Mabch 28, 1912. 



The Weekly Florists' R^^w. 



31 



Some of the Simple Things that Appeal to People of Ditcrifflinatias: Taste. 



be made ready the night before Easter 

 and be delivered on the first trip in the 

 morning, whenever practicable. 



A fine thing to have ready for Easter 

 business is a good stock of. small plants 

 suitable for making up into baskets. 

 Small plants of Bex and other foliage 

 begonias, crotons, ferns, pandanus and 

 neat little specimens of cocos or geon- 

 oma are all useful for the customers 

 who want "something else," besides a 

 lily or azalea, in their baskets. 



The Extra Help. 



The help problem is another that has 

 to be considered early. It is folly to 

 wait until everything is behindhand 

 before getting proper help. Where 

 everything is rushed by tired and half- 

 hearted employees, mistakes and over- 

 sights are sure to occur, but with the 

 right kind of help, started early, the 

 proprietor or manager of the store can 

 always be in front of his work, not 

 behind. In short, the * * faculty of being 

 ready " is a mighty useful thing around 

 Easter time. H. 



HOLIDAY SYSTEM. 



More Business, Less Bush. 



"The idea of system as it runs 

 thxough your head is beautiful," some- 

 body says, "but when it comes to the 

 rush your most finely spun system loses 

 out." Yes, it does if you let go of it. 

 It is impossible to handle a rush with- 

 out it. You may escape with your life, 

 going at it haphazard, but your nervous 

 system and your loss and gain account 

 will pay the penalty. 



In the first place, separate the order 

 and sales departments. Let the sales- 

 men sell; don't hamper them with fill- 

 ing qrders between times. Have a sep- 

 arate room or portion of a room 

 screened off for order work and let 

 this group of workers be undisturbed 

 by requests from customers who wish 

 to Be waited upon. To take care of 

 trade already gained is just as impor- 

 tant as gaining more. 



In the Order Boom. 



According to the number of compe- 

 tent people whom you can muster for 

 the order room, arrange your order 

 slips. If there are at least? 4wo ex- 



perienced people, let one take charge 

 of the shipping and the other take 

 charge of the city deliveries. Each of 

 these files should first be arranged ac- 

 cording to time of delivery, with the 

 first order out on top. Then, as each 

 order is filled and the order sheet 

 checked off, bunch the packages for dif- 

 ferent express offices and districts of 

 the city. Have a separate place for 



Balloon-shaped Dorothy Perkins. 



rush orders and special deliveries. 

 Don't burden a delivery man with too 

 long a trip; better make two shorter 

 trips of it. You can get orders out and 

 delivery made before late bedtime. 

 What do sleepy people want of flowers 

 and plants? 



Before starting to fill orders, have all 

 the necessary articles right at hand — 

 express books, boxes of all sizes, string. 



ribbon, paper, extra pencils, train 

 schedules, city directory and map, time- 

 piece, order blanks, tags, scissors, knife, 

 hammer and nails, all the bench room 

 and fioor space possible, a stool for a 

 moment's rest now and then, a clean, 

 dry space to write on, fete. 



Sorting City Orders. 



If city and shipping orders are sepa- 

 rated and deliveries for set times may 

 be reduced to specials, sort your bunch 

 of orders for the city by districts, get- 

 ting out all the orders for one district 

 first. New orders, which are continu- 

 ally pouring in from the order room, 

 should be placed upon a separate file, 

 to wait until advance orders are filled. 



According to the accumulation of de- 

 liveries when it is getting late in the 

 day, stop taking delivery orders. There 

 is no limit to what people will ask. 

 They will ask you to deliver immedi- 

 ately at eleven o'clock at night. Pos- 

 sibly for a slight difference in price 

 they will carry their own packages or 

 postpone delivery till the next day. 



Taking Oliarge of Stock. 



Stock keeping, if carefully watched, 

 does much to preserve the peace of 

 mind of both customer and shopkeeper. 

 Of course there are extra helpers for 

 the holiday rush and usually the green- 

 house force is drafted into service. 

 These men are accustomed to handling 

 stock. Place one of them, or more if 

 necessary, in charge of storing and 

 keeping tab on the reserve stock. The 

 man or men appointed for this purpose 

 will hand the stock out as wanted and 

 will prevent pulling and hauling and 

 destroying by inexperienced help. How 

 many times it is sickening to see the 

 way in which good stock is destroyed 

 by nervous help! It is better policy to 

 keep only a fair amount of stock on 

 display, and let it sell out quickly and 

 be frequently renewed, than to have it 

 all in view and continually mauled over, 

 and a large proportion spoiled by over- 

 handling, bad air and drafts. 



Keeping Tab on Oreens. 



Keep tab on the green goods. An 

 enormous amount may be used in a 

 short time. Let the stock man give 

 warning as it gets low. It is a serious 



