I received an email from a large on line national floral company. The offer was no service charge on a local flower order. If you bypass the national company, you would never pay a service charge for a local flower delivery. Their offer was not that good. It sounds good but the reality is that every florist charges a local delivery fee and no service charge. The national company hides the delivery fee in the item and doesn’t mention the delivery charge. The national companies keep the whole service charge for themselves and do not pass it on to the local delivering florist. This could cause the flower arrangement not to be as large as shown. The national companies typically charge a $13.00 to $15.00 service charge on local florist orders. During the peak Mother’s day period FTD.com was charging $17.99 service charge. None of the $17.99 charge was passed on to the local florist to fill and deliver. Most national floral companies are marketing companies and not involved in actually directly working with flowers.
     It is true that Central Square Florist charges a $14.99 service fee for out of town orders. However out of the $15.00 we pass on $7.50- $15.00 of this fee so the local filling florist has enough money to fill your order properly.