Graduation Leis

Well, Mother's Day is over. All of us at Visser's worked really hard to make everyone happy--and I think we succeeded.

Now, let's turn our attention to Graduation. It's a very special time if you have a graduate in your family. What better way to celebrate than with Dendrobium Orchid Leis from Vissers?

In Hawaii, giving leis for Graduation is a time-honored tradition. Often times, a graduate gets so many leis that they can't wear them all and must share them with others.

Long ago, leis were made of a variety of natural things, like shells, ivory, teeth, seeds, nuts and flowers. Today, the traditional graduation lei is made of Dendrobium Orchids. Visser's special prices for these beautiful graduation leis are $19.99 for a single and $29.99 for a double. We usually have them is stock, but it is better to call us a little in advance to reserve them.

Also, if your school or organization would like to sell leis as a fundraiser, give us a call.

Mother's Day Flowers

Sunday is Mother's Day. Start planning what to do for mom right now. Obviously, here at Visser's Florist we hope that you will order flowers to show your gratitude and love for the person that has done so much for you. It doesn't take much effort. Either click here, or call us at 714 772-9900. We have flowers and plants to fit all budgets.

We will deliver your flowers to mom on Friday or Saturday, so when you go over to her house Sunday morning they will be there. In fact, mom will be so happy that she will probably have some freshly baked cookies waiting for you. So come on, pick up the phone and make your mom happy.

FTD Acquisition

(from Suntimes.com) "FTD, the Downers Grove-based floral company, will be acquired by United Online Inc. for about $456 million in cash, notes and stock, the companies announced Wednesday.

United Online, the operator of NetZero and Juno Internet service providers, intends to expand FTD's online revenue-making opportunities, particularly because less than 5 percent of the floral industry's revenue comes from Internet sales, and the two companies have more than 50 million overlapping customers.

United Online intends to help florists increase their revenues, too, by improving "how they present themselves; how they are integrated with the FTD story so they appear much more a part of the family; and how they use the Internet as a leverage tool to drive their business rather than looking at the Internet as a competitor."

I just want to comment on this acquisition. United Online clearly wants to grow the internet part of this business. That's fine with me. Internet shopping is growing everyday, with no letup in sight. The flower industry will probably benefit from having these experts on the team.

Visser's Florist is proud to have partnered with FTD for so many years. However, let me make one thing perfectly clear. We have grown and prospered for over 50 years because we provide outstanding customer service--every single day. THAT IS NOT GOING TO CHANGE.

Our commitment is to make every customer glad that they shopped at Visser's. If we do that we will be here another 50 years.

I'd appreciate your comments.

Wedding show for Visser's

It's a big weekend here at Visser's Florist. We are taking our wedding crew and hundreds of spectacular flowers to The Great Bridal Expo. It will be Saturday 4/26 at 12:00 in the Anaheim Convention Center.

Debbie, our head wedding designer, has also been asked to create the bridal bouquets for the fashion show. I guess word about Debbie's talent travels fast!

The tickets are $9.00 at the door. If you are planning to get married in the near future (and you are in the Anaheim area) I highly encourage you to attend.

And if you do, stop by the Visser's booth and say hi to Debbie--and to me! By the way, I tried to get a picture of Debbie but she is too busy. Here is just one of the bouquets she is making--black magic roses and black calla lilies.

Columbian Free Trade Agreement

The Colombian Free trade agreement is effectively dead—for now. Congress decided not to vote on an agreement that would eliminate trade barriers between the U.S. and Columbia. Congress is concerned about how workers are treated in Columbia, so they decided to put them out of work by reducing the amount of flowers shipped to the U.S. from their country.

Now, I know what you’re saying—“why should I care about that, we have enough problems here to worry about”. The answer is that it makes our flowers more expensive.

A very large percentage of our flowers, especially roses and carnations, comes from South America. The cost of these flowers is already going up because of the decline in the value of the dollar and because of skyrocketing fuel costs. Do we really want to make them even more expensive?

In addition to making flowers cost more and putting agricultural workers in Columbia out of work, there is another issue. Columbia buys our products—beef, vegetables, cotton and other agricultural products. The agreement would have made those products more attractive to Columbians and helped our farmers.

I do realize that more and more flower production is shifting away from my native California and moving to foreign soil. This reality reflects our high cost of labor, and the recent housing boom that took farmlands out of production to build houses. However, putting tariffs (or taxes) on products will not change the economics of flower production in California. It’s just too expensive to grow flowers here.

Congress needs to “wake up and smell the roses” and stop playing politics with this issue.

Administrative Professional’s Day

It’s next Wednesday so you better start planning. For some reason, maybe because the “bosses” have faulty memories, the holiday has been expanded into an entire Week. (I tried the same thing with my birthday but it didn’t work).

Anyway, the “real” days to send flowers, plants or go out to lunch are Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. If you wait until Thursday or Friday, your assistant is going to be embarrassed, and frankly, you will end up spending more just to make up for your little lapse.

The best thing to do is to call Visser’s Florist today and schedule something to be delivered. We have flowers, plants and balloons in all price ranges. Have it sent early in the week and make all the “other” bosses in the office look bad. Or, if you’re really a nice person, get together with all of the other bosses in the office and place one order. Talk about a win-win situation!

Our Flower shop’s Subprime Mortgages

It seems that you can’t pick up a newspaper or turn on the news these days without seeing something about subprime mortgages. It’s especially interesting to listen to the politicians talk about the subject.
Politicians on one side of the aisle say that this is some big conspiracy by evil mortgage companies and they must be punished. The politicians on the other side say that the borrowers were just too dumb, or were financial speculators and nothing should be done.

I’m not advocating either point of view. I just want to share the story of two of Visser’s employees that were caught in this mess to show that it’s not as simple as the politicians make it out to be.

The first employee is a middle-aged, married woman. She has owned her house for a number of years. Her and her husband raised their kids there and everything was going along fine. Then, serious medical problems hit, and even though they had insurance, the out of pocket costs were big. They were stuck—couldn’t pay. The only way they could make it was to refinance the house. Needless to say, they got an adjustable rate mortgage and now the interest rate has reset. The medical bills are mostly gone, but sadly, they are going to lose their house in the process.

The other employee is a single mother, working hard to support her kids. After years of saving, she was finally able to get her piece of the American Dream. It was a modest house, but I have never seen anyone that was more proud. Unfortunately, her mortgage rates have also risen substantially, and she may also lose her house—along with her life savings.

As I said before, I’m not pushing any particular solution, or trying to place blame. My point is that when you see these stories, remember that they are really about real people going through the worst time of their lives.