Mothers day comes a long once a year, celebrated by people around the globe for over 100 years. But due to covid19 pandemic things went a little differently this year. With businesses closed, staff layoffs, and people asked to isolate, anxiety during this time was at a high. Without much warning, we received orders from all over the globe by customers wanting to send flowers and gifts to loved ones they care for and concerned about. Due to the volume, there was a national communication overload which affected every level of the supply chain from technical to product, from farmers to small business. Many florists in Victoria were unable to answer calls and yet we all worked hard to provide high levels of service.

Petals n Buds care about your messages sent to loved once letting them know they are thought of and cared for deeply. We worked way beyond regular working hours this year. And due to loss of regular staff, new people were trained and assisted this Mother’s Day. Local farmers worked overtime to provide products that had not been harvested, which also meant that we were able to receive newly cut flowers daily. Web technicians doubled their staff loads to accommodate transmissions this year. There were some glitches in transmission due mainly because of the increased volume of customers. We believe this may have been due to increased anxiety resulting from the inability for families to visit loved one’s face to face this year. Petals n Buds Metchosin Florists and Petals n Buds Brentwood Bay Florist responded, with an understanding of the increased levels of concern, people have for others this year. Staff took little rest between days in effort to cushion the gaps between customers wanting to send a message of care on the 9th and 10th of May, and the production challenges of making this happen.

Most people wanted flowers on the Sunday. If you were one of the people who waited, we are so sorry for being unable to answer phones and respond to your concerns immediately. If you received orders early, it was because due to your delivery area, we would not be able to have your orders delivered on or before Mothers Day 2020, without changing your delivery day. We thank you, for your patience, your flexibility, and your understanding. We understand this cocktail of isolation, covid19 media, and commerce disruption creates increased concern for people. Petals n Buds staff are trained to be sensitive to these, and we hope that you experience our compassion. It is difficult for us to assist, if you are still exceedingly upset, as we are not able to change the circumstances which we went through. We still want you to know we made every effort to prioritise orders which came in early. We ensured that everyone placing orders on the 9^th and onward understood the need to accept a flexible delivery date. We are sending messages to your loved ones, as requested and will continue.

Due to many changes encouraged by international protocols, the last two months, we encourage customers place orders through our website and then call-in if you have questions which are related. You will receive a copy of your order placed on our site and we are able to confirm its delivery soon after. Our shop is open to customers for appointments only. This is due to many of our recipients being elders. We are still following disinfection protocols and distancing during deliveries and will continue doing so until there is an affirmed method of preventing infection to those whose immune systems are vulnerable.

Thank you so much. You enrich our work experience and we appreciate you.

Creative Director and friends from Petals n Buds Florist