Why We Call The Recipient First
When you place an order with us, we're careful to make sure we get the recipient's phone number. People with unlisted numbers are usually worried we're going to share this information with someone else--we absolutely don't. We need phone numbers--both yours and the recipient's--for several reasons:
- We need your phone number in case delivery cannot be made. For instance, people are sometimes discharged from the hospital before you find out they're there! Or sometimes, if they're in ICU and can't receive deliveries for several days, we'll need to call you back and see how to handle the order. Likewise, if the recipient took a vacation on their birthday (it happens).
- If we know the recipient is home, we can route our deliveries better. Gas is expensive these days.
- The world has changed a little. There is some very cool stuff these days (think iPod). But sadly, there are also dangers that didn't used to exist. Remember the pizza delivery guy who had a bomb attached to him, and was told to rob a bank? Visit http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,96109,00.html in case you forgot. That happened in Erie, PA--not quite two hours north of Butler. There have also been a number of pizza delivery drivers murdered in Pittsburgh, about 45 minutes to the south of us (see http://kdka.com/local/local_story_017074140.html and http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04212/354120.stm). We think about this every time one of our drivers heads out to a strange address without a phone number.
Does phoning the recipient ahead ruin the surprise? Not really. Think about it--if we show up at the door unannounced, the recipient is surprised. If we call first, there's all the anticipation of knowing something's coming. It grows and grows until we get there. Ask our drivers--sometimes people are almost crazy with anticipation by the time we get there. Many are waiting by the door or watching through the window for our van. And there's still the happy surprise when your recipient sees what we created for him or her!
<update 2006-07-26>
Cathy Rulloda adds some more good points in her own post about phoning recipients first. Since we first posted this, temperatures have begun hitting the high-80s to low-90s, which is absolutely sweltering for our area. On the same idea, flowers freeze very quickly, and in the winter, we have to move them from the van to the recipient swiftly, or the arrangement will be ruined. We can't wait on the doorstep holding the flowers while we try and figure out if someone is home or not.
Unlike Anaheim, the only gated community we have in Butler is the Army base, and we make sure to call ahead there!