THE WORCESTER MILK MARKET 



21 



Figures 11 and 12 show the charges per hundredweight and charges per ton-mile 

 by location of the producers who paid these rates. The various charges per 

 hundredweight are very scattered. When, however, the rates are converted by 

 mileage, they show definitely that those producers living nearer the city paid a 

 higher rate for the distance for which their milk was hauled. 



The location of a farm with reference to a hard surface or main route and the 

 efficiency of the trucker should be governing factors in fixing hauling charges. 

 In Worcester, though, it would seem that there was a basic charge to cover cost 

 of loading and unloading, and that this charge varied only slightly, and not 

 always in accordance with the distance from the market. Figure 12 shows that 

 the rates did decrease as the distance from market increased. Comparison of 

 these two maps shows also that those producers living between 15 and 21 miles 

 from Worcester paid the same rate, whether by hundredweight or by ton-mile. 



Hauling charges for 48 Vermont milk producers shipping to Worcester were 

 available. This milk was first trucked from the farm to a country plant, shipped 

 by rail from the country plant to Worcester, and then hauled by truck from a 

 railroad siding to the dealer's plant. In the country, rates for farm to country 

 plant hauling varied from 10 to 25 cents. Country plant charges were estimated 

 at 19 to 29 cents per hundredweight of milk handled. The freight rate on Vermont 

 milk shipped to Worcester in 1935 was 41.3 cents per hundredweight and it cost 

 five cents per hundredweight to haul the milk from the railroad depot to the 

 dealer's plant. 



Comparison of these rates with local hauling rates in the Massachusetts area 

 shows that the cost of transporting Vermont milk to Worcester was from 28.8 

 to 88.7 cents per hundredweight more than the corresponding cost of Massachu- 

 setts milk (Table 6). This differential does not necessarily indicate economy in 

 purchasing Massachusetts milk rather than Vermont milk, but is rather a measure 

 of the comparatively lower cost of production that Vermont produceis must 

 have in order to compete in the Worcester market. 



Table 6. — Costs of transporting milk from farms in Vermont and 

 massachusetts to dealers' plants in worcester, 1935 



(Cost per hundredweight) 



Massachusetts 



Vermont 



High Low 



High 



Low 



Hauling Rate 46.5 1 1 .6 25.0 10.0 



Country Plant* 29.0 19.0 



Freight 41.3 41.3 



City Haul 5.0 5.0 



Total 46.5 11.6 100.3 75.3 



Less Massachusetts —11.6 —46.5 



Extra Cost for Vermont Milk 88.7 28.8 



*Camburn, O. M., Milk Receiving Station Operation tn Vermont 

 Vt. .'^gr. E.xp. Sta. Bui. 303, Nov., 1929. 



