The change in the price of flowers on Valentine's Day is a question that comes up regularly and that raises many questions, for good reason. But why do we often see an increase in the price of our bouquet at this time of the popular celebration of love (and other holidays such as Mother's Day)? Here is a brief explanation* that will answer the question.
Supply and demand have a direct impact on the price of flowers on Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day creates a huge demand for long-stemmed roses. Each phase of production costs more because of the large volume of roses needed for this day
GROWERS
Shorter daylight in winter and higher energy costs hamper efforts to produce large crops of roses. In preparation for February 14th, growers need to plan for the huge volume of roses. Essentially, they stop rose production by cutting the stems (thus destroying the roses) in order to produce a bumper crop just before February 14th. This means that normally productive rose plants do not produce full rose buds weeks before and after the Valentine's Day growing cycle. The cost of stopping daily production during rose production is undeniably passed on to the consumer.
A bumper crop produces up to three (3) times the normal volume of roses harvested by growers. This means that growers need additional temporary labor to assist regular staff in harvesting, processing and packaging the roses.
FAIR TRADE FLOWERS
Of course, fair trade flowers and roses are more expensive. For certified Fair Trade growers, this inevitably means higher costs, as they have to pay their employees overtime, make sure they are not using child labor (which is unfortunately the case on some other farms), and continue to offer good working conditions despite the immense workload. At À la Boîte à Fleurs, like many other florists, we have chosen to offer flowers from eco-responsible producers when possible, despite the fact that they are more expensive. We sincerely believe that it is important to offer you flowers of exceptional quality and to take into consideration the respect of the environment.
At the boutique, our roses come exclusively from the renowned farm Rosaprima located in Ecuador. As one of my suppliers Marilyn at Fleurametz explained to me, Rosaprima is certified by both Rainforest Alliance and Basc (an international program) and by Flor Ecuador (a socio-environmental program of Ecuadorian growers). Also at the store, most of our flowers from Ecuador are also certified by Flor Ecuador . Finally, the vast majority of the other farms we work with are certified by Rainforest Alliance and Basc. We can therefore assure you that we are concerned with offering you fair trade flowers, without neglecting a high standard of quality.
TRANSPORT
Roses are flown in from Ecuador, Europe, Australia and Asia, or trucked in from farms in the United States and Canada. Importers pay more for air transport, as additional aircraft must be used for the larger import volume. In summary, additional trucks and drivers are needed to transport the roses and distribute them throughout the country. Adverse weather conditions sometimes require special measures to ensure that the flowers are delivered on time and in perfect condition. The added transportation costs therefore also affect the cost of roses and other flowers to the consumer.
FLORISTS
For all the work involved in preparing flowers for Valentine's Day, florists must hire additional employees. The hours of work are numerous. Also, on the day itself, we need extra drivers and delivery vehicles to meet the high demand and deliver all these orders in one day.
Here are some numbers from À la Boîte à Fleurs illustrating the magnitude of the holiday :
- 2000 roses to arrange and clean
- 6500 stems of flowers and greenery to be put in water
- 15 florists and florist's helpers to work many hours before the day to meet the demand
- 6 delivery men and 1 delivery manager to orchestrate all these deliveries
What you need to understand is that each step required from the production of the flowers to the delivery of the bouquet creates additional costs. Your florist pays more for flowers, which is inevitably passed on to the consumer. All this work required to ensure that each customer receives their bouquet of flowers on Valentine's Day, work that we are honored to do, despite this slight increase in cost, you will agree with me that flowers remain one of the most beautiful ways to express your love!
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*Free translation from Teleflora https://www.teleflora.com/blog/why-do-rose-prices-go-up-at-valentines-day/amp/
