A personal standard order (PSO) is an agreement between a particular customer and a particular farm about the regular (most of all weekly) flowers supply of a fixed range.
Usually the following parameters are stipulated in PSO:
- The shipment day from the farm. For example, there may be standard output from the farm every week from Thursday to Friday.
- The first date of PSO shipment (usually is negotiated before startup).
- Flowers type, variety, stem length, number of boxes of each position.
- FOB prices per each position. If the prices are not fixed for the entire period of PSO validity, then the dates of possible seasonal transition to “winter prices” – the prices of a high season, increased demand and summer prices – the prices of a low season have to be negotiated.
The best time to set up the PSO for the client is three months prior to the big holidays deliveries. In this case there are the high chances for us (for the client) to convince the farm to ship the PSO volume at regular prices. However, some farms remove the annual PSO statistics in order to decide how many flowers may be sold before holidays at regular prices. The first weeks after Valentine’s Day are a favorable period for PSO reconsideration. During this period it is possible to remove obsolete from PSO, to add the short supplied, new varieties grown by farm.
The point to note is that in the ordinary and usual course (not during the holiday period) the PSO prices are often higher than the prices on a daily free market. Negotiating PSO with the client the farm forecasts for itself the high price for the fixed range.