice experience.

And I agree 8% of SFA is SFA but they still want to squeeze that extra percent out the man who sweats and toils to get it on the shelves..

AAAGgggggghhhh!!!!!

Shall I stop ranting now lol.

And breath....

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www.AmandasFlorist.co.uk

"The secret of creativity is knowing how to hide your sources" - Albert Einstein.

Who did you get your stock from Pat?
I have ordered from Edinburgh, as Z prices are out of this world for me...and I could not order so far in advance that they wanted, my crystal ball is a bit cloudy just now so I cannot see what is going to come in the door
I would order all the time from Edinburgh but I like to be able to see what I am buying, I have never had a problem with what I buy from them. I also like to get to Glasgow C/B I like to wander round the VF section they always have a good bargain. Its just that we are so limited up here (I would not live anywhere else) and have to pay the price for that. My orientals I bought yesterday were not best quality supposed to be 8 heads on 3 stems two lost at bottom of each What area are you in Moneypenny that the florist van bought all the flowers? I think I will have to go to Tesco this evening for some basic supplies.
Pat can back me up on that one. The only stinger in the tail is that he's 300 miles away (quote)
I sure can