On a typical hospital delivery, Dennis brought our lovely vase of flowers to a woman who was recovering from surgery. She was obviously weak and could barely sit up, so Dennis, gentleman that he always is, brought the flowers close to her to inspect and read the card for her. She was delighted, but tired, of course, and asked him to find room for the flowers on table. On the table was a long cardboard box from Pro-Flowers, the drop-ship floral company. Presumably, the customer who ordered them thought the patient would enjoy putting the flowers together herself. "I don't even know who they're from, let alone what's in it," she sighed.
The next day, Dennis had a usual visit to a local funeral home to drop off our customer's sympathy flowers. As he was leaving, a Fed Ex delivery truck pulled up and a flustered driver asked Dennis where he was supposed to take a box of Pro Flowers flowers. The Fed Ex driver, more accustomed to dropping off toys and office supplies, was surprised to find himself in the middle of a funeral service. Dennis helped him find the Funeral Director who took one look at the box of pre-packaged flowers, threw his hands up in the air and exclaimed, "what am I? A florist?!" The box was addressed to a member of the deceased's family, who, we assume, was expected to put down his or her hankerchief and assemble the flowers on the spot. The family and Funeral Director were, obviously, too busy with other things and so the brown cardboard Pro-Flowers Box was left in front of the casket.
If you are reading this blog regularly you are probably NOT the typical Pro Flower customer (and for this, dear reader, I am forever grateful) so you may be unaware that Pro-Flowers advertises very inexpensive floral arrangements but then uses Fed-Ex and UPS to drop ship flowers in a directly to customers. The flowers are not cleaned, prepped or arranged in any way. This is a nice idea for recipients who understand flowers, who enjoy arranging and who maybe prefer to recycle vases they already own. It can be a nice idea but Pro-Flowers does not do a very good job of explaining the work involved for the recepient. They also don't make it clear that the flowers are delivered in an non-refridgerated truck and possibly left on a porch and exposed to the elements. Exposed to frost or heat, the tightly packed Pro-Flower blooms may wilt early, never open at all and/or never look like the lush full arrangements of their advertisements.
Seems like a waste of flowers, doesn't it?
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