Headlines

Comprehensive Immigration Reform Dies in Senate

On Thursday, June 28, after weeks of intense negotiating, debating and lobbying, the Senate rejected S. 1639, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill.

"We are disappointed that Congress could not pass this bill, because we believe the status quo is unacceptable, and the broken immigration system absolutely has to be fixed," says SAF's Jeanne Ramsay, senior director of government relations. "The raids will increase, borders will tighten and the labor shortage will continue to worsen."

Ramsay says it is likely the issue "will be shelved until after the 2008 elections." At a fundraising lunch Thursday, however, Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), a supporter of comprehensive immigration reform, told SAF representatives he does not believe legislation will re-emerge in this form for many years. Craig went on to predict that states would move to address the issue on a patchwork basis because Congress has not acted decisively.

"SAF worked up until the end to try to sway targeted senators to vote to let the process go forward with the idea that more improvements could be made to the bill," Ramsay says.

Despite the bill's failure, Ramsay says the "intense effort of the agricultural community including SAF" helped cement the status of AgJOBS, as a part of comprehensive immigration reform legislation. While the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill was being debated, she adds, AgJOBS also gained an ally in Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has embraced the need to streamline the guest-worker program. "AgJOBS now enjoys broad bipartisan support," Ramsay says, "as the agricultural element of a comprehensive immigration reform solution."

SAF commends and thanks all the senators who were instrumental in working to advance immigration reform, including Sens. Feinstein, Craig, Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Ken Salazar (D-Colo.).

--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org

 
[return to top]

Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act Extended

Congress extended the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA) last week, allowing duty-free flowers to continue to come into the United States from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia for the next eight months.

The Act was set to expire on June 30 but has been extended through Feb. 29, 2008, while lawmakers work to settle a number of issues regarding U.S. trade relations with those four nations. During this time, Congress will attempt to formally ratify already-signed free trade agreements with Colombia and Peru, which will grant permanent duty-free status for flowers coming into the U.S. from those countries.

However, there are no negotiations between the U.S. and Ecuador at this time regarding a free trade agreement. Rafael Correa, the new Ecuadorian president, has stated that he does not want to enter into an agreement with the United States, and members of Congress have expressed concern over Ecuadorian treatment of U.S. investments in that country. There also have been no negotiations with Bolivia regarding a free trade agreement.

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, had opposed the extension for Ecuador and Bolivia because of the way they treat U.S. companies, he said. The extension will give Grassley and others time to re-examine trade preferences for those two nations.

The extension happened in the 11th hour after compromises were made. The original bill extending the ATPDEA, sponsored by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-15-N.Y.), was set for two years, while the Bush administration supported a one-year extension to encourage lawmakers to speed up the work on the trade agreements.

The Andean Trade Preferences Act originally went into effect in 1991, opening up more job opportunities in the countries, in exchange for stricter policies on illegal drugs.

Ecuadorian importers illustrate the potential impact of the ATPDEA not being extended, in an ad placed in a Capitol Hill publication, above.

Since its inception, the program has created jobs outside the region's illegal drug sector by allowing the countries to export about 5,600 products, including cut flowers, according to Reuters.

The Ecuadorian Flower Growers and Exporters Association stressed the importance of the ATPDEA and its impact on its flower industry in an advertisement it recently placed in the June 14 issue of Roll Call, a newspaper covering Congressional news that is published four times a week when Congress is in session.

The ad (see picture), depicting a rose next to an image of a razor blade and line of cocaine, states: "A rose is a rose, except when it is all that stands between the US and the illegal drug trade. Thanks to the Andean Trade Preferences and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA), Ecuador is the only country in the region with zero coca cultivation. That is because Ecuadorians enjoy something that most poor countries lack -- jobs."

--Kori Kamradt
kkamradt@safnow.org

 
[return to top]

Newsmakers

Florist Selected as One of Web's Best

Scott Kremp of Kremp Florist, in Willow Grove, Pa., admits he was surprised to learn that the family business' Web site was selected as one of the Web's best by Inc.com, but he says the praise is worthy because the site is easy to navigate and it's effective.

Inc.com recently featured a listing, paired with a feature article on how bosses can properly demonstrate appreciation for their employees with flowers, highlighting the top sites the Web has to offer in bouquet arrangements and inspiration. Kremp Florist was one of six Web sites -- and the only small, independent business, among contenders such as Proflowers and 1-800-Flowers.com -- selected because of its user-friendly ease and universal appeal.

"Kremp Florists' huge selection of unfussy flowers can be customized and delivered for just about any occasion," the Inc.com list cited.

According to Kremp, a member of SAF's Retailers Council and Business & Economic Trends Committee, the store's Web site received a major face-lift about a year and half ago, transforming it into a more valuable marketing component. Kremp adds that there is a lot of time put into developing the company's Web site, and the real goal of www.kremp.com, is to treat it like a branch store and make it "a store anyone in the country can visit."

"We're constantly looking for things that we can change. We want to keep up with what consumers want," he says.

--Cassandra P. Foster
cfoster@safnow.org

 
[return to top]

Trends and Tips

Eco-Bride Market Grows

Brides and grooms are jumping on board the eco-friendly wedding bus -- a hybrid one, that is -- according to a number of stories in high-profile newspapers and magazines, including the Washington Post and Brides magazine.

