12 



The Florists^ Review 



January 23, 1013. 



Where the Work It Put Up in the Fleischman Store. 



nearly 100 feet long devoted to the 

 making up of work and filling orders. 

 A customer visits the store: The sales- 

 man writes the order on the blank 

 provided for that purpose; it is passed 

 through the cashier's window, into the 

 hands of the bookkeeping department 

 and thence goes into a conveyor to 

 the desk of the order clerk in the 

 workroom below. 



Being on Time. 



In one of the illustrations the order 

 clerk's desk is shown, with its equip- 

 ment. A conspicuous feature is the 

 plain-faced clock above the desk, which 

 makes it inexcusable for any order to 

 fail to receive attention on time. In 

 this store it is appreciated that there 

 is no more important detail in the 

 flower business than being on the 

 minute with deliveries. Down the left 

 of the orderboard there is a* special 

 division for rush orders, those on which 

 some special hour of delivery is desig 

 nated. This section is again subdi- 

 vided into six divisions of the day, so 

 that each order must come up in ample 

 time for attention. The main order- 

 board is divided according to destina- 

 tions, so that the automobiles need 

 make no unnecessary trips; in other 

 words, so that all the orders for a given 

 section will go out together. 



At the left of the order clerk 's desk 

 is a cabinet of large, square divisions 

 in which the completed parcels are 

 assorted in the same manner as are the 

 order sheets. Beyond this are locked 

 cabinets where a large stock of ribbons 

 is carried, the average inventory of 

 this department being between $2,000 

 and $3,000, for this store is a large user 

 of ribbons, chiffons and corsage acces- 

 sories — the stems of corsage bunches 

 are not wrapped with tinfoil in this 

 establishment; ribbon is used instead. 



At the right of the order clerk's desk 

 is a long, ziUc-covered work table, with 

 stock tables between it and the big 

 storage refrigerator. A large part of 

 the basement is double-decked, to pro- 

 vide storage space for cut flower boxes. 



It is an important detail that the work- 

 room is wide rather than deep. The 

 stairway from the store comes down 

 close to the order clerk's desk, almost 

 in the center of the long room, where 

 waste steps will be minimized. 



Facilities and Work Belated. 



The fixtures in the workroom, all were 

 built to order. There is nothing ornate 



about them, yet they so apparently 

 fulfill the purpose for which they were 

 designed that they give the impression 

 that sight has been lost of the fact 

 that no customer ever comes here, or 

 even knows the room exists. But per- 

 haps a reason for the expenditure is 

 a recognition of the fact that first- 

 class work never comes from a slov- 

 enly factory; that factory, workmen 

 and output usually seek a common 

 level. And the Fleischman workroom 

 is as immaculate as the store. There is 

 a place for everything, and everything 

 is kept in its place, in perfect order. 

 There is nothing that can become a 

 receptacle for refuse and each after- 

 noon, when the orders are out, a sweep- 

 ing puts the room in condition to re- 

 ceive critical inspection, 



George W. Wienhoeber is the florist 

 of the concern. He says that he now 

 has facilities which will enable him to 

 handle $1,000 Qf orders every day in 

 the year without special effort and that 

 half again as much can be handled 

 without trouble when a specially good 

 day comes along. The president of the 

 I-leischman Floral Co, is B. Rubel, who 

 is endowed with a genius for merchan- 

 dising. He does not hesitate to use 

 full page spaces in the highest priced 

 newspaper in Chicago, nor does' he 

 hesitate at providing facilities that are 

 the best that modern genius can devise. 



ILLINOIS STATE FLOBISTS, 



The Illinois State Florists' Associa- 

 tion, through its executive officers, has 

 made arrangements for holding a 

 flower show in the Gold Room of the 

 Jefferson hotel, at Peoria, in connection 

 with the society 's annual convention, 

 March 4 and 5. The exhibition will 

 be free to the public and will be the 



The Onlcr Clerk^i Desk in Fleischmin't Workroom. 



