Recommendation Report: Brilliant Answers

Congratulations!  You are the urban regional manager of ProFlowers, a floral service that delivers flowers and plants across the country from orders placed online.  Our center is responsible for deliveries to the greater Phoenix area, which includes the entire valley.

Business is good, but sadly, our fleet of delivery vehicles is showing its age, and upper management has decided it's time to do something about this.  Guess who was put in charge of researching our options and making a recommendation?  :-D

Using a combination of research and imaginative fiction, you need to determine what the best course of action is for our delivery fleet.  Should we continue to maintain/repair our existing trucks/vans, or buy new? A combination of the two?  What sort of vehicle might best suit our needs (a small van, a larger van, a covered pickup truck? Could we use drones??)? What would it cost to implement? Finally, what is your recommendation?

Company Profile:

There are 13 delivery vehicles, mostly 7-passenger vans set up for cargo.  They are between 4 and 12 years old, some high mileage.  Average daily mileage for deliveries is about 70 miles total for the day.  Our products are mostly small hand-held arrangements and plants, but we also deliver larger wreaths, casket displays and that sort of thing.  Your budget is $257,000 for the fleet.

Recommendation Reports should examine relative costs for replacement (total or partial) of our existing fleet vehicles, continued repair on fleet vehicles (I leave this to your discretion on what they may need; remember some vehicles are newer than others), or a combination of the two.  You may feel free to investigate alternative delivery options if you like.

Reports should contain the following elements from the list on pg 476:

- Front Matter:

          -Letter of Transmittal (addressed to the Corporate offices of ProFlowers, Inc)

           -TOC (should be its own page)

           -Executive Summary (should be its own page)

- Body:

          -Introduction

         - Methods

         - Results (this may be graphic, like a pricing chart)

         - Conclusions (here you will be explaining/commenting on your results)

         - Recommendations (this will likely restate your conclusions, but should be a definitive statement recommending a course of action)

Back Matter:

         - References

         - Glossary (as needed - optional)

         - List of symbols (optional)

         - appendix (optional - as needed)

Follow the model that begins on pg 490 in Markel for general formatting, but note that this model includes sections that are not included in your assignment, so your model will not follow it exactly. Single space body paragraphs with no indent at paragraph head; double spacing between paragraphs. Cite graphics, even if only to note that it was created by author. Under References you will cite sources for repair or replacement costs that you researched. You may use any citation style you wish (APA, MLA, Chicago), but use a recognized citation style.

Due for peer editing by Wednesday, Apr 26, and in final submission at this dropbox by Saturday, Apr 29 at 11:59pm