Its that time again...Thursday is Valentines Day! Millions of us will rush out to buy flowers, candy and other goodies for their sweethearts. For many of us, that’s a “day of” activity at the local florist, but increasingly, we’re dealing with the flowers by purchasing them on-line. Companies like 1-800 Flowers, FTD, and even Wal*Mart have been planning for months for your order. 
In the flower business, 80 percent of the revenue is earned on just two holidays. Valentines Day, and then the biggie…Mothers Day. In the United States, over 110 million roses will be sold on Valentines Day. Good business.
Valentines Day is a $14 billion dollar floral market in the US alone.
About 65% of American roses are grown in California, but more and more are being imported from places like Colombia and Ecuador, where the growing climate remains ideal year round. Fincas (farms) in South America bring flowers to Quito or Bogota where cargo airlines like Florida West, Tampa Airlines and Cielos de Peru fly in full jumbo jets of flowers. Daily, 747’s, DC-10’s and B767’s arrive every morning in Miami.
The Race is On: From Farm to your table in three days!
Direct importers bring the flowers by the airline pallet load directly from the airport ramp into cold storage, where the flowers are chilled and await USDA and US Customs inspection. Both activities take place within hours of arrival. By 7PM, orders are being processed for delivery nationwide.
Your order from Wal*mart.com or FTD routes from their commerce servers to the direct importer, who creates the bouquet, packages it, and tenders it to a parcel carrier like DHL and FedEx.
While many orders are flown by express carriers to their hubs in Memphis, Louisville or Wilmington, Ohio, a larger amount are actually trucked using refrigerated trucks to the express carrier hub. This extends the cold chain for the flowers, thereby keeping them fresh longer and extending their shelf life. Once in the parcel carrier hub, the boxed bouquets fly nationwide just like any express package. By 10:30 the next day, your sweetheart has her flowers. Total time from the growing farm to your dining room table is only an amazing three days!
Knowing those flowers are often accompanied by chocolates, lingerie, jewelry and other goodies, sites like FTD and Wal*Mart allow you to purchase it all on-line for delivery at the same time. Those items source from different vendors on a drop ship basis, but the parcel carriers pull it all together for a timely delivery.
FedEx, DHL and UPS will be hand delivering flowers every day this week but especially on Thursday. When you see your package courier , waive and say hello because they’ll be working extra hard this week.
