Milkmen - They can be cheaper

septemberblues

Well, I am convinced about having a milkman, I have ordered 3 organic skimmed pints of milk a week to be delivered, pity he can't come tomorrow, I have run out of milk and am using dried instead! It's just not the same....................... and it will keep me out of the supermarkets if I can have my milk delivered, a pint of milk seems to cost me at least £18 at Tescos :eek: so every little helps (me )

clutterydrawer

My mum has always got our milk from the milkman on the grounds that if not enough people bu from him, he will go out of business - and then elderly/disabled people will find it hard to get theirs. I don't know if anyone has mentioned this (15 pages!) but it's also surely better to have milk in reusable glass bottles than those plastic cartons that get thrown into landfill.

I always got mine form milkman too but I don't think there is one where i live now.

tawse57

There is another milk thread on here where someone who was married to a milkman talks about the long hours that her ex-husband used to work. I wouldn't do it I have to say.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=132095&highlight=milkman&page=2

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

taplady

I am glad that so many of you value your milkman.
My DH gets up some days at 1.15am to do his round which has about 350 customers out in the countryside. He does this in all weathers for not much money really(brings home about £250 a week) but he is appreciated by most of them for the service he provides.

A lot of his customers are elderly/disabled, dont have transport and would struggle to get to the supermarket on a regular basis. Luckily in our area we also have a family grocers who have a delivery van to help these people out.

Like someone said how many times do you go to the supermarket for milk and end up spending £20 or more!

many thanks to all those with a milkman:T

tawse57

taplady, may I ask whether your hubby is a milkman full-time - you mentioned he gets up some days at 1.15AM to do his round - so does he have a second job or is the nature of his round such that, like others have stated on her, the milkman now only delivers 2 or 3 times a week as opposed to the daily deliveries that most of us remember from our childhood?

Effectively your DH is working night-shifts most of the time - doesn't that restrict what you can do during the days. I mean, when does he sleep - is it when he gets back in from the round so sleeps from early morning to afternoon or does he go to bed early in the afternoon to get 8 hours before he gets up at 1.15AM?

I hope you don't think I am being rude in asking but just curious - nurses, police officers, etc, usually do not work constantly on nights but from reading on here I get the impression that milkmen effectively are?

cookiedough38

We have a milkman, and its brilliant. I only do my food shop fortnightly, so I would have to take various trips to the shop to buy milk, which is not only a pain. But I openly admit I can't go and just buy some milk.

As others have said, its lovely to put the glass bottles back out rather than having to deal with the plastic ones.

LittleMissAspie

clutterydrawer wrote: »

My mum has always got our milk from the milkman on the grounds that if not enough people bu from him, he will go out of business - and then elderly/disabled people will find it hard to get theirs. I don't know if anyone has mentioned this (15 pages!) but it's also surely better to have milk in reusable glass bottles than those plastic cartons that get thrown into landfill.

I always got mine form milkman too but I don't think there is one where i live now.

Then where do elderly/disabled people get their food from? Surely the same place sells milk? Also I don't think you can freeze in glass bottles, they might crack and the foil at the top isn't resealable.

I wouldn't bother with a milkman personally because our milk consumption is very irregular.

tawse57

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

I wouldn't bother with a milkman personally because our milk consumption is very irregular.

Probably good for your health. Milk is not really that good for us and lots of the health benefits for milk come from post-1945 milk marketing campaigns in the US.

Charliezoo

I've been getting an Abel and Cole veg box for a few months now and added 2l of organic milk to my order last week.

The milk was the best I've ever tasted - reading the label I realised it was from Guernsey cows. I love Channel Islands milk but normally avoid it due to the fat content but Abel and Cole do skim and semi-skim versions which are amazing! Its a bit more expensive at £1.87 for 2l but worth every penny.

I wish the milkman would deliver this kind of milk as I'd like to support local businesses and get glass bottles but haven't been able to find it anywhere else

I'm going to start getting a delivery of juice and flavoured milk from Dairy Crest anyway but the regular milk will have to be from A&C.

Also, how does anyone find those milk-minder containers? Do they work if the milk ends up out all day?

prettypennies

Charliezoo wrote: »

I've been getting an Abel and Cole veg box for a few months now and added 2l of organic milk to my order last week.

The milk was the best I've ever tasted - reading the label I realised it was from Guernsey cows. I love Channel Islands milk but normally avoid it due to the fat content but Abel and Cole do skim and semi-skim versions which are amazing! Its a bit more expensive at £1.87 for 2l but worth every penny.

I wish the milkman would deliver this kind of milk as I'd like to support local businesses and get glass bottles but haven't been able to find it anywhere else

I'm going to start getting a delivery of juice and flavoured milk from Dairy Crest anyway but the regular milk will have to be from A&C.

Also, how does anyone find those milk-minder containers? Do they work if the milk ends up out all day?

I get milk from Abel and Cole too and love the fact that it is not homogenised. It is very hard to find milk nowadays that hasn't been homogenised. It is a shame they only come once a week though. My family get through about16 litres of milk a week so have to get the rest of my milk elsewhere. ( I have tried freezing it, but DS1 who is a big milk drinker can taste when it has been frozen and isn't keen)

I haven't tried the milk minders. In summer, my lovely lovely delivery chap puts the milk in the fridge in the shed for me and locks it up behind him