" Anyone who visits Aalsmeer will be struck at first by the absurdity of the arrangement. Why go to all the trouble to put something as perishable as a daisy on an airplane, fly it to another country so it can sit on the auction floor, and then put it back on a plane and fly it to its final destination? ... [I]t seemed obvious that an Internet-based system would simplify things. Sure, the flowers would still need to come together in some kind of distribution center...but the actual bidding and ordering wouldn't have to happen in the same building where the flowers are.
...
When I asked one importer this question, he just shrugged and said, 'Why are there still brokers on Wall Street? "
― Amy Stewart , Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers
![Amy Stewart quote : Anyone who visits Aalsmeer will be struck at first by the absurdity of the arrangement. Why go to all the trouble to put something as perishable as a daisy on an airplane, fly it to another country so it can sit on the auction floor, and then put it back on a plane and fly it to its final destination? ... [I]t seemed obvious that an Internet-based system would simplify things. Sure, the flowers would still need to come together in some kind of distribution center...but the actual bidding and ordering wouldn't have to happen in the same building where the flowers are.<br />...<br />When I asked one importer this question, he just shrugged and said, 'Why are there still brokers on Wall Street?](/image/2303615.jpg)