After reading an article about "the best on-line florists" (or somesuch) in Smart Money a few years ago, I wrote a letter to the editor about the value of having a personal business relationship with a local florist - not just using some faceless, on-line service. My point was that you get greater value and greater service through a personal connection & disintermediation.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to put my theory into action again. I needed to order flowers for delivery in a different city, so rather than just logging on to some giant floral service, I used Google to find a florist near where I needed the flowers sent. Without paying any additional delivery fee, without paying (any number of) middlepersons in the transaction, I called the local florist directly, spoke to the lady who would be the one making the arrangement, and she could tell me exactly when the flowers would be delivered this morning and what they would look like. She asked me to stop by so we could meet in person the next time I'm up there. You don't get that level of service - or assurance - from a toll-free number or a website.
I'm ALL FOR e-commerce. I think it's a great idea for many products, and I buy clothes, books, music, etc. from online merchants with a great degree of regularity. But I'm still old-fashioned enough to know that some products & services warrant a personal connection: I think flowers are one of them. While e-commerce provides disintermediation for some kinds of transactions, it doesn't do that for all transactions.
My unsolicited advice: know a florist in your mom's & your in-laws' hometown. Meet them in person when you're up there for a visit.
