Why We Call Before Every Home Delivery

One of the questions we get asked most often is:

"Can't you just leave it on the step? If you call, it'll ruin the surprise!"

It's a fair question and our answer has always been the same:

No—and there's a very good reason why.

Does Calling Really Ruin the Surprise? We'd actually argue the opposite. Think about it, you receive a phone call that says a special delivery is on its way from The BloomBox. Immediately your mind starts racing, who sent it? What could it be? Is it flowers? Is it for my birthday? Did someone just want to brighten my day? That anticipation is part of the gift and the excitement builds before the flowers ever arrive at your door. By the time we knock, the recipient is already smiling. The surprise isn't gone, it's simply transformed into excitement.

We've been delivering flowers for a long time, and if there's one thing we've learned, it's this: when someone says, "They'll be home all day," they usually aren't. If we had a dollar for every time we heard that, we'd probably be writing this from a tropical beach somewhere. More often than not, the recipient is out celebrating the very occasion you're sending flowers for. Birthday lunch, anniversary dinner, a day at the spa, lunch with friends, or perhaps they're simply running errands. When we're delivering sympathy flowers, it's even more common. Families are suddenly faced with making funeral arrangements, meeting with relatives, completing paperwork, and dealing with responsibilities they never expected to have. Sometimes they simply need a day away from home to process everything that's happened.

Life doesn't stop because flowers are arriving, and that's exactly why we call.

Manitoba Weather Doesn't Care About Your Flowers

If you live in Manitoba, you already know. One day it's +35°C, the next it's pouring rain, a week later it's snowing. Leaving flowers or gift baskets sitting on a front step simply isn't responsible. Extreme heat shortens the life of fresh flowers, extreme cold can destroy them completely and then there are thunderstorms, wind, curious wildlife, and unfortunately, theft.

Now imagine this situation. The sender specifically requested that we leave the flowers on the step. The recipient doesn't arrive home until eight hours later. The flowers have been baking in the sun all afternoon or are now frozen, or stolen. Who's responsible?

It's a difficult question, but one we've already answered through our policies. As a small business, we simply cannot accept responsibility for circumstances beyond our control after a delivery has been left unattended. That's why we don't do it.

Our Guarantee Depends on Proper Care

We proudly stand behind the quality of our flowers, but that guarantee begins when the flowers are placed into someone's hands—not when they're left outside for hours. Fresh flowers need water, proper temperatures, and they need someone to care for them according to the instructions we provide. If a recipient is away for several days without anyone knowing, no flower can be expected to look its best when they finally return home. Calling first gives us the best chance of delivering your gift when it can be enjoyed exactly as intended.

Why Not Just Deliver Like the Big Online Companies?

This is another question we hear. After all, there are websites promising:

"Same-day delivery anywhere in Canada!"

The reality is very different. Many of these companies aren't florists at all, they're order gatherers who ship boxed flowers through general courier services. Those couriers are excellent at delivering parcels, they're not trained to handle luxury, perishable products. Flowers may spend hours riding around in delivery trucks before being left outside in the sun, the rain, or the cold.

When the recipient finally gets home, they often receive a cardboard box. Inside that box are flowers that need to be unpacked, trimmed, arranged, and placed into a vase. Think about that for a moment. It's a bit like sending someone a box of chocolates, only instead of chocolates, they receive cocoa powder, sugar, cream, and a recipe. Sure, making your own chocolates might be a fun activity on a quiet Saturday afternoon, but is that really how you want someone to receive a birthday gift? Or comfort after losing a loved one? Probably not. When someone sends flowers, they're sending a finished gift, beautifully designed, professionally arranged and ready to enjoy the moment it's delivered. That's exactly what we believe flowers should be.

Our Systems Exist for One Reason

Every policy we have has been developed through years of experience. The checks and balances we use before an order leaves the shop, the way we prepare our flowers, the way we schedule deliveries, the phone call before every home delivery. None of these things are done because they're easier, actually it's quite the opposite. Each step takes more time, more planning, and more effort. But they all exist for one purpose:

To ensure your recipient receives the very best experience possible.

Sometimes that means your delivery arrives tomorrow instead of today because that's when someone will actually be home. We think that's worth waiting for because after all, flowers aren't just about getting there quickly.

They're about arriving at exactly the right moment.