The California Legislature recently passed AB 2076, a bill which prevents out-of-area affiliate marketers – “Absentee Florists” – from using geographic misrepresentation to lead consumers to believe they are dealing with local florists – and the bill will be heading to Gov. Schwarzenegger’s desk in the next day or so for his signature.
How the bill benefits consumers:
- Buyers will get more flowers for their dollars by avoiding the hidden fees and service charges (often called ‘delivery fees’ but pocketed by these companies) and those fees range from $10 to $19.95. ‘Order gatherers’ also strip an additional 29%-31% of each floral order’s value via commissions and fees.
- Consumers specifically choosing to search for local florists – and supporting programs like the 3/50 Project – will have their dollars really spent with local businesses.
How AB 2076 benefits Californians:
- Local florists collect and remit CA sales tax while ”order gatherers’ – often out-of-state and even out-of-country – do not add this much needed revenue to our state treasury.
- Local florists also pay business and property taxes, employ tens of thousands of Californians and support our local communities. By using geographic misrepresentation, these affiliate marketers significantly reduce local business income and continue to cost the jobs of hard-working Californians.
We urge florists and consumers to fax letters of support to Gov. Schwarzenegger at 916-558-3160 as soon as possible, urging him to sign AB 2076. It’s time California stand with the 26 other states who have passed legislation to prevent distant call centers from pretending to be local florists here in our state.
Below are just a few examples of the types of geographic misrepresentation this bill will address:
New Jersey call center posing as a local Brea CA florist – complete with a map ‘location’.
And here they are, also claiming to be located in Fullerton CA
Distant call center (Colorado?)posing as two different local Anaheim flower shops – complete with claimed Google Places listings and phony addresses.
And a phony location in Buena Park CA…..
And another fake location in Walnut Creek CA… and hundreds of other California cities.
Fake ‘local’ flower shops also claim Yahoo Local listings – like these two examples:
And run ads deceptively claiming to be ‘Florists in Sacramento’ and having ‘Sacramento Flowers’ saying they’re ‘here in the city’ even though one advertiser is located in Oregon and the other sits in a call center hundreds of miles away in south Orange County.
These examples are just a very small sample of the kinds of geographic misrepresentation AB 2076 addresses. We urge Governor Schwarzenegger to sign the bill and stand up for California taxpayers, legitimate local businesses and their hard-working employees.
We’d like to thank the California State Floral Association for assisting with this legislation and the California Cut Flower Commission and the Society of American Florists for standing in support of it.
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