By Any Other Name, Still $50 to $100
Dialing I-love-you, let us count the cost: With Valentine’s Day approaching, we surveyed the cost of sending a dozen long-stemmed roses via several toll-free ordering services. None are cheap; only one service, Flowers Direct, quoted a price under $50, including tax and delivery. Here’s a rundown.
* (800) FLOWERS said prices ranged from $68.95 for a box to $88.95 if a glass vase was included. Prices include $8.95 for tax and delivery. But a customer service representative warned that prices will rise by $10 before Valentine’s Day.
* (800) THE ROSE quoted us $83.44--$68.95 for the flowers and $14.49 for tax and service. Roses are shipped with a vase at no extra charge.
* (800) SEND FTD quoted us $69.95 for roses and a vase. Boxed roses aren’t available. We had to call a second number to find out the delivery charge is $8.95, bringing the total to $78.90 before tax. A service rep told us we could save $20 by sending a belated Valentine, delivered after Feb. 15.
* Calyx & Corolla, a catalogue flower service, said prices range from $68.95 for a box of roses to $78.95 for a vase of them, including a $3.95 delivery charge. Tax is additional.
* RosExpress said roses shipped via Federal Express to arrive by Feb. 11 cost $69.99, while roses shipped via Express Mail to arrive on Valentine’s Day cost $74.99. Tax adds about $5 to each total, a service rep said.
* Flowers Direct, a toll-free service that connects you to a local florist, quoted us $47.63 for boxed flowers and up to $80.10 for flowers with a fancy glass vase, delivery and tax included. The florist told us the $4 delivery charge varies by florist and destination.
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For post-Valentine’s Day developments: Following the lead of such budget-minded competitors as 99 Cents Only Stores, the Target Stores discount chain is opening a bridal registry in its Chicago-area stores.
Couples registering at Target, a unit of Minneapolis-based Dayton Hudson Corp., use scanner guns to “zap” bar codes on the items they want. The information is fed into a computer and printed out for gift givers at participating stores.
A spokeswoman said Target executives believe that engaged couples “want functional gifts like power tools and stainless flatware.” She said the company expects to expand the program nationwide. During a test run in Minneapolis last year, she said, 2,000 couples registered for such gotta-have items as toothpaste and soap.
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Checking it out: Citibank is mailing its credit card customers $3 checks to “endorse and deposit or cash at any bank.” In an accompanying letter, Citibank says the check is its way of saying “thanks for your business” and introducing customers to its new “protection plus service.”
More to the point, the check is Citibank’s way of getting its customers to sign up for the new service. By cashing the check, the letter notes, customers agree to pay $39 for three years of protection plus a benefits package that covers losses on stolen credit cards, among other things. Citibank calls the deal a “$3 offer.” Sounds like a $36 offer to us.
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Throwing away stones: A leading textile manufacturer has come up with a specially treated denim that appears to be stone-washed but isn’t.
Clothing manufacturers launder jeans with abrasive pumice stones for up to four hours to achieve the popular look that accounts for up to 85% of jeans sales nationwide. A drawback is that heavy stone-washing can damage jeans, forcing manufacturers to repair them or sell them as seconds. Stone-washing is hard on washing machines too.
Burlington Industries of Greensboro, N.C., said the indigo in its “stone-free” denim breaks down quickly in the wash cycle, so in most cases no stones are required. (The exception: Burlington says stones are needed for the faded “destructed denim look.”)
The stone-free fabric is being tested by Levi Strauss, Guess and Gap. Depending on the results of the tests, stone-free jeans, or almost-stone-free jeans, could show up in stores a year from now.
