Charles Carithers Delivers Valentine's Message

We hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s Day. For those of you who placed Valentine’s flower orders with us, thank you so much for your business and for the chance to be a part of your 2014 Valentine’s experience. The unprecedented winter storm that rolled through Atlanta brought our city and most business activity to a virtual halt. The storm left thousands without power and the devastating ice and snow it delivered prompted our Governor to declare a state of emergency that included the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Governor requested that all non-essential business traffic remain off the roads. Carithers Flowers made every effort to comply with his request. 

Media coverage of the impending storm began over the weekend leading up to Valentine's week and peaked on Monday, just before the first blast of ice and snow reached our city. We heeded the warnings from local broadcast media and began pro-actively contacting customers who had previously placed orders for Tuesday and Wednesday delivery. We advised each customer of the storm related information we were receiving and suggested they allow us to move their delivery to either Monday, Thursday or Friday. The vast majority of those we contacted took us up on the suggestion and shifted their Valentine's deliveries to avoid the peak of the storm. 

The second wintery blast that arrived Wednesday night proved to be even more devastating than the first round of ice and snow.  The roads were nearly impassable on Thursday morning. Still, with so many counting on Carithers to help fulfill their Valentine's deliveries, our early response team made their way into our facility. They arrived well before sunrise and immediately began the task clearing the parking lot of ice and snow. That process involved hours of hand shoveling and the application of several hundred pounds of deicing compound to the paved surfaces. Even with their best efforts, we could not begin allowing staff and delivery personnel into the facility until early that afternoon. 

By Friday, roads were clearing and our business operations were back up and functioning. We now faced the daunting task of designing and fulfilling three days of floral deliveries in a single day.  We set about that task early Friday morning and continued throughout the day with the help of additional local couriers, professional drivers, and a design team who worked into the early morning hours Friday.  By the end of the day, we had successfully delivered over 95% of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday arrangements.  And beginning Saturday morning we began contacting those customers whose orders were not delivered.  The vast majority of customers we reached were very understanding and appreciative of our efforts to fight through the weather conditions in an attempt to deliver their Valentine's arrangement. As with all situations like this, the Carithers’ family will do everything possible to make the situation right for those whom we missed on Friday.

If your flower arrangement was not delivered and you have not been contacted by us, please contact our office immediately at (770) 980-3000(770) 980-3000. Our goal is to ensure that every single delivery problem is fully addressed and handled to your satisfaction. 

We want to thank you again for your business and express to you just how much we appreciate your understanding during this most unusual situation.