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Hello, Floral Friends. This is Jen, and you are listening to the Floral Hustle Podcast. On this week's episode, I want to talk about three different ways to charge for delivery. And this came up in the Floral CEO Accelerator. We were talking through how different people charge. And if podcast for a while, I've talked about how I'm not a fan of flat fee.
And part of that reason is because I don't want to be someone's, um, I'm just going to say it. Somebody's bitch for the day that they think that they're paying a fee. Therefore that merits me running around with my head cut off to serve them that day. And so I am a fan of pricing based on. the situation.
So situation based pricing and every single item from my pricing standpoint is priced separately. So if I'm setting and delivering at one location, that's a price. If I have to stop another location, that's a different price. If I am coming back for a room flip, that's a separate price. If I am coming for teardown and I'm coming the next day, that's That's a certain price if I'm coming at midnight.
That's a certain price. So I like to have it that my delivery fee is based on the pain in the ass factor of that variant. So, but there are other ways. And I'm going to dive deeper into what exactly like situational delivery fees. So the percentage way of delivering is something that I do see many florists do.
And part of that is They have a 4, 000 wedding. They're charging 10%, let's just say, for setup, delivery, and teardown. I have seen somebody charge 15%. I have seen somebody charge 18%. And part of the reason why I don't like this percentage based service fee is that I think it is confusing to florists because it's a labor charge.
And I like to keep my labor charges. Separate because there is a labor charge to make the item. So let's just say you make a bridal bouquet. You have 50 of flowers and then you mark that up. by three or four times whatever your labor percentage is, then you add a labor percentage for actually physically making that item.
That is a separate labor fee from delivery, setup, teardown. And with newer florists, that becomes very muddy and very confusing. to charge separately for these items. So, I like the situational type teardown, whatever, because then I'm not on this variant of being available for them. And then also, if I'm centerpieces, I am now making less of a delivery fee, but it is not taking Like a very big effort difference.
So I'm still expounding all of this effort to deliver this wedding. And now I'm getting paid less because their centerpiece count went down too. So I, I feel that it's confusing because it's, it is a labor percentage that is going to fluctuate depending on their exact total. I think that I've, I've even seen, depending on, I, I actually, I saw another florist quote and it was based on the amount of people that they had that percentage changed.
So it was like almost 200 difference for them to bring one less person. How is that person not going to opt in for that? Why wouldn't they opt in for having a less person if it's going to save them 200? Um, so I've, I've seen those quotes change. And another reason why I think that it's confusing with percentage base is if the time parameters change, and you need more labor force.
You don't have the autonomy to change that because you are charging a percentage or fee based percentage of the total. So all of a sudden, let's just say that this room flip or this getting ready time, like your setup time, You all of a sudden now have half the time that you thought that you would have because the venue books something in the morning.
I've had this exact same thing happen. So a event was booked in the morning and we could not get into one o'clock and we originally thought we could get in at 10 o'clock. So here we are now having to have another person come with because we have considerably less time. So if. If that is in worry, it is a worry to me, especially with some of the, um, the cultural weddings that I do.
Like, I mean, that could mean that I need two or three more people to help set up if we all of a sudden have considerably less time because these are so elaborate. So I'm just trying to bypass that by doing a flat feed. The, also the caveat on that is that, um, People start to argue, at least in my experience from what I've had other florists that have been charging this way.
Well, why are you charging 15%? All you're doing is dropping it off. Couldn't you charge like 10%? I don't want to invite a negotiation in. That's why I'm just giving you my best price or what it costs to deliver this up front. And. I don't want to go back and forth, so I'm just positioning it that way from the beginning.
This is what it costs. This isn't a negotiation. This is what it costs for me to set up and deliver. And then also I'm making sure with doing this, you know, situational based pricing that I'm covering my expenses. Uh, I was going through the costs of renting a U Haul. And it's normally here in Minnesota for me to rent a U Haul for one day.
That's me picking it up at around five to six o'clock the night before my event, loading any hard goods. If it's cold enough, potentially loading tables and flowers in there and then driving it the next day and returning it for the 24 hours. That's normally around 120 To 140 and that includes the safe move insurance.
I always do the insurance because, um, for 12, I just don't want to worry if. Something breaks the windshield or somebody hits me. I actually had somebody hit, pit my U Haul. They hooked their moving vehicle into the wheel well of my moving vehicle, which is, it sucked. It took two hours for the police to come and it was in St.
