COST OF DISTRIBUTING MILK. 43 



Cost of Delivery of Special Milk. 



Fortunately reliable data were secured from four distributors who had 

 kept accurate accounts for a number of years. Two of these produced 

 and distributed what they termed "special" milk — unpasteurized, but 

 held to be equal in purity and cleanliness to certified milk. The term 

 "special" is very unsatisfactory. There is no standard for such milk. 

 Whether the term means anything depends on the producer and seller. 

 Frequently the milk is of excellent quality. In these instances it is sold 

 to the consumer at 12 cents per quart. This "special" milk entails extra 

 care, extra labor and good equipment and requires a special market; 

 moreover, the distributors must of necessity travel far to dispose of their 

 product. Distributor No. 1 traversed 47 miles daily to dispose of 350 

 quarts — but 7.45 quarts per mile traveled. In case No. 2, 15 miles were 

 traveled daily to dispose of 83 quarts of "special" milk, 19 quarts of 

 skimmed milk, and 4.9 quarts of cream; disregarding the skimmed milk, 

 this is equal to 5.86 quarts of "special" milk and cream per mile traveled. 



No. 1 has much higher depreciation and maintenance expense than 

 No. 2, due to the use of a Ford car and White motor truck. The extra 

 cost, however, is offset by the reduced cost of labor, which is but a trifle 

 more than a third that of No. 2 ($11.11 as against $31.42 per 1,000 quarts). 

 At least twelve hours of labor were saved daily at 15 cents per hour. As 

 in the case of distributors of market milk, the same conclusion can be 

 drawn from the above figures, namely, economic distribution depends on 

 the number of quarts per horse, in conjunction with the quarts per mile. 



Cost of Collection and Distribution of Wholesale Milk in Cans. 



These figures demonstrate the reasonableness of calculating one-half 

 cent per quart for the cost of delivering wholesale milk, as we have done 

 in the case of mixed delivery in the figures given in the previous pages. 

 In this plant the cost was a little more than three-fourths of a cent per 

 quart including collection from producers. Two hours daily were occu- 

 pied by a man and two horses for collecting and six hours for delivery. 

 It is contended, however, that the motor truck is more economical for 

 wholesale delivery, provided the truck can be kept fully occupied and the 

 location will permit its use during the winter. 



