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Getting roses for Valentine's Day? Thank these Colombians, and their massive annual flower airlift – The Globe and Mail

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3 years ago

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A worker at a Colombian flower-sorting facility keeps a broken flower in her shirt pocket. Roses make up two-thirds of flower exports in Colombia, the second-biggest floral producer in the world.Photography by Yader Guzman/The Globe and Mail

The flower growers of Colombia like to say their business is half agriculture, half logistics.

It’s hardly a stretch, especially as they prepare for their biggest day of the year. For Colombia’s flower giants, Valentine’s Day alone accounts for 80 per cent of annual profit. “It’s huge,” says Augusto Solano Mejia, executive president of Asocolflores, the Association of Colombian Flower Exporters.

So is the effort to stock shelves with enough flowers for customers typically looking to buy on just two days, Feb. 13 and 14.

Colombia, the world’s second-largest flower exporter behind the Netherlands, ships about 650 million stems overseas for Valentine’s Day. Two-thirds are roses, the vast majority destined for the United States and Canada.

To keep the blooms vibrant as they move thousands of kilometres to supermarkets and florists across North America from greenhouses outside of Bogota, the industry stages what might be the planet’s most colourful airlift.

A rose in full bloom at a sampling greenhouse.

In the weeks before Valentine’s, Colombia’s flower workers prepare the roses for shipment: snipping, sorting, dethorning and packing. Thorns are such an unwelcome feature that buyers place a genetic premium on varieties with fewer spikes.

Hue matters, too – in particular red, which makes up more than half of the Valentine’s roses exported by Colombia’s biggest companies. The current genetic champion of the Colombian-grown red rose is the German-bred Freedom variety, described as possessing a “true red” and “near perfect colour.”

Once the flowers are packed, they are loaded onto trucks, which make 13,000 deliveries to airports in Bogota and Rionegro (traffic jams in Colombia can threaten to spoil Valentine’s in British Columbia). Narcotics police X-ray each box before workers put them onto more than 650 cargo flights, most destined for Miami. There, cargoes are loaded onto trucks and dispatched across the continent.

A single Boeing 747 can carry nearly two million stems, and the volume of flower flights before Valentine’s roughly triples the country’s typical air-cargo movements. The extra flights fly south empty, ultimately adding to the price of the flowers.

Transportation makes up nearly a third of the cost of a Valentine’s rose, and the imperative to squeeze in stems means most flights leave after midnight, when cooler, denser air allows jets to take off with more weight.

A box of roses destined for Calgary waits to be loaded on a truck.

The temperature inside is crucial. Roses travel best at between 1 C and 3 C. Any warmer, and blooms may wilt before the eight to 10 days of life the industry seeks inside the homes of Valentine’s recipients. That means moving fast. A single rose can be inside a Toronto distribution warehouse within five days of being snipped from an Elite Flowers greenhouse outside Bogota. (Elite is Colombia’s biggest flower exporter and supplies Loblaws and Costco in Canada.)

All of this requires huge numbers of people. Around Valentine’s, Colombian flower growers hire tens of thousands of additional labourers. The industry has been accused of making beauty out of exploitation by sucking unsustainable quantities of water from local aquifers and exposing vulnerable workers to carcinogens during shifts that can last 22 hours. Many hires are women, and labour-rights advocates have documented employers requiring pregnancy tests and birth control. Elite says it hires many people from conflict areas, paying them enough for Valentine’s and Mother’s Day work to sustain their families year-round.

Elite alone operates 1,100 hectares of greenhouses in Colombia, the equivalent of 1,500 soccer fields. Even that is not enough to sate Valentine’s demand, but expanding is tricky. A single rose plant yields about 15 flowers a year. Only two or three can be used at Valentine’s.

“If you plan everything for Valentine’s Day, it’s not good business the rest of the year,” says Alvaro Camacho, Elite’s manager of logistics.

“Nobody,” he adds, “understands what is behind making Valentine’s Day happen.”

At Elite Flower in Facatativa, northwest of Bogota, a worker searches for roses ready to be cut. It is Jan. 24, three weeks before Valentine’s Day. Timing is critical because the flowers have to be cut at full bloom, processed and sent to North America the same night.

Elite operates 1,100 hectares of greenhouses, like these ones in Facatativa. The savanna around Bogota is ideal for roses thanks to stable temperatures and abundant year-round sunlight.