Customer Dis-Service

You could have the widest variety of flowers to choose from in the region, award-winning designers and beautiful displays, but if you're not offering good service for your customers, they may never come back.

Apathetic, ill-mannered and poorly-trained sales associates are causing customers to leave and spend their money elsewhere, according to Susan Reda, executive editor of STORES Magazine. Reda recently reported in an article "What Drives Your Customers Crazy," that, according to a poll of 7,000 consumers done on behalf of the magazine, 21 percent say their number one problem is employees who "don't know, or don't care."

"The biggest complaint shoppers have is that employees don't know about merchandise and don't seem to care that the shopper can't find what they're looking" for, Reda explains. 

Customers' next biggest concern, for 19 percent of respondents, is rude employees.

"The challenge becomes finding employees who are generally upbeat, engaged and interested in what they're selling, rather than sullen, punch-the-clock types that are just marking time until their next paycheck," Reda says.

Training is key, says Paul Bachman, owner and vice president of operations of Bachman's, Inc., in Minneapolis, Minn., the largest family-owned flower shop in the United States, with 21 stores in the Twin Cities area. But no amount of training will strengthen a business with a weak philosophy on service. 

"Not everyone is going to have all the skills you need, so sometimes you have to cross your fingers and just do the right amount of training," Bachman told E-Brief editors. "I feel it all comes down to the culture you develop, though. You have to have a culture that says service is important."

Create a culture where full-time employees are eager to serve customers, Bachman says, and new employees that come in will typically pick up on that vibe and follow in their footsteps.

Other signs of good service, according to the study: clear and consistent return policies and truthful marketing, which in turn can lead customers to tell their friends about their positive buying experience.

--Kori Kamradt
kkamradt@safnow.org

 
[return to top]

Life at Work

Getting Tough with Bullies

Kathy Dudley, owner of The Bloomery in Butler, Pa., didn't know she had a bully in her shop until the victim came forward with the problem.

Dudley's hiring of a new assistant manager left a designer, who felt entitled to the position, disgruntled. She made her opinion known by trying to make the new assistant manager's life as problematic as possible.

"Name calling, switching arrangements behind her back, [he/she] even went so far as to look at her paycheck when [the assistant manager] wasn't looking," Dudley explains. The designer "even got another employee on her side against" the assistant manager.

As it turns out, Dudley is hardly alone. Workforce Management magazine recently reported that new research in the Journal of Management Studies shows that American workers are bullied 50 percent more than employees in Scandinavia, and 9 percent of employees don't even realize that it's happening because it's so ingrained into the culture of U.S. workplaces.

Michael Harris, professor of management in the College of Business Administration at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, gave Floral Management readers some advice for dealing with bullies, in "Bar Bullying Behavior", including: take quick, decisive action.  
 
In Dudley's situation, the assistant manager took some initial charge. She confronted the designer, told her she wasn't going to take it anymore and then reported the problem to Dudley. Dudley then had a discussion with the designer, who eventually resigned. 

"We make it quite clear in our interviews that this is a team environment, that cattiness is not tolerated, and that attitudes and such should be checked at the door," Dudley says. "We are here to do our jobs and work as a team, and that if you can't survive and prosper in that type of environment, you are not right for our company."

SAF delves into finding and keeping great (non-bullying) employees, during a program at SAF Palm Springs 2007, SAF's 123rd Annual Convention in Palm Springs, Calif., Sept. 26-29.

--Kori Kamradt
kkamradt@safnow.org

 
[return to top]

Regular Features

Product Spotlight: Business-to-Business Portfolios

Need a little help marketing to corporate clientele? Put your best (and most professional) foot forward with SAF's Business-to-Business Portfolios (follow the link and click on Business-to-Business Materials). Use them to cultivate new clients, or remind current ones of the value of your business. The Portfolio includes: a full-color flier on the benefits of flowers and plants that features highlights of the Texas A&M "Flowers in the Workplace" research; a discount card to entice them to try your shop; a company profile form to collect valuable client information; and a carrier envelope (available in packs of 25). For more information contact Member Services at (800) 336-4743.
Member price: $29.95
Non-member price: $59.95

--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org

 
[return to top]

Talk on the Forums

One florist wants to put new incentive programs in place for her employees and wants to see if other florists have any programs they really like.
Weigh in.

Also on the Forums:
Minimum Deliveries

Frequent Buyer Programs

Start your own discussion.

--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org

 
[return to top]

Workplace Romance Policy: Anything Goes?

Eighty-five percent of readers responding the previous week's e-poll said their businesses do not have a policy about workplace romance. Fifteen percent say they do.

--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org

 
[return to top]

Flower Imports from ATPDEA Countries

Cut flower import values to the U.S. from the four South American countries that make up the ATPDEA -- Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia -- ranged in 2006 from almost $450 million in cut flowers from Colombia to around $3,000 from Bolivia. Ecuador and Peru were in between at more than $141 million and almost $4 million in value, respectively. Colombian import values rose 7 percent in 2006 over the previous year; from Ecuador the value increased more than 9 percent. Peru, starting from a much lower base, experienced a two-thirds increase in import value (67 percent); while Bolivia, the country with the lowest values saw imports fall in dollars more than 90 percent in 2006.

Cut Flower Import Values from ATPDEA Countries

Source: Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau, Foreign Trade Statistics

 --Ira Silvergleit
isilvergleit@safnow.org

 
[return to top]