What Does It Really Take to Deliver Flowers?

September 16, 2026

When you order flowers for delivery, the delivery itself can seem like the simplest part of the process. We make the arrangement, put it in the van, drive it across town, and hand it to the recipient. Simple, right? Well... not quite.

At The BloomBox, delivery has always been an important part of what we do, and something we've tried very hard to keep affordable. For a long time, our delivery fee within Brandon was just $5. As of September 16, our delivery rates are $10 within Brandon, $30 to Shilo and Sprucewoods, and $50 to Rivers.

We know nobody gets excited about a price increase, so we thought we'd share a little about what actually goes into delivering flowers and why we've finally decided it was time to adjust our rates.

Almost 14,000 Kilometres in One Year

In 2025, our delivery vehicle travelled nearly 14,000 kilometres making deliveries for The BloomBox. Those kilometres take us across Brandon and throughout our surrounding delivery area in everything Manitoba weather can throw at us — extreme summer heat, bitter winter cold, rainstorms, blowing snow, icy streets and the occasional full-blown blizzard.

Our delivery vehicle happens to be a Honda Odyssey, which seems appropriate. Most flower deliveries aren't much of an odyssey, but every once in a while Manitoba weather decides otherwise.

Weather very rarely stops us from making a delivery, including those outside Brandon. Unless conditions become genuinely unsafe, we're usually still heading down the highway to Shilo, Sprucewoods, Rivers and rural homes throughout our delivery area.

Keeping a vehicle on the road for that many kilometres means fuel, tires, maintenance and repairs, all of which have become more expensive. We do much of the maintenance and many repairs ourselves, which helps keep those costs down, but parts and supplies certainly haven't become any cheaper.

There's More to Delivery Than Driving

The vehicle is only part of the cost. Wages have also increased significantly over the years, and delivery takes more time than simply driving from Point A to Point B. Flowers need to be carefully loaded, routes planned, and deliveries carried into homes, apartment buildings, hospitals, personal care homes and businesses.

For residential deliveries, we also contact the recipient before the flowers leave our shop. Flowers don't particularly enjoy sitting outside in a Manitoba winter or baking on a doorstep in the middle of summer, and we don't leave them with a neighbour and hope they eventually make their way to the right person.

That can mean phone calls, messages, waiting for a response and coordinating when someone will actually be available. It takes a little more time, but we think making sure your flowers reach the recipient safely is worth it.

Why Brandon and Out-of-Town Delivery Are Different

One of the ways we've kept Brandon delivery affordable is by combining deliveries into routes whenever possible. In 2025, we averaged roughly three deliveries per trip, allowing the cost of a trip to be shared among several orders while also reducing unnecessary kilometres.

Out-of-town deliveries work very differently. A delivery to Shilo, Sprucewoods or Rivers is most often a dedicated trip for a single arrangement. We leave Brandon, make the delivery and come back, so one order accounts for considerably more kilometres, fuel, vehicle wear and driver time. That's why those delivery rates are higher.

Why Did We Change the Fees?

We've absorbed increases in fuel, wages, maintenance, repairs and other delivery costs for quite some time while keeping Brandon delivery at $5. Eventually, the numbers simply stop working.

The goal isn't to turn delivery into a big profit centre. We simply need the delivery fee to make a reasonable contribution toward the actual cost of providing the service. We'd much rather make a reasonable adjustment to the delivery fee than try to recover those costs by taking value out of the flowers you ordered.

Still Personal. Still Local.

Your arrangement was created here in our Brandon shop. We know what's in the van, we know where it's going, and we make sure someone is available to receive it. That's part of the personal service that comes with ordering from a local florist.

So yes, our delivery fees have changed, but the service behind them hasn't. We'll still carefully transport your flowers, contact residential recipients before heading out, plan efficient routes, and do our best to get them where they need to go through rain, shine, heat, cold and snow.

After all, when your delivery vehicle is an Odyssey, you have to expect the occasional adventure.

Thank you for supporting our local flower shop — and for giving us nearly 14,000 kilometres of places to go last year!

Fresh. Unique. Flowers. It’s What We Do!

— Trish & Shaun
The BloomBox