The first thing to understand here is "Supply and demand".
At Valentine's Day, roses are in demand. The supply is somewhat limited. Retail florists have to place their orders well in advance so that growers, wholesalers, & brokers know how many roses to supply. Roses are by far the most in demand flower for V Day, no matter how hard florists try to encourage their customers to buy something different. The growers take this opportunity to raise the price for their roses because they know that retail florists will pay their price in order to get their product and, in turn, sell the roses to their customers who are demanding the roses.
Let me say one thing in defense of the rose growers- they do work very, very hard to time their crops so that there are enough roses to cut in time for V Day. It takes a lot of planning and a lot of people working together to get all those roses where they need to go on time.
I hope you are starting to understand that retail florists have no choice but to raise their price on roses on Valentine's Day. Otherwise the florist would take a loss and there is no point to being in business if you take a loss.
Roses are deemed the most romantic flower choice for V Day. More women expect to get roses than any other flower and most men don't even consider buying their gal anything but a rose. If women wished for a different flower such as tulips, gerbera daisies, or lilies, and made that desire known to their significant other, then perhaps the demand for roses would eventually shrink and so would the price. Unfortunately, I don't think that will ever happen!!
Now, to that other burning question-Why do roses cost less at mass marketers?
There are three grades of cut roses- the first being the mass marketer cut, the second being the cut used by retail florists. The third cut doesn't matter in this particular story.
The mass marketer cut is made when the roses are still in tighter bud and the stem length is short. The next cut is made at a later time, so the rose is not as tight a bud, has more petals, and has a longer stem length. The first cut naturally costs less than the later cut. The first cut roses do not last as long because of having fewer petals and shorter stems. All this means that a rose that is sold to you by a professional florist will last longer because of the better quality rose, will be a bigger rose, will look prettier because it has been arranged by a professional floral designer, and will be delivered to your loved one, if you desire. Would you rather buy a rose at the store that changes the oil in your car, sells cans of beans and DVDs, or would you rather buy a rose from a trained professional who took proper care of your rose because that's what they DO!
Please let me warn you that you will be a much happier consumer if you steer clear of on line flower ads for flower arrangements. Many of these "dot com" companies are order gatherers- not florists. The price may sound great, but you will probably pay a big service fee and a delivery fee. Especially watch out for the ones who say "free vase" is included. Order that bouquet of roses and your girlfriend will find a cardboard box on her doorstep with unarranged, dry flowers with that free vase packed beside it. And it will probably not arrive when you expected. Sound like a romantic Valentine's Day?
Your best results when buying flowers for that special someone on Valentine's Day will come from calling a professional, local florist. Best quality and best service will be found when you trust your local florist with your Valentine's Day flower order.
No comments:
Post a Comment