Paul, Minnesota. And all they did is just gave us a little piece of paper and. Didn't really document anything because they said they weren't there to witness it. It was very janky even though they could see clearly because we left the trucks hooked on each other that the person hit me and they just they couldn't do anything, but I always get the safe move insurance because I just don't want to have to worry But then, um, with that situation, that's just one day, that's 125 one day.
If I have to go back and do teardown and need that vehicle for a second day, we're around like usually 2, 2. 10 with that additional mileage and the additional day rate. And I usually rent anywhere from a 20 to a 26 foot U Haul when I'm renting it. I could get the shorter, but like I have a minivan. So if I'm getting the shorter, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
I have rented through budget. It was not my favorite experience. I definitely prefer U Haul. I prefer their checkout process. Everything is just seems to be way better. So I have shopped around and it just seems like that's going to be about the going rate. The insurance is actually cheaper with U Haul, in my experience.
Then, you know, there's that cost. Then, there is fuel. Like, you have to return it with the fuel that you left the lot with. So, I'm also taking on that expense. Then, I usually, if it is a longer day setup, I will go and get, like, lunch for the people that are helping. So, there's that expense. If it is a venue that you have to pay for parking, I potentially might have to pay for every freelancer.
So, there's that expense. If it's not a longer setup, I sometimes will bring snacks just to make sure that people aren't hangry. Uh, I also have been paying everybody's hourly wage. That comes with like all of those things add up. And I just want to make sure you're covering those expenses because it's really easy to tell somebody that'll be 250 for you to deliver their wedding because it seems easy.
But then all of a sudden with packing those boxes, packing your vehicle, driving there, unloading, you've spent four hours and you've had an additional person with you and you've potentially rented a U Haul like you are going to lose money and I just don't want that for you. So, with those costs, like, I would sit back and use that as part of your situation.
Go in and say, okay, I'm going to need a U Haul. This is about that, what that's going to cost. I'm estimating this many hours of setup. Their hourly wage is this. I have to cover gas. I have to cover a meal. I have to cover parking, whatever it is, like, and you have to pay yourself and you should be making money because this isn't something you should just be doing for free.
So going in there and quoting those fees to make sure that you are covering your expenses and paying yourself for the work that you're doing. To me, it's easier said than done, but it is totally possible. Also, if you are doing the third type of, uh, quoting or charging, going in and explaining and having to validate all your charges to me just does not seem like fun.
So I have seen some florists charge hourly per person that is assisting and then going and charging for each single expense. So I have seen some To me, that's a lot to keep track of, that's a lot of sharing that if for some reason you have one less person because somebody was sick, do they expect a refund?
Like I just don't want to get into the weeds of what it's going to take for me to deliver their wedding. So I would rather prefer like they're just getting that flat rate because either way it has to be done. And if I can do that with two people instead of three. Like, more power to me if I'm hustling my butt off to get it done early, more power to me.
That shouldn't be at the benefit of the client that I had someone for an hour less than we expected. So if you're charging based on core facts of labor and charges, Like, that is a lot to keep track of, and I think it also is, again, arming the client for thinking that they can negotiate when this is not a negotiating opportunity.
This is you just charging accordingly for what the situation is. If you have a bigger wedding, if you have a 8, 000 wedding, You need to make sure that you're covering all of those expenses. An 8, 000 wedding is going to probably take a U Haul, unless you have a big vehicle or multiple vehicles. But if you have multiple vehicles, again, you're probably covering that person's mileage.
So make sure that you're covering that expense. And if you need to do a percentage, Like, do 15, do 10, pick that so that you internally know, but then you need to make sure that you are covering all of those situational facts. I don't want you to be sitting there when you get your U Haul credit card bill, and you're like, crap, I spent 250 on my U Haul for having it for the weekend, but I charged them 400 for delivery.
That's not going to cover all that staff, all of that headache. You're not making money on it and you deserve to make money on it. So my preferred method hands down is situational based, looking at how painful is this delivery going to be? Am I able to pull up basically like easy unload, easy parking of my vehicle, easy time setting up and then easy out.
Or is this something where I am going to have to go into a freight elevator? I'm going to have to go into some underground loading dock that's just crazy. Like, all of those things impact your time investment. They impact, like, what you're able to do from a timing perspective, because if you're loading into a loading dock, having, I did one this year that we had to go up to the 50th floor, It's not like a super short time span for you to load in, but to find security to let us in and let us out.
Like all of those factors are impacting your time. Chasing down carts, doing all these things are a pain. So make sure you're charging accordingly because you deserve to get paid. Thank you so much for listening, flower friend, and you have an amazing flower filled day.