Volume I, Issue 5  

December 2015

In This Issue ...

  1. 2016 Membership Directory Ad Space
  2. CalFlowers Adds Airline Services
  3. World Floral Expo 2016
  4. CalFlowers Leads Effort to Standardize Flower Shipping Boxes
  5. Robert Shibata taking the helm as new president at WF&FSA
  6. Transportation Updates
  7. New Members

Going Social ...

Members, please follow us on Instagram @CalifFlowers and hashtag #CalFlowers. Watch for event or news-specific hashtags.  And we welcome your photos! Please share with Anne Price at [email protected].


Upcoming Events


Women's Day
March 8, 2016

World Floral Expo
March 9 - 11, 2016
Los Angeles, CA

IFE
June 20 - 22, 2016
Chicago, IL

AIFD
July 3 - 7, 2016
Orange County, CA

 


CalFlowers News

Our goal is to communi-cate on a monthly basis with the membership and interested parties about recent past and upcoming events, program updates, and general information about how CalFlowers is engaging in the industry on behalf of the membership.


 

2016 Membership Directory Ad Space is STILL Available

CalFlowers members are invited to advertise in the CalFlowers 2016 Membership Directory.  This is an excellent promotional opportunity for all CalFlowers members to enhance their market presence throughout the industry.  This printed, spiral-bound directory is provided to every one of the nearly 700 buyers, wholesalers, retailers, growers, and service providers who make up our membership.

We have advertising space starting as low as $100. All ad reservations due by December 14, 2015.

The directory ad form can be downloaded here.


American Airlines Cargo and Hawaiian Air Cargo Services Available to CalFlowers Members

CalFlowers recently added American Airlines Cargo and Hawaiian Air Cargo to its growing list of transportation partners.  These providers offer special shipping rates to CalFlowers members, allowing them to be competitive in national and global flower markets.

American Airlines Cargo and Hawaiian Air Cargo join Air Canada, Alaska Air Cargo, Delta Cargo, FedEx, OnTrac, Southwest Cargo and United Cargo in offering members a variety of shipping options in and outside of California.

In addition to access to negotiated shipping rates, members benefit from a number of other services including education, advocacy and marketing programs.

CalFlowers strengthens member businesses through logistics, education and promotion to help more Americans, enjoy more flowers, more often.


World Floral Expo Returns to California

Great exhibit spaces are still available in the "American Floral Pavillion", although the early commitments are encouraging that the Pavillion space will be sold out by show-time.  The show's promoter, HPP, has made 11,000 square feet of exhibit space available for CalFlowers' members - growers and non-growers - at very attractive exhibitor rates.  As of this newsletter over 25% of the space has already been reserved!  However, there are plenty of excellent booth spaces still available -- actually, there isn't a bad location in the pavillion that has been reserved exclusively for CalFlowers members.

For more information about special exhibit pricing, a list of CalFlowers members already committed, and a floor plan click here!


CalFlowers Leads Effort to Standardize Flower Shipping Boxes for Better Quality and Efficiency

CalFlowers, with participation by transportation carriers, growers, national floral associations and box suppliers, has been driving an effort to standardize boxes for several years. The standardization is in response to the use of more than 1,000 different box sizes that have become time-consuming and costly to manage for not only growers and shippers but for carriers, who are moving to electronic tracking and a hub-and-spoke transport model.

Click Here to read more.


Robert Shibata Taking the Helm as New President at WF&FSA

Robert Shibata, president at Mt. Eden Floral Co. in San Jose, CA, assumed the presidency at the Wholesale Florist & Florist Supplier Association (WF&FSA), following the term of Alan Tanouye, general manager at Floralife, according to a news release.

During his speech to members at the WF&FSA annual meeting Oct. 22 Shibata said, “I asked past president Pete Garcia if he had any advice for me about being
WF&FSA president. He said, ‘When I became WF&FSA president, I asked your father the same thing. And I’m going to tell you what he told me: ‘Be inclusive.’ Include everyone in the process and decision making because this is an industry association, not like running your own business".

Click Here to read more.


Transportation

Since the busy holiday consumer shipping season is here, we wanted to remind shippers that FedEx and OnTrac have amended service guarantees for this time of year.

  • FedEx:  Consistent with our FedEx Service Guide, the FedEx Money-Back Guarantee for on-time delivery for the following FedEx Express® services will be suspended temporarily from Friday, Dec. 18, through Thursday, Dec. 24, 2015, for shipments that reach their destinations within 90 minutes of the scheduled commitment time.  More details about the holiday schedule and service parameters can be found at www.fedex.com
  • OnTrac: Delivery commitment times may be extended by 90 minutes for shipments picked up or delivered from the last Wednesday in November through December 25, and on December 31. The Service Guarantee and commitment times are suspended for the two weeks prior to December 25.  Please go to www.ontrac.com for more detailed holiday information.

In other OnTrac news, all shipping CalFlowers members should now be on-line booking with OnTrac.  WebOnTrac is an excellent tool that can help shippers with most everything they need when booking a shipment.  Using paper waybills adds complexity and risk to their digital system. WebOnTrac software even has provisions that can catch errors before they can be submitted.  If you are not using OnTrac’s free booking software, we strongly recommend you do, and it's easy to start.  Just contact OnTrac for more info at 800-334-5000 or visit www.ontrac.com.

NOTE: Transportation Rate information and documents are now viewable/downloadable (as PDFs) on the CalFlowers Members’ Only site. Please note that these documents are considered sensitive material and are available to the primary contacts for Ag Buddy, Associate Floral, Associate Grower, and Floral members only.

To access the Members’ Only site, simply login using the Member Login button in the top-right corner of our website.  

Click Here if you don’t know or don’t remember your username and/or password.  This document will help you login. 


New Members

In October and November 2015, we were pleased to welcome the following new CalFlowers members:

Associate Floral 

Allure Farms, Inc.
Miami, FL

 

Associate Grower

Pacific Tradeworks
Gig Harbor, WA

 

Floral

Grace Nursery
San Francisco, CA

Peter Alexanders, Inc.
Scotts Valley, CA

S.K. 703 Topiary
San Martin, CA

Valley Pride Flowers
Salinas, CA
 

 

 


 

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