Recipient Phone Number: What It Means on a Delivery Order
The recipient phone number is the phone number of the person who will receive the delivery, not the number of the person placing the order. On a flower order the courier uses it to call the recipient shortly before arrival, check that someone is home and find the right entrance and flat. Your own number goes in the sender or customer field, so the shop can reach you about the order.
In our Saint Petersburg shops this is one of the questions we hear most from customers ordering from abroad. Many people enter their own number twice, leave the field blank to keep the gift a surprise, or type a foreign number that the recipient no longer uses. Each of these choices changes how the delivery goes, so below we explain what the field is for, how to fill it in correctly for Russia and what happens when the number does not answer.
Recipient number versus sender number
Almost every delivery form has two phone fields. The sender, buyer or customer number belongs to you: the shop uses it to confirm the order, clarify the address or the price of delivery to a remote area, and tell you when something needs your decision. The recipient number belongs to the person getting the flowers, and it is passed to the courier on the day of delivery. Mixing them up is the most common error we see, and it usually means the courier ends up calling the buyer in another country while standing at a closed door in Petersburg.
Customers sometimes ask whether giving the recipient's number spoils the surprise. In practice it does not. The courier calls about 15 minutes before arrival, so the recipient learns that something is on its way only a quarter of an hour in advance. Delivery is anonymous by default: the courier does not name the sender, and the recipient only finds out who sent the bouquet if you sign the card. The card with your text is free.
If you genuinely do not know the recipient's number, enter the number of someone who will be with them at the delivery address, such as a partner, parent or colleague at the same office. Let us know who answers that phone when you place the order, or call us on 8 (812) 507-67-05. What does not work is leaving the field empty or putting your own foreign number there, because the courier then has nobody to call on the spot.
How to write a Russian number correctly
Russian mobile numbers have ten digits after the country code and start with 9, for example +7 9XX XXX-XX-XX. Inside Russia people often write the same number with a leading 8 instead of +7, so 8 9XX XXX-XX-XX and +7 9XX XXX-XX-XX are the same phone. Saint Petersburg landlines use the area code 812, and Moscow uses 495 or 499. When you enter the number in an order form, the international format with +7 is the safest choice, because it works whether the courier dials from a Russian SIM or not.
The typical mistakes are an extra 8 after +7, a missing digit, a Kazakh number mistaken for a Russian one (Kazakhstan also uses +7, but its mobile numbers usually start with 7 rather than 9), and an old number the recipient changed years ago. Check the number against a recent message or call from that person before you pay. Our guide Russian Phone Numbers for Flower Delivery: Format and Errors goes through the formats in more detail.
If the recipient lives abroad part of the year and keeps a foreign SIM, give the number they actually answer in Russia. Messenger-only contacts are not enough for a courier, who needs a normal phone line that rings. When in doubt, ask a relative who sees the person regularly, it takes a minute and saves a failed delivery.
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What happens if the number does not answer
Couriers call the recipient about 15 minutes before arrival. If the recipient is not at home or does not pick up, we agree with you a second delivery the same day or, with your consent as the sender, hand the flowers to a neighbour or concierge. This is why your own number in the sender field matters as much as the recipient's: we need a way to ask you which option you prefer.
A switched-off phone is the most frequent reason for a pause. Older recipients often keep their mobile in a bag or turn it off at night, and some do not answer unknown numbers at all. If you know that about the person, choose a time window when they are surely home, and tell a family member to expect a call. The article Wrong or Unavailable Recipient Number: What the Shop Does describes these situations step by step.
The phrase recipient unavailable, which you may see in delivery notifications, simply means the courier could not reach or find the person. It is not a refusal of the gift and nothing is lost: it is the point where the shop contacts the sender to choose the next step. We explain the term separately in Recipient Unavailable Meaning.
Choosing a delivery time that suits the recipient
A correct phone number works best with a sensible delivery time. In large cities you can choose express delivery within 1-2 hours after the order is confirmed, an exact time with a margin of plus or minus 30 minutes, or one of the time windows 09-12, 12-15, 15-18 and 18-21. You can also pre-order 1-30 days ahead, which is useful for birthdays and anniversaries when you are sure of the date but not of your own schedule.
For people who work, a morning window at the office or an evening window at home is usually the easiest. For pensioners, late morning and early afternoon tend to be reliable. If the bouquet is a surprise at a workplace, give the recipient's mobile rather than a reception desk number, since reception may not know where the person is sitting that day.
In Saint Petersburg we deliver around the clock, so a late-evening or early-morning surprise is possible here. A night-time delivery makes the recipient's phone number even more important: the courier must be sure someone will open the door, and a call shortly before arrival is the only way to check.
Ordering flowers from abroad step by step
Start by choosing a bouquet in our Bouquets catalogue. Then fill in the address carefully: city, street, building, entrance, floor and flat, plus the door code if there is one, since many Russian apartment blocks have a coded intercom. Enter your own number in the customer field and the recipient's number in the recipient field, both in +7 format if they are Russian. Add the text for the card, which is free.
Payment is online on the site: bank card, SBP or Yandex Pay. Foreign bank cards are accepted, payment goes through Robokassa, which is convenient when you are paying from outside Russia. City delivery costs 500 RUB; for remote districts and suburbs the operator confirms the price when confirming the order. All terms are collected on the Delivery and payment page.
Pyat Tsvetov has worked since 2011 and has three own flower shops in Saint Petersburg, on Ilyushina Street, Obvodny Canal Embankment and Srednerogatskaya Street, and we deliver across Russia. If anything about the phone number, address or time is unclear, call us on 8 (812) 507-67-05 before you place the order. It is much easier to fix a digit before delivery than to search for the recipient afterwards.
Frequently asked questions
Is the recipient phone number my number or theirs?
It is the number of the person who will receive the flowers. Your own number goes in the sender or customer field so the shop can contact you about the order.
Will the courier tell the recipient who sent the flowers?
No. Delivery is anonymous by default and the courier does not name the sender. The recipient learns who sent the bouquet only if you sign the free card.
When does the courier call the recipient?
About 15 minutes before arrival. This is enough to check that someone is home without spoiling the surprise in advance.
What if the recipient does not answer or is not home?
We agree with you a second delivery the same day or, with your consent, leave the flowers with a neighbour or concierge. That is why your own number must also be correct.
How should I format a Russian mobile number?
Use +7 followed by ten digits starting with 9, for example +7 9XX XXX-XX-XX. Do not add an extra 8 after +7.
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