MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 366 



Table 2. — Division of the Worcester market by price plans 

 Average Dail}', 1935 



Plan 



Rating. 

 Use . . . 

 Flat . . . 

 Other*. 



Totals . 



79 



172,585 



100.0 



2,185 



♦Producer-Dealers and Producer-Distributors. 



the Massachusetts Milk Control Board rigidly enforces dealer bonding regulations, 

 requiring dealers to post bonds representing substantial security. 



In addition to can service and various credit services, some of the larger dealers 

 delivered for producers such articles as strainer pads, milk pails, and washing 

 powder. A few dealers sold to producers butter and cheese. 



All milk was handled in cans, as there was not sufficient concentration of 

 production in any part of the milkshed to permit economical operation of tank 

 trucks. Most dealers furnished the cans in which milk was transported, charging 

 three-fourths of a cent per hundredweight of milk, the standard rate allowed by 

 the Milk Control Board. 



During 1935 one large dealer changed from this plan to producer-owned cans. 

 The dealer sold cans to his producers, receiving payment in three installments 

 deducted from the milk checks of succeeding months, and eliminating the can 

 charge. Since this change, some producers have complained that their cans 

 received unnecessarily rough treatment. 



One dealers' association — the Massachusetts Dairies Incorporated — was 

 present in the Worcester market area. This group was organized in 1935 and 

 had some members in the Worcester milkshed who shipped to Boston; therefore, 

 it did not constitute a factor in the market organization of Worcester. 



No study has been made of the efficiency of Operations of these dealers. Doubt- 

 less there was some duplication in the delivery by them to the consumer. There 

 were, however, including the" producer-dealers and producer-distributors, who 

 have very few customers, an average of 2400 persons receiving milk from each 

 dealer. If that was the average, then some dealers had a much larger number of 

 customers and there were many with far less. The area of Worcester is large 

 enough so that small dealers would deliver only in certain parts of the city, while 

 the few larger dealers doubtless covered the city rather thoroughly in their routes. 

 There cannot, therefore, be very much overlapping of routes, for all dealers do 

 not have the time to cover the entire city daily. If 79 dealers operate in a market, 

 certainly the consumer has sufficient choice to insure the type of service he prefers; 

 and yet there are not too many dealers, when one considers the number of regular 

 ones, to make this choice cumbersome. Competition should be sufficiently keen 

 to grant the consumers the service they desire. 



