In This Issue ...

1. 2016 Promises to be an Active Year!
2. World Floral Expo
3. Women's Day 2016
4. Memorial Day Flowers
5. Transportation Updates
6. 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 Promises to be an Active Year!

At their meeting last month, the CalFlowers'Board of Directors approved an ambitious promotions budget, funding no less than two dozen initiatives to drive the overall theme:  

More Americans, Enjoying More Flowers, More Often

If you're interested in directly supporting any of these programs or projects, please consider becoming part of the Marketing Committee.  Each of these projects and programs will be supported by staff, but a member's touch is always welcome.

World Floral Expo Returns to California

Great exhibit spaces are still available in the CalFlowers' 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!

Women's Day 2016

CalFlowers is supporting three promotional projects for Women's Day 2016.  Women's Day is Tuesday, March 8^th this year.

First, we're collaborating with four (4) other industry associations to print and distribute up to 15,000 posters to floral distributors to send to their retailers to promote Women's Day.  The association partners are:  Asocolflores, CCFC, SAF, and WF&FSA.  CalFlowers is thrilled to be working with these industry partners again this year.

We have some inventory left of the posters and can take orders up to:  Friday, January 14 close of business.  Either use this online form, or submit the information requested on the form via email to:  [email protected]

Second, we're expanding the very successful Women's Day promotion we did with Asocolflores in the Greater Phoenix market last year.  Those of you attending Fun 'N Sun 2015 may have listened to Brad Denham's presentation of last year's results.  We are still finalizing the five (5) additional markets and will announce how every member can leverage their own local campaigns if they wish.

Third, CalFlowers will run an ad in an industry publication listing those growers offering to donate a portion of their Women's Day proceeds to a charity supporting women's issues.  In 2015, the Phoenix initiative and one run locally by Kitayama Brothers in the Santa Cruz and Monterey markets experienced very positive results donating portions of their proceeds to local women's causes.  If you're planning to do this, please send us a copy of your promotional material and we'll add you to the advertisement.  Send materials to:  [email protected] by January 31^st.

Memorial Day Flowers

CalFlowers will again sponsor the very successful Memorial Day Flower project at Arlington National Cemetery.  This project is supported by the Memorial Day Flower Foundation. Enjoy photos and videos of last year's event where 120,000 roses were placed on the headstones of Americas service men and women and California bouquets donated by Ocean Breeze were passed out to members of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors.

The program is expanding in 2016 and while we have not secured full funding for additional locations, we have been approved to distribute roses and bouquets at The Presidio National Cemetery (San Francisco) and we're also exploring one of the national cemeteries on San Diego county either Mira Mar or Fort Rosecranz.  We are seeking financial donations to support this expansion outside of Washington, D.C.  If you know of potential donors (e.g., businesses or individuals) interested in supporting this initiative, please contact Michael LoBue at:  [email protected].

Transportation

1. New 2016 OnTrac rates were just recently emailed to members.  Yearly price increases were held to a minimum once again this year.   Our Door to Door program enjoys many special features that make it an excellent shipping solution.  If you missed your copy, complete program details are now available on our website under the members only section, or contact Chris Johnson ([email protected]) for assistance.
2. 2016 FedEx rates took effect January 4th.  Members were sent the latest program information including new pricing for 2016.  CalFlowers members also continue to have access to FedEx Premier Customer service.  This elevated level of customer service is worth taking advantage of and highly recommended.  Complete program pricing and information is also available on our secure member website.
3. Please note, Continental Floral Greens is assembling their last consolidation out of California beginning January 8^th.  They will no longer be handling flowers in or out of California.  For more information, please contact CFG Roger Kilgore at 210-654-6543 x307.
4. New exclusive shipping rates on American Airlines Cargo have been sent.  This new program promises aggressive low flat rate pricing that is one of our best airline values.  Stay tuned for new information coming soon.

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 dont know or dont remember your username and/or password.  This document will help you login. 

New Members

In December 2015 and January 2016, we were pleased to welcome the following new CalFlowers members:

1500 41st Avenue, Suite 240 Capitola, CA 95010 | www.cafgs.org | 831-479-4912