must be trained to assume responsi- 

 bilities for rejection or acceptance of 

 milk at the farm. He becomes a 

 public relations man for the dealer, 

 and in many other respects has closer 

 dealer ties which make him com- 

 parable to an employee even when 

 he continues to own the truck which 

 he operates. From the dealer's stand- 

 point, he becomes more dependent 

 on the tank trucker for both his 

 supply and the quality of his supply. 

 In all, the dealer will have more con- 

 trol over the trucking operation than 

 has been true in the past, regardless 

 of whether the trucker becomes an 



employee of the dealer. The close re- 

 lationship between savings from tank 

 truck assembly and the efficient oper- 

 ation of trucks and truck routes 

 means that a close coordination be- 

 tween trucker and dealer is not only 

 essential but may lead to more dealer 

 ownership of trucks. This will de- 

 pend on the future competition be- 

 tween truckers and the ability of 

 dealers to obtain adequate service. 1 

 Certainly the adoption of bulk 

 assembly of milk increases the re- 

 sponsibility and importance of trans- 

 portation to the dairy industry. 



XIII. Sources of Savings and Added Costs in 



Bulk Assembly 



1. Can versus Bulk Handling 

 on the Farm 



From the available data, it is im- 

 possible to itemize the total dollar 

 costs and potential savings to the 

 dairy industry of Maine, New Hamp- 

 shire, and Vermont stemming from 

 a complete or partial transition to 

 the bulk assembly of milk. 



In this study, an attempt was made 

 at getting data from producers with 

 farm tanks as to the monthly savings 

 to the farmer resulting from his hav- 

 ing the tank, but the producers were 

 not able to answer this question well 

 enough. What the shift to bulk 

 assembly means to the dairy farmer 



in terms of a net saving or a net 

 increase in his expenses is an im- 

 portant factor which would have to 

 be included in any comprehensive 

 measure of the dollars-and-cents sig- 

 nificance of this method of assem- 

 bling milk. Here is a new technology 

 which — where dairy farms are not 

 big — is wanted more by the dealers 

 than by the farmers; but if the 

 dealers are to adopt the new tech- 

 nology, a substantial capital outlay 

 is needed on the farm. To determine 

 the impact of bulk assembly on the 

 dairy farmer, detailed studies of on- 

 farm costs are needed, under condi- 

 tions of both bulk and can assembly. 



1 Dealers can be expected to avoid as long as possible the additional management 

 problem involved in having their own assembly trucks. 



46 



