Brave Florists Pioneer Valentine’s Day Deliveries By Tractor, Drone

By gosh, it is florists’ sacred mission to get their blooms into the hands of their customers this Valentine’s Day, come hell or high snow. We heard about two pioneering petal-pushers who tried innovative new ways to get flowers out this week. One plan succeeded, but the other failed due to government intervention.

FlowerDeliveryExpress.com had tested its flower-delivery drone and was ready to introduce it on V-Day. They even put out promotional photos and made this video showing how it works, in case the concept of “a drone brings you flowers” wasn’t clear.

What is clear is that commercial applications for civilian drones aren’t legal yet, so the FAA stepped in and plucked the store’s plans to use them for flower delivery. Other businesses forced to stay in the prototype phase aimed to use unmanned aircraft to deliver beer and burritos.

It’s a great idea for times when roads are impassable, but the government just doesn’t have the regulations down yet.

Meanwhile, down in North Carolina, one florist decided to use a tricked-out love tractor to make deliveries in downtown Lexington. Outlying areas got their flowers by old-fashioned van, but the shop owner’s 11-year-old son drove the tractor to make deliveries in town. “We’re not letting anything stop us. We’re getting our flowers out one way or another,” the owner said proudly.

<a href="http://ift.tt/1eXJ1YR; target=”_blank”>Lexington florist delivering flowers by tractor [WGHP]

Local florist tests delivery by drone [Crain's Detroit]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist