This blog touches on a different aspect of purchasing a gift basket. In order to have a pleasant and satisfying experience when ordering a gift basket (or any other product) it is recommended that you first read and educate yourself regarding the following areas:

1) Processing and shipping times and procedures:
Gift basket companies do not function like flower shops. Where as floral shops accept orders for flowers and then FTD them to another floral company close by to the recipient, gift basket companies actually process and ship orders from their facility.

Most gift basket companies have a cut off time to ship your gift by. (say orders placed by 1pm). Remember “shipped by” is not the same as “delivered by”. Delivery time calculations are BUSINESS DAYS only and vary based on the distance to the recipients location. They very rarely include the day of order in that delivery time.

For example, say you order a gift basket by 1pm EST on a Tuesday-This is day zero. If you are sending to Toronto and Toronto is a two day delivery time (if sent via standard shipping), your gift would arrive sometime on Thursday (delivery companies do not accept specific delivery times ie. 1pm or between 9am-11am.) If you send it guaranteed, and guaranteed is 1 day, the recipient would get it Wednesday.

Now say the companies cut off time is 1pm and you place your order after this time, on a weekend or holiday, your processing day (day zero) is the first business day following the holiday. Shipping times would be calculated from that day forward.

2) Deliveries:
Generally gift basket companies hire an independent shipping company (ie. Canpar, Fedex, UPS) to do their deliveries throughout the country.

3) Policies and procedures relating to:
-how their deliveries are done to homes, work places, apartments, hospitals, colleges and universities
-what happens to undeliverable packages, refused packages, damaged packages, holiday gifts etc.
-refunds

4) Contact Information including hours, toll free phone numbers, email addresses, etc.

Don’t just skim over this information, or figure you’ll find it if you need it. Reputable gift basket companies go out of their way to ensure their websites provide a wealth of information to their customers to ensure there are no questions that go unanswered and that everything is clearly available to you. Gift basket companies are in the business of sending your gift baskets on your behalf. They want to ensure you are satisfied with your purchase. Help them do so by making yourself aware of how their businesses operate. REMEMBER, at anytime, if you are unsure, contact them, BEFORE you place your order so that they can ensure you know exactly what you will be receiving and when.