Where are the fishbowl vases?
Your storeroom holds hire stock: thirty fishbowl vases, twenty gold candelabras, eight plinths, two moongate arches, a flower wall frame and boxes of bud vases. Weddings and events hire them alongside the flowers.
In July, two weddings on the same Saturday both booked the candelabras. You only find out on Thursday. Another wedding last month returned twelve fishbowls instead of fifteen, and nobody noticed until this week. One of the arches came back with a bent section.
The hire stock cost a lot to buy. It pays for itself only if it is used, returned and kept in good condition.
Why hire stock drifts
Hire items are booked in the quote or a diary, but availability is rarely checked against other events on the same date. Double-booking is found close to the day.
Items leave with the flowers and come back separately, often after the event with a different team. There is no checklist to confirm everything returned.
Damage is noticed later, when the next event needs the item. By then, it is too late to raise it with the previous hirer.
What drifting hire stock costs
| Problem | Effect |
|---|---|
| Double-booked items | Last-minute scrambles or disappointed couples |
| Items not returned | Replacements bought at your cost |
| Damage not recorded | No chance to charge the hirer |
| Stock count unknown | Cannot quote confidently for big events |
| Items unused in storage | Money tied up without earning |
Hire stock is one of the few parts of floristry that can earn more than once. Losing track of it wastes that.
Venues complicate the picture. Some hold your items overnight and hand them back in the morning, some stack them in a store room with other suppliers' kit, and some let the couple take the bud vases home as keepsakes. Unless the terms were clear and the count was recorded at the time, it is hard to say which of these happened to the three missing fishbowls.
Cleaning and repairs between events take time as well. Vases need washing, stands need checking for wobbles, arches need wiring removed and sometimes repainting. If items come back late on Sunday and are needed again on Friday, that work has to fit somewhere in the week. Without a calendar of hire bookings, it is easy to find a dirty or damaged item on the morning it is due out.
How we track hire items
- Every hire item or set is recorded with a photo, quantity, value and hire price.
- When quoting, hire items are reserved against the event date, and the quote shows if there are not enough available.
- On the day, items are checked out against the event with a scan or a tick list on a phone, including their condition.
- After the event, items are checked back in, with any missing or damaged items flagged straight away.
- Missing or damaged items can be charged according to your hire terms, with the photo and check-in record attached.
- A calendar shows every hire item's bookings, and a report shows which items are used most and least.
Your hire terms decide what is charged for loss or damage. We record the facts so you can apply them fairly.
Check-in can include a quick condition note and photo for each valuable item, such as an arch or a set of candelabras, so damage is recorded against the event where it happened. Cleaning or repair tasks can then be added to the workroom list before the item is needed again.
Hire stock that comes home
When a couple books candelabras, the quote shows whether they are free on that date. On the day, the team checks out the items. After the event, the check-in list shows three fishbowls missing, and you contact the venue that week.
- Every hire item reserved against its event dates
- No double-booking of the same items
- Missing and damaged items noticed straight away
- Clear records for charging under your terms
Signs your hire stock needs tracking
- Hire items have been double-booked for the same date.
- Items come back from events short without anyone noticing.
- Damage is found only when the next event needs the item.
- You are not sure how many of each item you own.
- Some hire stock never leaves the storeroom.