I never understood why milk was delivered to my house as a kid. This was so random
In: Other
Because dairy farmers would get a much better price that way instead of selling it to the big milk companies.
Where do you live, OP?
Ummm where did you live because that stopped waaay before the 90’s/2000’s in my area (more like 1960’s/70’s)
But as to why, it was often more of a local operation and in reusable glass containers. So the milkman would pick up the empties and drop off fresh.
Milk also didn’t used to be ultra pasteurized, so sitting on store shelves would take a lot of time off its lifespan.
Milk delivery has a *muuuuch* longer history than the 90s. Before refrigeration, the only way to get milk in the city was for people to deliver it to your door in the morning, fresh from the farm.
Refrigeration technology has reduced milk delivery by a lot, but some people still use it to support local farms and get super fresh milk.
Edit: Also worth mentioning other reasons like tradition… and also convenience. It’s nice to have fresh milk brought right to your doorstep every day, without having to go to the grocery store.
I was getting milk delivered to my house until I moved 6 months ago. Why? Because you never run out. You don’t have to remember to buy it. The quality is better. Butter too, nothing worse than dry toast.
Because your mother probably heard fresh from the dairy was better and paid for delivery for a while.
I can still have this service today if I wanted it.
The closest thing to this I’ve seen since my childhood in the early 70s is a chain of convenience stores in East Tennessee called Weigel’s. They don’t deliver to your house, but their milk comes directly from company owned farms in the Knoxville area and is sold “fresh” in their stores. You can return the cubic containers for money off of the next gallon you buy.
It hasn’t been delivered here in 50 years. It was a great convenience, especially for people who had children who drank a lot of milk. There were no jugs so you’d have to handle a lot of bottles at the store – delivery solved that problem.
In the 1970’s we got milk, eggs, butter, chocolate milk and juice every morning in our ‘milk box’ on the front stoop. NO ONE STOLE ANYTHING.
You sure your mom wasn’t lying to you about the “milk man”?
Latest Answers