News 14 Carolina's Bryn Hough has more on how florists are dealing with gas prices on such a busy weekend.
CHARLOTTE -- Mother’s Day is one of the busiest holidays for florists, second only to Valentine's Day. With hundreds of orders to be delivered, you'd think the high cost of gas would be wilting profits but there is one way stores can alleviate the pain at the pump.
The phone at the Blossom Shop in Charlotte rang off the hook Saturday with last-minute Mother’s Day requests.
"We'll probably have about 250, 300, maybe more than 300 deliveries today," said shop owner Ted Todd.
While business is booming, it's days like these that the high cost of gas is felt the most.
"Most all florists charge some sort of delivery charge and have for as long as I can remember," said Todd.
Mother's Day is second only to Valentine's Day for flower sales and deliveries.
The Blossom Shop raised its delivery price last year, the first hike in years.
"Gas is a very critical part of the cost of delivering flowers from South America to us to you," Todd explained.
But something started nearly two decades ago is helping alleviate some of the pain felt at the pump.
"We have a delivery pool and we've stayed with it for 20 years,” Todd said. “There's 15, 16, 17 florists that share deliveries so we meet in a common area and each florist is delivering to a small area in Mecklenburg County."
While Todd says the pool has helped a lot in recent months, if the cost of gas continues to rise, delivery charges will likely go up.
Florists say they use fuel not only for delivering flowers but also for shipping flowers in from all over the world as well as heating greenhouses and cooling storage areas to keep flowers fresh.