26 



The Florists^ Review 



April 20. 1922 



writes on the subject of steamer orders 

 as follows: 



"If florists whe send orders would 

 be careful at all times to obtain the full 

 initials of the recipient, it would make 

 things easier all around. One must re- 

 member that the average transatlantic 

 liner of today is a huge floating hotel, 

 in which there may be several Smiths, 

 Joneses, etc. The above suggestion 

 would greatly help the stewards, who 

 have the final delivery of steamer or- 

 ders, to make a much quicker disposal 

 of them to the right persons. 



"Then, again, much time would be 

 saved if the name of the steamship line 

 were always given, as well as the boat. 

 We all know whether such interjiatiou- 

 ally known and famous liners as the 

 Olympic, Aquitania or Mauretania be- 

 long to the White Star or the Cunard 

 line, but today there are hundreds of 

 smaller boats plying to little known 

 ports, such as those of South America. 

 When an order comes in at the last min- 

 ute for a certain steamer — which may 

 sail from New York, Brooklyn or a New 

 Jersey port — and the name of the line 

 is not given, the shipping department 

 has to do quite some hustling to find 

 out where this particular boat docks. 

 I would, therefore, suggest that florists 

 try to get this information, which would 

 greatly help their seaport brethren." 



The statements above suggest that 

 care, accuracy and consideration are 

 essential to insure safety in delivery. 

 , The lessons included are briefly: 



The sending florist should aim to get 

 his instructions to the seaport florist in 

 plenty of time. 



He should send the full name of the 

 customer, with the proper initials, be- 

 cause there are many of the same name 

 who may be sailing coincidentally. 



He should obtain and send the exact 

 name of the steamer and of the line, as 

 well as the date of departure. 



In brief, the sender should make his 

 instructions as specific and complete as 

 possible. Correctness goes far in elim- 

 inating the possibility of error. 



Verify Customers' Information. 



It is well to remember that the cus- 

 tomer who orders flowers for delivery to 

 a steamer may be mistaken as to the 

 sailing date, the name of the steamer. 

 the name of the line, or some other 

 point. Therefore, when a customer 

 comes into the store and says, ' ' I 

 should like to have you get a l)ouquet 

 to Miss So-and-so, who will sail from 

 New York on the Marco Polo, May 6," 

 the alert florist will at once refer to 

 the list of steamer sailings in the Pink 

 Part of The Review and see if the date 

 of sailing is correct. By this immediate 

 reference, a possible error can be 

 straightened out with the customer at 

 once. 



The florist inland who receives tele- 

 graph orders from other cities for ho- 

 tel guests and hospital patients has 

 troubles to an oversufficiency — with 

 guests not arrived, or else departed, 

 with wrong addresses, with inconsider- 

 ate hotel clerks and bell boys, with 

 careless hotel managers, thoughtless 

 nurses, etc. — but still more troubles de- 

 scend upon the heads of those who re- 

 ceive orders for flowers to be put 'on 

 outgoing vessels for passengers about 

 to sail. Indeed, it is quite surprising 

 that, under the circumstances, so few 

 orders miscarry. A prominent New 

 York florist estimates the iiUTnlier of 



such mishaps as two per cent of the 

 total number of orders. Before the war, 

 he says, they amounted to less than one 

 per cent. Logically, with the disturb- 

 ing effects of the war still mingling 

 with commerce, the florist must take 

 especial precautions. 



Suppose, for instance, that a New 

 York florist receives the following tele- 

 gram from a Pittsburgh retailer: "De- 

 liver fifteen-dollar corsage, roses, val- 

 ley, to Miss So-and-so, sailing steamer 

 Marco Polo, May 6.'^ This is an ex- 

 plicit message as far as it goes, but to 

 the alert New Yorker the following in- 

 terrogations at once arise: What line? 

 Where sailing? What time of day? 

 Does she sail May 6? Will Miss So- 

 and-so be on the boat for a certainty? 

 Is the sailing postponed for any reason? 

 Can I get a receipt from the purser for 

 the flowers delivered? 



Regarding the last interrogation, ref- 

 erence to the line supplies the answer. 

