An open letter to Weekend Today

Florist Rick King, AIFD, SCCPF, NCCPF penned the following letter to Weekend Today in response to their segment about ""What Your Florist Won't Tell You".

As a professional retail florist, I have to say that you portrayed the local retail florist in a bad light. Yes, There are those unscrupulous people who do scam the customer and degrade our reputation as an industry whole. However, the vast majority of local, in-your-town retail florists are upstanding business persons and do not do the customer an injustice.

In future, when alerting the public to these scam artists, there are a few resources you should add to your files of research material.

All of these websites are for professional floral organizations that STRESS high quailty and ethical business practices.

First on the list is The American Institute of Floral Designers - aifd.org

This is an organization whose mission is to promote higher standards and artistry in the field of professional floral design. We have a quite strict ethics code that we members must adhere to or risk losing our membership status. This organization is composed of floral designers, some are business owners, some are involved with other aspects of our industry.

Second on the list is The Florist Detective - floristdetective.com

This is an organization that reports on those unscrupulous individuals and businesses that DO skim and scam the customer. The persons who are profiled on this site are the ones who give our industry the reason for the type of reporting that you showcased with your peice.

Third on the list is Flowerchat - flowerchat.com

This is a forum that is composed entirely of people within the floral industry who exchange information concerning those unscrupulous businesses and unethical person who you were trying to profile on your article, but ended up placing the local florists in a bad light. We also exchange information that helps us to build our businesses and new tips and techniques to enable us to render better service to our local customers.

Fourth on this list is the Wholesale Florist and Floral Supplier Association - wffsa.org

This is as association of reputable floral wholesalers and floral suppliers throughout the nation that are concerned and endeavor to help better our industry.

Fifth on the list is the Texas State Florists Association - tsfa.org

This is an association of professional florists throughout the state of Texas.

The last resource on this list is the National Alliance of Floral Associations - nafainfo.org

This is an associated alliance of State Florists Associations that have come together to help combat unethical procatices with our industry. Those same practices of which you profiled.

As a retail florist, I fully understand the underlying reason why you presented the piece, but the person who gave the report exhibited some poor journalistic integrity when she lumped all of us in the same basket with those persons who are deserving to be exposed for the reprehensible vermin that they truly are.

It is my sincere wish to not offend, but to eduate and to give you the resources that will better aid you in your future reporting on the floral industry as a whole.

Please, In the future, when you are planning a journalistic piece on the unethical facets of our industry that quite frankly, degrade and injure all of us, avail yourself of these and more resources that can be had for the contact and asking.

Rikc King is an accredited designer and professional florist in West Columbia, SC.