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The Florists^ Review 



29 



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TOPICS AT TORONTO 



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SHOULD $5 BE MINIMUM? 



The nmch-discuKMiMi (|iu';sti()ii, wlietlier 

 ordora of less than $'> sliould he sent 

 by wire, eaine up for debate Wednes- 

 day morning. Cliarles Henry Fox, who 

 advertises "I will never send you an 

 order less than $5," declared liiinself in 

 favor of a ffeneral rule anionji; associa- 

 tion mendjers making' that sum the 

 minimum. Tie declared that almost 

 everyone who wishes to send ilowers 

 by telegra])h is willing to sjiend that 

 mucdi. In liis (jwn store he ex|K'i'ienced 

 next to no dilliculty in that respect. Oc- 

 casionally at ("iiristnias ;ni inexperience<l 

 salesperson took a telegraph oi'der for 

 leas than .tn, hut even in such cases, he 

 said, he ailhered to his pledge by mak- 

 ing up the difference; for instance, aild 

 ing $2 to the $'.'> pa ill by a customer. 



A ]ilea for tiie tlorist in small towns, 

 where $'2 or $.'! often buys a good many 

 Ilowers, was made by Max Schling. fie 

 believed that the customer's desires 

 should always l)e met. The same thought 

 was ])reHeated by William V. (Uule, who 

 stated that occasionally' a customer 

 wished a simple token — a single rose or 

 a bunch of xiolets — tidegrajihed to a 

 friend in anothei' city. He declared 

 that a customer who would ])ay in tide- 

 grajdi charges, as sometimes hai)pened, 

 more than the cost of the flowers sent 

 was a customer^ whose desires should 

 bo satisfied. 



X^ndoubtedly the llorist in a large city 

 is embarrassed at times l)y the receipt 

 of an order of small amount from a well- 

 meaning tlorist in a small town, es- 

 ]>ecially if the latter specilics exactly 

 what his customer wants to have sent for 

 the money. For the better satisfaction 

 of his customer and for the sake of his 

 fellow florist's interest, the sender of 

 an order shoubl always take into con- 

 sideration the trade conditions in the 

 city to which he is relaying it and ask 

 of the receiving florist nidhing whi(di ht> 

 himself would not be willing to do in his 

 jdace. The sender should not sjiecify 

 too exactly how the order is to be fillecl 

 and with what and how many flowers. 

 It is better to ;illow seme latitude to the 



llorist at the other end. Then he is 

 likely to do as much as he can for the 

 money and so better ]dease the recipient 

 and therefore ' the original pui'chaser 

 of the flowers. No hard and fast rule 

 is able to be laid down regarding a 

 niinimuni for telegrajdi orders, it was 

 the consensus at Toronto, for the ex- 

 ception is usually imjiortant. Every re- 

 tailer of flowers, of course, wants to 

 sell as many as he can, for his own 

 j)rofit. He should attem])t to keej) th(; 



standard of telegraph 



■rs U[>, for his 



own sake and his brother florist's. But 

 small ones should be given full attention 

 for the good of them both also. 



ORDERS FOR HOSPITALS. 



How much care may be given to filling 

 orders to be (bdivered to hospitals — ^yet, 

 occasionally, with discouraging results 

 — was recounted at the Toronto meeting 

 by Charles H. Cirakeiow, who sends out 

 many flowers to hospitals in Philadel- 

 ])hia. That city is not so favorable to 

 florists as is Chicago, according to 

 (Jeorge .\smus, who stated that little 

 ditficulty is now ex))erienced with hos- 

 l)itals there. In many other places be- 

 sides the City of Hrotherly I.iOve are hos- 

 })ital attendants without ))ro))er con- 

 sideration for flowers received for their 

 ])atients and some florists m;iy wish to 

 follow Mr. (irakelow's practices. Mr. 

 (Jr.aktdow has placed stickers on boxes 

 going out, some to insure prompt de- 

 livery to the jiatient when no receipt at 

 the lios])ital office was given, some to 

 re(|uest the nurse to gi\'e the flowers 

 attention. 



Perhajjs the most vexations matter is 

 that of a receijit. Florists' delivery 

 men should always obt.ain a receijit 

 wlien it is jiossible. They should also 

 emlea\'or to learn if the jierson to whom 

 the flowers are addressed is at the hos- 

 pital. Xothing is more ])rovoking than 

 a box of flowiTS returned a few days 

 after delivery with tlie statement that 

 th(> ])atient has left or was never at the 

 hos|)ital. 



rrom|d delivery of the flowers to the 

 patient by the attendants should be 



urged ujion hos])ital oflicials by the local 

 florist. If the flowers cannot be sent at 

 once to the sick room, they should not 

 he left next to a steam ))ipe or in a 

 drafty place. The handling of the 

 flowers in the hosjiital is outside the 

 control of the florist, but he may, by 

 ])ersonal conference with the manage- 

 ment, succeed in improving the cus- 

 tomary mode. If he can, he will in- 

 crease the pleasure of the recipients of 

 the flowers and the satisfaction of those 

 who h;i\'e ordered them. 



WHY IS THE $5 HOBBY BOX? 



In these ccdumns n(d many months 

 since a]ij)eared a story of the Hobby 

 box, the Hap|py-ha)) fern and the 

 Tisket-tasket basket, whicdi form tin' .+■"> 

 trio advertisecl by (ieorge M. Stumpp, 

 New York. That arti(de was concerned 

 jirimarily with Mr. Sfunijiii's methods 

 of advertising these special items of 

 his. The object of them from a mi-r- 

 chandise ])oint of view was explained 

 at Toronto last week l)y Mr. Stumpp 

 before the F. T. I), members. 



A fundamental jirincijde of present- 

 day advertising (considering that word 

 in its larger sense, as iniduding merchan- 

 dising and selling iis well ;is the use of 

 jirinters' ink) is that a tra<le-niarked 

 articde strengthens a line of merchan- 

 dise. That is wliy so many of the things 

 you buy, from tcxtthbrnshes .-ind soda 

 crackers to washing maidiines and plows, 

 are sob] under a iiame, eitlier a regis- 

 tered trade-mark or the name of the 

 manufacturer. The reason is that one 

 can develop specific talking jioints ai)OUt 

 a I'l'ojdiylacf ic toothhrush, I'needa bis 

 ••nits, Thor washers or Deere jjIows, 

 whereas one can only t.alk in a general 

 way about the need of toothbrushes, the 

 jirice of soda crackers, the labor-saving 

 of a washing machine or the usefulness 

 of a jdow. The principle so widtdy aji- 

 plied in manufactured arfiides is suit- 

 aide to our liusiness, too. For instance, 

 Mr. Stunip|), instead of advertising a 

 box of flowers, advertises the Ilol)hy 

 box at $."). He can talk of its ((uality, 

 its ea>.e of purchase, its attractive 



Posed for their Photograph in Front of the Horticultural Building at Exposition Park, October 12. 