Dozens of workers sort, de-thorn, pack and label the flowers. Elite employs about 16,000 people year-round, which grows to 24,000 in the Valentine’s Day season.

A worker builds a bouquet. By itself, Valentine’s Day makes up 80 per cent of annual profit for the country’s big floral producers.

Showroom samples at Elite’s facility in Facatativa. Freedom, the variety second from left, is considered the current genetic champion for its ‘true red’ hue.

Once inspected for pests, the completed bouquets go through a tent to be strayed with pesticide. A bouquet from Elite, which supplies Loblaws and Costco in Canada, can be at a Toronto grocery store within five days of harvest.

When the flowers arrive at El Dorado International Airport in Bogota, screeners inspect the boxes for drugs and contraband. These ones are headed for Miami.

Workers push a pallet of roses toward a waiting Avianca Cargo plane. In the buildup to Valentine’s Day, Avianca flies up to 15 cargo planes of roses every day.

Photojournalist Yader Guzman on The Decibel

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What Difference Will You Make to an Employer?

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10 hours ago

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October 21, 2024

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Ex-Employer (Job)

It’s common knowledge that companies don’t hire the most qualified candidates. Employers hire the person they believe will deliver the best value in exchange for their payroll cost.

Since most job seekers know the above, I’m surprised that so few mention their Employee Value Proposition (EVP). Most job seekers list their education, skills, and experience without substantiating them and expect employers to determine whether they can benefit their company; hence, most resumes and LinkedIn profiles are just a list of opinions—borderline platitudes—that are meaningless and, therefore, have no value. Job seekers need to better explain, along with providing evidence, how they’ll contribute to an employer’s success.

Employers don’t hire opinions (read: talk is cheap); they hire results.

You’re not offering anything tangible when you claim:

 

  • I’m a great communicator.
  • I’m detail oriented.
  • I’m a team player.

 

Tangible:

 

  • “At Global Dynamics, I held quarterly town hall meetings with my 22 sales reps, highlighting our accomplishments, identifying opportunity areas, and recognizing outstanding performers.”
  • “For eight years, I managed Vandelay Industries IT department, overseeing a staff of 18 and a 12-million-dollar budget while coordinating cross-specialty projects. My strong attention to detail is why I never exceeded budget.”
  • “While working at Cyberdyne Systems, I was part of the customer service team, consisting of nine of us, striving to improve our response time. Through collaboration and sharing of best practices, we reduced our average response time from 48 to 12 business hours, resulting in a 35% improvement in customer feedback ratings.”

 

These examples of tangible answers provide employers with what they most want to hear from candidates but rarely do; what value the candidate will bring to the company. Typically, job seekers present their skills, experience, and unsubstantiated opinions and expect recruiters and employers to figure out their value, which is a lazy practice.

Getting hired isn’t based on “I have an MBA in Marketing and Sales,” “I’ve been a web designer for over 15 years,” “I’m young, beautiful and energetic,” blah, blah, blah. Likewise, being rejected isn’t based on “I’m overqualified,” “I’m too old,” “I don’t have enough education,” blah, blah, blah. Getting hired depends entirely on showing employers that you can add value and substance to their company; that you’ll serve a purpose.

When you articulate a solid value offer, the “blah, blah, blah” doesn’t matter. Job seekers focus too much on the “blah, blah, blah,” and when not hired, they say, “It’s not me, it’s…” The biggest mistake I see job seekers make is focusing on the “blah, blah, blah”—their experience and education—believing this is what interests employers. Hiring managers are more interested in whether you can solve the problems the position exists to solve than in your education and experience.

 

Not impressive: Education

Impressive: A track record of achieving tangible results.

 

You aren’t who you say you are; you are what you do.

 

If you want to be somebody who works hard, you have to actually work hard. If you want to be somebody who goes to the gym, you actually have to go to the gym. If you want to be a good friend, spouse, or colleague, you have to actually be a good friend, spouse, or colleague. Actions build reputations, not words.

The biggest challenge job seekers face today is differentiating themselves. To stand out and be memorable, don’t be like most job seekers, someone who’s all talk and no action. Any recruiter or hiring manager will tell you that the job market is heavily populated with job seekers who talk themselves up, talk a “good game” about everything they can “supposedly” do, drop names, etc., but have nothing to show for it.

