A couple of ways to look at this. Is the florist calling you and requesting you to come? If so, then definately charge at least $8 or more. Or are you driving to them and hoping that they will buy? Also how large of an inventory are you carrying? FLorists will not want to pay a delivery charge just to receive two or three different types of flowers. An easier way to get that money may be to raise your price 50 cents or a dollar per bunch. For the last four or five years, I have charged a five dollar fee during my peak season, usually July thru September.

Also, what bothered me most was the ethics of this company. I really feel like they deliberately promote this chair with an extremely low advertised price to get you into the store and then after you have decided to purchase it and only then, they hit you with the $100. delivery charge and another $100. 'protection' plan. They also charged extra for different colors. The advertised chair was only the low price if you got the celery green color. If you wanted the same fabric but red, cream, or khaki it would be $89. more. Jennifer is my competitor, they've definitely taken money out of my pocket, and I wish they weren't in my market. However, from what you've said there is nothing wrong with their ethics in this case. Unethical means you are being lied to or cheated. If you went to WalMart or Best Buy and bought a $400 TV, that only comes with a 90 day or one year warranty. Want the extended warranty? Guess what, you pay extra for that, probably $100 too. Heck, if you buy a $4000 top of the line Sony TV, you STILL only get a one year warranty. In my opinion, for $4000, that thing should last FOREVER. So is that really so different from paying for a warranty on a chair? Think of it... a TV has no moving parts, millions are produced so the defect rate is incredibly small, and it gets used exactly the same in every house. Its on or off. A chair with moving parts however is very different. They don't know if its being used by someone who weight 150 lbs, 195 lbs, or 275 lbs. They don't know if you sit on it or throw yourself into it. They don't know if its used a few hours a week or 6 hours each day. And if a 275 lb man uses it for 6 hours a day it won't last anywhere near as long. Delivery we've talked about. I don't know where you live, but here with gas at $3.00 a gallon and a skyrocketing cost of living (rising rents, insurance, etc), even bad help is expensive. Charging extra for different colors? I'd have to see the ad to tell if its bait and switch. Did the ad say recliner choice of colors for $399? Or did it say from $399? If it said from $399, that's not unethical. You may not like it, but again, unethical means you are being lied to or cheated. And you can buy a cheap recliner at plenty of other stores.

I have found all the smaller home delivery companies, like D and D that offer this type of white glove delivery to be excellent. As with anything else in life and due to the nature of the home delivery business not every delivery is going to be perfect but 98% are. The 98% happy customers do not post on-line and a few whose deliveries did not got well might. For the most part these companies are not rolling in money and work hard to stay in business and provide a valuable service. If you think about it many of these companies can deliver a piece of furniture anywhere in the country in good condition and on a fairly timely basis for a reasonable cost. This is no easy feat. I agree with "gillfish" we should applaud these companies for the service they provide..

So I'm a day late on this but I'll chime in and say yes, I tip, if the service is good and the folks are polite etc. I figure the $20 or whatever means more to them than to me, and I'm lucky that I'm not the one hauling heavy stuff for a living. That's purely personal and no reflection on someone else's tipping or not. The exception? When I waited months for my gorgeous, big, heavy desk to be delivered from NC... This desk with hutch weighs several hundred lbs. The delivery guys: one was about 90 lbs, the other had a broken foot. They asked my husband (who had just had hip surgery) and me (5 mo's pregnant at the time) to help them carry it, otherwise they would send it back to NC! It ended up in the garage until we could hire someone local to carry it upstairs. Can I just say for the record that those guys did NOT get a tip?!