The Roseguy's Blog

Spring sales over for another year.

emains — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 05:41:07 +0000

Well the spring sales ended last week. From all accounts it was a good year and lots of money made by the clubs participating. Thanks to all of the groups that participated this year as we get ready for the fall sales in October.

Spring Season 2011 In Full Swing!

emains — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 02:55:51 +0000

This spring season is well underway. It started off with Greater Clark County Rotary Club, followed by Beaverton Rotary Club, Pendleton Rotary Club, Hillsboro Rotary Club, Othello Rotary Club, Ellensburg Rotary Club, Tigard Rotary Club, Hood River Rotary Club, E. Jefferson County Rotary Club and SW Portland Rotary Club. Whew! We have been busy. All reports are that the roses are the best that they have been in years. That is always good news and always good for repeat sales. Upcoming sales include 6 more clubs and organizations for this spring then we take a summer break. Sales pick up again in October with several clubs doing their fall sales. To get your club involved get in touch with us. We still have dates open for this year. Your club or organization can make a lot of money with very little effort. The rose sale is a quick in and quick out fundraiser with no upfront money and no locked in commitment. Once we mutually establish your date, your organization pre-sells and takes orders and then gives us an order for exactly how many dozen you want. It is as simple as that.

The end of the season.

emains — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 17:31:33 +0000

As with all good things, they have to come to an end. Our rose sale season is over for 2010. We are already making plans for the 2011 season in hopes of making it better. We are faced with lots of challenges in this coming year. The weakness of the American dollar against foreign currency since our roses come from South America, is a major factor. Supply is always an issue. Every year there are less growers and less farms. This of course shortens the supply and therefor puts a strain on the price. What makes this fund raiser work is that we plan the sale dates for the groups we service, away from the major floral holidays. Since roses grow whether there is demand or not, we then try to take advantage of over abundant supplies with shortened demand. The very first thing that every new group tells me when they call is “we were thinking about doing it on Valentine’s Day”. Well of course that is impossible. The cost of the roses on Valentines Day far exceeds what we can sell them to the groups for. If it were not for Valentine’s Day then this fund raiser could not exist. We are taking advantage of the comeback cut from Valentine’s Day to get the roses we need at the price we can afford to pay. Hope to see you all next year with a bigger and better program.

Fall Sales Start

emains — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 03:58:14 +0000

Hard to believe that we have come around to the fall sales already. Boy it seems like only a few weeks ago that I met Gary Bankers at the Hillsboro airport when he flew in to pick up the roses for S. Puget Sound Rotary Club. Time has a way of passing, and each year it seems like it passes faster. Here we are again getting ready for the first fall sale. Poulsbo Rotary Club is first on the list. Poulsbo normally has a new chairman every year, picked from their freshman class. Jim does an outstanding job of setting up the sale and then handing it over to a new Rotarian. This year Meredith is taking on the sale again. I am expecting big things from this club as Meredith is now a seasoned rose sale chairman. Good luck and looking forward to working with you again this year!

Spring season finale

emains — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 05:04:34 +0000

South Center Rotary Club and Ross Island Center Kiwanis Club wrapped up a successful spring season. Reports from all groups was that the roses were great this year.

A Rare Off-Week

emains — Sat, 01 May 2010 02:14:29 +0000

This week was a rare week in the springtime without any sales. There were some clubs in this week that had to change their dates due to one issue or another within their organizations. But next week we are running again. One of our longtime clubs, Canby Rotary Club, is picking up on Thursday afternoon again this year. Lewiston, Idaho Rotary Club is air shipping again this year for the 3rd year and W. Columbia Gorge Rotary Club is picking up again. They are also in their 3rd year. Should be a good week for everyone.

The Season Continues

emains — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 02:47:07 +0000

So far we have completed Hillsboro Rotary Club, Beaverton Rotary Club, Pendleton Rotary Club, Tigard Rotary Club, and Hood River Rotary Club. This next week is a busy week with us delivering Tuesday the 20th to Grants Pass Rotary Club, delivering Wednesday to Ellensburg Rotary Club, a pickup by Othello Rotary Club also on Wednesday, a delivery to E. Jefferson County Rotary Club on Thursday and another pickup on Friday from SW Portland Rotary Club. Whew…just keeping them all straight is a challenge. But it works well and lots of happy people throughout the Northwest will receive some beautiful roses this week.

Two down!

emains — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 05:33:24 +0000

Well the big one is over now. The Beaverton Rotary Club has always been our largest sale. Their numbers were down this year, but then again everything is down this year. Our rose sales are just a reflection of the economy as a whole. Until our government does something to make it easier for business to survive, I fear that things will stay slow. Hopefully something will break. Actually it is not the government that will make it better, it is the lack of government that will make it better. If they would only get out of the way and let our strong spirit soar, our economy would come back to the strength that it should. There is so much wisdom in the old saying..Government that governs least, governs best. How true. Keep selling roses and keeping making people happy. Both the people that receive the roses and those that benefit from the funds that are raised.

The New Season Is Underway!

emains — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 02:17:49 +0000

Hillsboro Rotary Club inaugurated the season with it’s sale today. Unfortunately the roses were gone before all members had an opportunity to pick them up! This just shows the importance of team captains getting good accurate counts prior to the rose sale chairman placing the order. It also brings up the point of ordering a few extra dozens on spec, knowing that some members will always want to pick a few extra. While one of the best aspects of this fundraiser is that a club never has to order one more dozen than they have sold, it still shows that some profits are left on the table by being too conservative.

2010 Packets

emains — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 03:10:34 +0000

The packets have been mailed for 2010. We are happy to report that the pricing will remain the same for 3 years straight now, with the exception of those clubs that want to do their sale during Mother’s Day week. Last year we were charged an additional $1.5o per dozen roses during that week. Since we had established our pricing earlier in the season and remain true to our word, we were forced to just “eat” that difference. Needless to say that on a low profit marging item like this that was pretty much all the profit that we could make and we were lucky if we broke even with the sales during that week. Consequently any club that wants to do their sale during that period of time will be subjected to an upcharge of $1.50 per dozen across all price brackets. We might add that the motivation for buying roses is not attached to a holiday or event. The reason that most people purchase roses from a club or group is to support the activities of the club or group. So you can make your self an additional $1.50 per dozen by having us schedule you out of that week! Watch the mail for your packets and please confirm your participation soon so we can finalize our schedule. Thank you!