Quandary regarding Milkman.

frugalfairy_3

I agree with Spendless and Debt_Free Chick. I won't ditch my milkman even though he doesn't bring the milk every day any more. I'm mindful of people like my 79 year old mum who struggles home on the bus with her milk from the nearest supermarket because her local dairy closed. I'm also incredibly fussy about having fresh milk, I can't bear it if it's even slightly 'turned'.

I admit that I do top up my supplies with supermarket milk and freeze it for those days when the milk fairy comes and steals all my pints

FF

Stompa

42p a pint seems very cheap, I believe our milkman charges 49p.

Stompa

zar

Yep we've just had a price rise of a few pence from our milkman as well, to about 49p I think. We get it on principle to keep it going for older people, convenience and also to disuade us from going to the shop and buying other things... We live in a rural area perhaps thats why its more expensive. Also its nice to know the bottles will be reused so quite "green" and one milkman delivering to lots of people is better than lots of people driving to the shops (none in walking distance and petrol would swallow the savings anyway). Deliveries aren't everyday, we have 1 pint on Tues and Thurs and 2 pints on Sat for 2 of us. Occasionally buy more at the supermarket. Actually that's another part of the nice tradition, you still get pints instead of half litres. And I've always loved taking the foil top off!

squiggles

Never knew milkmen were still around,i havnt seen one for at least 10 years or more where we live.I can remember the good old says when i was a child and every morning in winter the milk was frozen and the silver foil used to stand about an inch away from the bottle.

kbarty

I've been wanting to have milk delivered for ages and just by chance someone from the dairy came round yesterday looking for people who might want to sign up. So I did

It's more expensive, but I want to cut down my use of the supermarkets. I'd much rather support my local economy where I can. Not to mention that the packaging is much more green. The amount of space those milk bottles take up, even now we're getting them recycled, is immense!

Hope it goes well anyway and I don't have a similar quandry in months to come.

THIRZAH

We live half way up a hill on the edge of the Pennines so if it snows we can sometimes have problems getting the car out but the milkman always gets through with the milk.He is more expensive than the supermarkets though so I only have a pint a day delivered. That's enough for OH and me- if DD is home I'll buy any extra milk from Tesco.We do have a small Coop about five minutes walk away but I've found that their milk doesn't seem to keep as long as Tesco's

ivyleaf

Here in SE London/NW Kent area it's 51p a pint from the milkman! :eek: To us it's worth it though. We've had the same milkman for the 22 years we've lived here. When I started work after having my last baby in 1982 he altered his route slightly so he could deliver to us before I left for work, rather than lose our custom. When one of our neighbours was drinking extra milk because she was feeding twins, and his milkfloat broke down one day, he took the trouble to get our neighbour's number from Directory Enquiries so he could warn her he would be very late, so that she knew she needed to go out to get milk. I dread him retiring - I know he charges more than supermarkets but it's lovely finding the milk on the doorstep in the mornings. And once an area loses its doorstep deliveries they'll probably be gone for good.

katiepops_2

nearlyrich wrote:

If he really wanted your custom he would deliver everyday IMHO, or at least on Saturday if not Sunday. We only use 2 pints per week so my milkman was pensioned off years ago.

Obviously you have no concept of how much work a milkman actually does! My ex-husband was a milkman for 20 years before he was made redundant a year or so ago. To give you an example of his working hours:

Monday - Tuesday - get up at 2.00 am. Get to work and load milk truck, leave depot at around 3.30 am. Deliver to customers and get back to depot anytime between 10.30 am and 2.00 pm.

Wednesday - same as Monday and Tuesday, but then go back home and spend 3-4 hours writing up bills (this was in the days before they had the handheld computer thingys).

Thursday - Friday - same as Monday and Tuesday, but then 3.00 - 8.00 pm go out collecting the milk money.

Saturday - same as Monday and Tuesday, with more collecting, often not finishing until past 2.00 pm (and as late as 5.00 pm sometimes).

It's not an easy job, they don't just deliver a few pints and then go home! It's extremely hard work in all sorts of weathers. As for the comment about if they wanted your custom they'd deliver every day - it's just not possible. With more and more people buying their milk at the supermarket, more depots have closed, which means each depot covers bigger areas and the individual milk rounds are bigger. At it's biggest, Andy's round had about 600 customers, and that was in the days when there were another three or so depots within a five mile or so radius. These days the rounds undoubtedly have more customers and it's just not practical to deliver to every customer every single day.

Kate

fuzzgun19

Icemaiden wrote:

Just paid my Milkman and have been told cost of a pint going up by 2p to 42p. I get 2xpints per day of milk and a 1/2 big bag of spuds per fortnight. He doesn't deliver everyday so sometimes I have as much as six pints on my doorstep on Fri to cover the weekend. Now I did say to him the whole point of me using him was to have fresh milk daily but he says he can't deliver to me everyday because theres only a few of us who use him in my area.

So do I stick with him and swallow the extra, I know its not alot and I have been using him for 4 years now but milk in the supermarket is so much cheaper and I could get me spuds from the farm shop when I get the meat.

I think i would cut down my milk to say... twice a week and get the rest from Tesco, that way you dont have to ditch him and you're not being left with 6 pints on a fri.
My milkman delivers to me twice a week and i also top up from the supermarket. 2 Ltrs costs me £1.15! I must have a cheap milkman!

silverbirch_3

Have to say that despite the fact my dad is a milkman and has been all his working life, i still buy my milk from the corner shop. I get through 2-3 litres a day and there is no way i can afford that from my milkman. I do feel guilty though especially as the milkman that does my estate is a friend of my dad's and used to take me out when i was little. I'm all for supporting the milkman, i know how hard my dad works, but i have to put my kids first, when money is tight you have to economise.