How to avoid atrocious bouquet delivery charges
April 12th, 2008 | by mbhunter |I might have mentioned before that giving gifts is not one of my love languages, so it’s no surprise that I forgot my sister’s birthday, which is today. She’ll probably receive her gift before she checks out this blog. If not, Happy Birthday!
Anyway, my wife and I went online to get my sister some flowers, since that’s one of the few options we have the day before her birthday. Since I use MyPoints regularly to earn free gift cards, we checked there to see if we could boost our points by clicking through to one of the online flower delivery websites. Well, because today is Saturday, and because it was the next day when we were ordering, the delivery charges on the bouquets we wanted were $23.00! That’s pretty ridiculous. I mean, procrastination has a price, but just about doubling the cost of the bouquet was out of the question. Sorry.
So, we did an end run and bought the flowers the old-fashioned way, more or less:
- We looked up a florist local to my sister by going to Google Maps and entering “florists in Hertown, USA.”
- We chose one that was close to where my sister lived. There were a couple within a mile. We chose one.
- We called them up. The number was right there on Google Maps.
We were able to get pretty much what we wanted for about $35, and only a $3 delivery charge!
The big flower sites are very convenient, but they can be pretty costly. Buying locally can be a bit cheaper, and Google is very good for finding someone close by the place where you want to send the flowers.
4 Responses to “How to avoid atrocious bouquet delivery charges”
By minnemom on Apr 12, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for the tip. I don’t send flowers very often, but my sister’s having a baby Thursday and her birthday is Friday so I think a bouquet is in order.
By "Mo" Money on Apr 12, 2008 | Reply
Good idea. It always pays to shop around. Thank you for the tip.
By Mrs. Micah on Apr 12, 2008 | Reply
On our first anniversary of dating, Micah wanted to send me roses. Unfortunately, I was going to be in Italy. So he surreptitiously got our itinerary from my aunt and uncle and called up the hotel where we’d be. Then he contacted them and arranged for them to buy the flowers and bring them to my room. He wired the money and I ended up being completely surprised.
Saved him a lot on crazy international florist fees.
By L@SpillingBuckets on Apr 13, 2008 | Reply
Great idea, it’s so simple. I sent flowers to my aunts for mother’s day sometimes, (my mom doesn’t care about the holiday, they do) and I never thought of sending locally. This sounds like the cheaper/better option.
Last time I did used the large website one aunt got hers a day before the other. They live in the same town, and for a day one was really offended that I forgot her. It was a disaster. I think that a local florist would be more likely to deliver on the same day, same run.