CAT - Free plants

From: John Montgomery <monashee@junction.net>

I guess I can safely bring this point up, now that I have sold my
business.

I am curious about the origin of the practice of adding free plants to
orders. With one exception I can not think of any other type of business
which routinely provides this act of charity. I did once patronize a
hardware store where if you bought a couple of dozen screws for
instance, they would add one extra (for the crack in the floor.) In any
other commercial transaction you expect to get exactly what you pay for
and nothing more.

It can't be because the margin is so large in the nursery business.
Certainly, of the several fields I have been involved in, none of them
came close to approaching the minimal amout of net gain for the work
required. the uncertainty owing to vagaries of weather, disease,
predators, will the water hold out and fickle customers (in terms of
what they will want next year) all give one the feeling of walking a
tight rope.

It is of course very nice to open a package and find a bunch of free
plants in it. On the other hand, if the nursery is making a profit, and
they must do that, those extra plants must be accounted for in the
prices charged for the ones actually ordered. When I put on my
customer's hat I think I would prefer to get exactly what I order at a
good price.

When I used to put on my nurseryman's cap I also included free plants in
with the ones which were paid for. It didn't give me a warm and fuzzy
feeling but rather it always made me feel stupid. It just seemed like a
dumb practice. I think that the plants which I was selling were worth
every penny of their price and yet there I was throwing in extras as
though the customer would feel ripped off if I didn't.

Simply put I think that virtually all of the small, specialty nurseries
operate on such a thin margin of profit that I do not think the customer
should expect free plants as a routine occurrence.

End of rant

John Montgomery
m*@junction.net
Vernon  BC  Zone 5   --- where I just got an order of arilbreds with
several free ones included. Thank you Arnold Ferguson!





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