More than ever, employers want to hear candidates offer a value proposition summarizing what value they bring. If you’re looking for a low-hanging fruit method to differentiate yourself, do what job seekers hardly ever do and make a hard-to-ignore value proposition.

  1. Increase sales: “Based on my experience managing Regina and Saskatoon for PharmaKorp, I’m confident that I can increase BioGen’s sales by no less than 25% in Winnipeg and the surrounding area by the end of 2025.”
  2. Reduce cost: “During my 12 years as Taco Town’s head of purchasing, I renegotiated contracts with key suppliers, resulting in 15% cost savings, saving the company over $450,000 annually. I know I can do the same for The Pasta House.”
  3. Increase customer satisfaction:“During my time at Globex Corporation, I established a systematic feedback mechanism that enabled customers to share their experiences. This led to targeted improvements, increasing our Net Promoter Score by 15 points. I can increase Dunder Mifflin’s net promoter score.”
  4. Save time: “As Zap Delivery’s dispatcher, I implemented advanced routing software that analyzed traffic patterns, reducing average delivery times by 20%. My implementation of this software at Froggy’s Delivery can reduce your delivery times by at least 20%, if not more.”

 

If you want to achieve job search success as soon as possible, structure your job search with a single thread that’s evident and consistent throughout your résumé, LinkedIn profile, cover letters and especially during interviews; clearly convey what difference you’ll make to the employer.

_____________________________________________________________________

 

Nick Kossovan, a well-seasoned veteran of the corporate landscape, offers “unsweetened” job search advice. You can send Nick your questions to artoffindingwork@gmail.com.

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Netflix’s subscriber growth slows as gains from password-sharing crackdown subside

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4 days ago

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October 17, 2024

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Netflix on Thursday reported that its subscriber growth slowed dramatically during the summer, a sign the huge gains from the video-streaming service’s crackdown on freeloading viewers is tapering off.

The 5.1 million subscribers that Netflix added during the July-September period represented a 42% decline from the total gained during the same time last year. Even so, the company’s revenue and profit rose at a faster pace than analysts had projected, according to FactSet Research.

Netflix ended September with 282.7 million worldwide subscribers — far more than any other streaming service.

The Los Gatos, California, company earned $2.36 billion, or $5.40 per share, a 41% increase from the same time last year. Revenue climbed 15% from a year ago to $9.82 billion. Netflix management predicted the company’s revenue will rise at the same 15% year-over-year pace during the October-December period, slightly than better than analysts have been expecting.

The strong financial performance in the past quarter coupled with the upbeat forecast eclipsed any worries about slowing subscriber growth. Netflix’s stock price surged nearly 4% in extended trading after the numbers came out, building upon a more than 40% increase in the company’s shares so far this year.

The past quarter’s subscriber gains were the lowest posted in any three-month period since the beginning of last year. That drop-off indicates Netflix is shifting to a new phase after reaping the benefits from a ban on the once-rampant practice of sharing account passwords that enabled an estimated 100 million people watch its popular service without paying for it.

The crackdown, triggered by a rare loss of subscribers coming out of the pandemic in 2022, helped Netflix add 57 million subscribers from June 2022 through this June — an average of more than 7 million per quarter, while many of its industry rivals have been struggling as households curbed their discretionary spending.

Netflix’s gains also were propelled by a low-priced version of its service that included commercials for the first time in its history. The company still is only getting a small fraction of its revenue from the 2-year-old advertising push, but Netflix is intensifying its focus on that segment of its business to help boost its profits.

In a letter to shareholder, Netflix reiterated previous cautionary notes about its expansion into advertising, though the low-priced option including commercials has become its fastest growing segment.

“We have much more work to do improving our offering for advertisers, which will be a priority over the next few years,” Netflix management wrote in the letter.

As part of its evolution, Netflix has been increasingly supplementing its lineup of scripted TV series and movies with live programming, such as a Labor Day spectacle featuring renowned glutton Joey Chestnut setting a world record for gorging on hot dogs in a showdown with his longtime nemesis Takeru Kobayashi.

Netflix will be trying to attract more viewer during the current quarter with a Nov. 15 fight pitting former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson against Jake Paul, a YouTube sensation turned boxer, and two National Football League games on Christmas Day.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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All Magic Spells (TM) : Top Converting Magic Spell eCommerce Store

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4 days ago

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October 17, 2024

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