Seasonal Pricing

Why seasonal pricing?

There are several factors that effect the price of the flowers and plants we sell!

The reasons are two-fold:

• Supply and demand
  • Prices are affected by the spike in demand during certain times of the year - Valentine's in February, Easter, Administrative Professionals Week in April, Mother's Day week in May, Thanksgiving and the December Christmas season. The demand during these periods often exceeds the supply of certain types of flowers.
     
  • Certain colors of flowers will often increase in price also - notably red, pink and white during Valentine's, Mother's Day week and Christmas. The growers can't justify increasing production of these colors for these relatively short periods of time just to throw product away for the other 46 weeks of the year.
     
  • Other countries have holidays they celebrate - the biggest is International Womens' Day celebrated in Europe and Russia - that create a huge demand for flowers. Flora-culture is global, with all world markets competing for flowers.
     
• Where the flowers are grown
  • All flowers have a growing season, so depending on where in the world flowers are in season and how far they have to travel to get here contributes to their cost. For the most part flowers, unlike fruit and vegetables must be air-freighted in from distant growers.
     
  • During the year we depend upon growers and shippers in Holland, South America, Africa, Southeast Asia and New Zealand for the flowers that we sell. Closer to home, growers in California, Florida, Mexico and Canada also provide a large percentage of flowers and plants when in season.
     
  • When not in season, some flowers need to be greenhouse grown. The expense of the heat and the high-intensity lighting that help simulate day-length factor into the cost.

One other significant factor affects the price:

The quality of the product we sell. We only sell florist quality cut flowers and plants. The growers we buy from only grow the highest quality product, all destined for florists - not mass-market or direct ship.

There are other grades of flowers:

• 'Seconds' - these flowers have a smaller bloom or fewer blooms per stem and are sold to mass-market (grocery) retailers. Direct shippers (the big-box guys!) most often sell these at an attractive price and ship to consumers what cannot be sold to florists. They are not the same grade flower that you would buy from a florist, despite what they may claim.
   
• 'Short' or 'Bouquet Grade' - these are lower quality flowers that end up in the cheap mixed bouquets sold in (grocery) mass-market outlets.
   
• Farmer's Market - most growers that sell at farmer's markets don't adhere to the "Chain of Life' program that our growers do, employing the most up-to date post harvest care and handling. From harvest to delivery, the cold chain is preserved ensuring a better quality flower and a longer vase life.
  
  Most flowers sold at Farmer's Markets are cut in the field, dropped into an old, dirty bucket and carted off to the market. That's no way to treat flowers!

Our seasonal pricing policy

The price we have to charge you is based on the date you are actually getting your flowers, not the price at the time you place your order. After your order is placed, we will adjust item pricing up or down, depending on the date required that you specify during the check-out process. If there are any price changes, you will be contacted to either accept or decline the price change(s). If you decline the price change, we will cancel your order for that item or if you choose, your entire order.

Any questions that you may have regarding Seasonal Pricing should be directed to: 

Canby Floral Incorporated, doing business as
Portland Wholesale Florist
1638 NE Broadway
Portland, OR 97232

Telephone: 503.445.2967
Or email us: sales [at] portlandwholesaleflorist.com
 

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