Some studies along that line have 

 been made in various other milk 

 sheds. 1 



2. Can versus Tank Trucking 



The cost of moving milk from 

 farms to a transfer station 2 or di- 

 rectly to the processing plant should 

 be reduced by savings associated 

 with a tank truck operation. As noted 

 in Chapter XI, these possible savings 

 may be as much as 7 to 11 cents per 

 cwt. (Table 37) if pick-up is not 

 every-day but every-other-day (or 

 even more frequent ) . 



Against this saving on transpor- 

 tation, some possible added expense 

 must be offset. Notably, if bulk 

 assembly will cause the dealer to 

 exercise closer control over truckers 

 (with or without their becoming his 

 employees), this supervision will it- 

 self involve an expense to the dealer. 



But closer control of truckers bv 

 the dealer — even if undertaken 

 chiefly to maintain the quality of the 

 milk, to maintain good relations with 

 producers, and so on — could lead 

 to a more efficient organization of 

 assembly routes. For example, some 

 cross-hauling could be eliminated. 



3. Country Receiving Stations 

 versus Transfer Facilities 



Milk is hauled from farms to coun- 

 try receiving plants for reshipment 

 by rail tank car or in a large tank 



truck. There were 90 such receiving 

 stations or depots in Vermont, New 

 Hampshire, and Maine at the time 

 of this study. At least 14 of these 

 stations had supplementary facilities 

 for manufacturing or local retail 

 market responsibilities. Therefore 

 there were perhaps 76 depots which 

 could eventually be closed, provided 

 adequate transfer facilities from local 

 assembly trucks to long-haul trucks 

 or to rail cars were provided. The 

 closing of country receiving plants 

 will be one source of reduced ex- 

 penses for the dealers. The milk will 

 be handled less and will either move 

 directly to the processors from the 

 farm or be transferred to over-the- 

 road tank trucks or to rail tank cars 

 for continuance of the movement to 

 the dealer's processing plant. The cost 

 of handling milk in country receiv- 

 ing depots in the area here studied 

 has been estimated at 25 cents per 

 cwt. 3 



Eliminating the traditional type of 

 receiving station would not mean a 

 net saving of this 25 cents per cwt. 

 On the longer hauls to the process- 

 ing plants, the comparatively small 

 tank trucks used in assembly of milk 

 from farms are now regarded, and 

 would probably still be regarded, as 

 not sufficiently economical to be used 

 for the whole trip from farm to pro- 

 cessing plant. If milk will continue 

 to be assembled in these relatively 

 small trucks and then transferred to 



1 See "Bulk Handling of Wisconsin Milk, Farm to Plant," by Arthur H. Miller, 

 Research Bulletin 192. University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.. February 1956, pages 

 4-13; "Marketing Milk by the Bulk Tank Method," by Jerry H. Padgett, Circular 

 N. S. 5, College Experiment Station, College of Agriculture, University of Georgia, 

 Athens, Ga.. June 1956, pages 21-23; "Questions and Answers about Bulk Milk 

 Tanks," by Willis W. Marshall, Jr., and Joseph H. Yeager, Circular No. 120, Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station, Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn. Ala., June 1957, 

 pages 9-11, 22-23: "How Bulk Assembly Changes Milk Marketing Costs," by Donald 

 B. Agnew, Marketing Research Report No. 190, Agricultural Marketing Service, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture, Washington 25, D. C. July 1957, pages 36-46; "Economics 

 of Bulk Milk Handling," by Sidney Ishee and W. L. Barr, Bulletin 631, Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, College of Agriculture, Pennsylvania State Universitv, Universi- 

 ty Park, Pa., March 1958. 



2 "Transfer stations" are discussed in Section 3 of this chapter. 



3 "Pricing Class II Milk in the Boston Market, A Report of the Boston Class II 

 Price Committee," February 1951 ; prepared for the Federal Milk Market Admin- 

 istrator, Greater Boston Marketing Area. 



47 