 But possibly, after he learns the line, 

 the dock and the sailing hour — from 

 information on hand or by telephone 

 c.all^ — there may be doubt that the ad- 

 dressee is to sail as a passenger on the 

 vessel named. To learn this, it is neces- 

 sary to send a messenger to examine the 

 passenger list at the steamship line's 



office. Suppose he finds that Mis8 So- 

 and-so is not listed? A journey to the 

 offices of the other steamship compa- 

 nies may disclose that she is to go on 

 the North Pole, and not the Marco 

 Pole. If she is on the latter, however, 

 and the number of her stateroom is as- 

 certained, there is reasonable certainty 

 that the flowers will reach her properly 

 and expeditiously. All this verification, 

 briefly stated here, but sometimes a 

 long and laborious task, can be done if 

 a. steamer order is' received in time. 

 On a last-minute order, however, the 

 flowers must be rushed to the steamer 

 named in the telegram and the chance 

 taken that no error has been made. 



Individual florists at the ports each 

 have their own methods of procedure; 

 the foregoing is merely to point out 

 what chances there are for error and 

 the necessity for care in sending orders. 

 As much care as possible on the part of 

 all persons concerned is necessary to 

 keep the number of errors to the mini- 

 mum. The continued growth of the 

 telegraph delivery business, for bon 

 voyage flowers and others, depends upon 

 its absolute reliability. We must not 

 fail our customers or the brother flo- 

 rist's customers, who are, after all, also 

 ours. 



SMALL TOWN FLORIST'S WAYS. 



To Build Big Business. 



The florist who is located in a small 

 country town has two courses open to 

 him. One is to rest content with the 

 business which normally comes to him, 

 being reasonably sure that there is no 

 room for a competitor to develop such 

 strength as to be able to take his busi- 

 ,ness away from him. The other course 

 is to develop business not only in his 

 own town but in the country round 

 about. Persons who come from the 

 country immediately adjacent will pur- 

 cliase direct. Those in neighboring 

 towns can be made customers through 

 local agents. 



The agency business has been de- 

 veloped by some florists to an elaborate 

 extent, chiefly in unsettled districts of 

 the country. By far the largest part 

 of the agency business, however, is con- 

 fined to funeral orders. Undertakers are 

 favored as agents for this reason. But 

 there is no question that the agency 

 business can be made something more 

 than taking orders for funerals. There 

 are many other occasions for the pur- 

 chase of flowers, which have been de- 

 veloped to their largest degree in the 

 cities. In the country, as well, Thanks- 

 giving, Christmas, Easter, Mothers' day 

 and Memorial day could be celebrated to 

 a much larger extent with flowers if the 

 florist in the small town would develop 

 this business as he could. 



An instance of how this has been 

 done might be given in the case of the 

 firm of Joseph Bancroft & Son, at Cedar 

 Falls, la. Cedar Falls, la., has a popula- 

 tion of 8,000 inhabitants. It has, in 

 •iddition, a normal school, the Iowa State 

 Teachers' College, at which are from 

 1.700 to 2,600 students, according to the 

 season. Between the citizens of the 



town and the faculty and the students of 

 the college, a fair florists' business could 

 be supported. But if it had relied on 

 this section of business alone, the firm of 

 .Joseph Bancroft & Son would not be so 

 large or so widely known among the 

 trade as it is today. 



Well Directed Advertising. 



The basis of the business so built up 

 l»y Joseph Bancroft & Son has been con- 

 stant and well directed publicity at all 

 seasons of the year, supported, of course, 

 hy a well organized staff of agents. For 

 each of the special holidays during the 

 year Bancroft & Son send out a large 

 sheet, from twelve to fourteen inches 

 wide and sixteen to eighteen inches 

 long, on which are illustrations of sea- 

 sonable flowers and quotations of prices 

 on these and other flowers and plants 

 available, with particular mention of 

 those items which are to be featured at 

 the time the sheet is issued. In addi- 

 tion to the price lists sent out to agents 

 for the principal holidays, similar lists 

 are sent out between times, one quoting 

 summer flowers, from August 1 to Oc- 

 tober 1, a fall price list covering the 

 period from Thanksgiving to December 

 15 and a winter price list covering the 

 period from January 15 to April 1. These 

 price lists are so got up that they can 

 be distributed by the agents and orders 

 may be given by flower buyers direct 

 from them. At the special flower days 

 the advertising run in the local news- 

 paper is combined in a 4-page leaflet to 

 be sent out to agents and others. One 

 for Mothers' day, for instance, con- 

 tained a cut of a hydrangea on the first 

 page, a poem about "Mother" on the 

 second page, a price list of cut flowers 

 on the third page and the prices of pot 

 plants on the fourth. The poem was run 

 in the local newspaper advertising a 

 week to ten days before Mothers' day. 



