[Update -- 1154 -- A guide to Slave-Free Chocolate. ]

Diamonds and chocolates are not a good choice for Valentines Day — that whole child-slavery thing, remember? But flowers look to be a safe and popular choice. And the folks at Real Simple (via Life Hack) make it easy to Internet shop for a dozen roses.

But wait. Wal-Mart isn’t on Real Simple’s list! At $34.88 for a dozen, florist-quality red roses with elegant long stems; premium large buds and accented with delicate baby’s breath and fern leaves ($58.96 for 24) your Wal-Mart (imported, from China?) flowers are neither the most nor the least expensive per rose.

calyxandcorolla.com: $69 for 12 ($5.75 per rose)
ftd.com: $68 for 12 ($5.67 per rose)
flowerclub.com: $55 for 12 ($4.58 per rose)
hallmark.com: $50 for 12 ($4.17 per rose)
pcflowers.com: $43 for 12 ($3.58 per rose)
1800flowers.com: $70 for 24 ($2.92 per rose)
redenvelope.com: $60 for 24 ($2.50 per rose)
walmart.com $58.96 for 24 ($2.46 per rose)
freshroses.com: $46 for 24 ($1.92 per rose)
proflowers.com: $45 for 25 ($1.80 per rose)
marthasflowers.com: $62 for 35 ($1.77 per rose)
flowerbud.com: $64 for 50+ ($1.28 per rose)

Do you suppose that the staff of Real Simple don’t shop at Wal-Mart? Or maybe the staff doesn’t think that their readers shop at Wal-Mart? Or maybe they just figure that a gift from Wal-Mart fails to send that heart-felt message lovers crave?

Jeff Hess: Have Coffee Will Write.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 12th, 2007 at 0529 by Jeff Hess and is filed under Advertising, Customer Satisfaction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.