22 



MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 366 



0= 1-19 # = 50-50 



0=20-29 ■=60-69 



A-30.39 A=70-79 



0=40-49 |>80 



SCALE Of MILES 



Figure 11. 



Location of Producers according to Hauling Charges, 1935 

 (Cents per hundredweight) 



There is, to the consumer as well as to anyone else, an appearance of wasted 

 hauling expense in this picture. Why do some pay more to have their milk hauled 

 than others? Why do they not change their methods of shipping their milk to 

 the market? The answer for the producer is that this probably is the very best 

 way to get his milk to market that is available to him. It is apparent that 

 those producers who pay the highest hauling charges on the whole receive the 

 highest prices for their milk. In other words, some dealers try to fool their pro- 

 ducers by making them think they are being paid a high price for their milk, 

 when in reality they are obtaining a price similar to that received by the neighbor- 

 ing producers, for the higher price is offset by the higher hauling charge. This 

 difference in rates caused by difference in price explains some of the discrepancies 

 in hauling rates. The rest must be attributed to the fact that milk is a perishable 

 commodity, and as such must reach the market with the greatest speed. Whoever 

 takes that milk to the market for the producer has the producer at his mercy and 

 can just about obtain a monopoly pi ice. There is, however, one limit to this 

 charge. As has been stated previously, the Milk Control Board can rule on 

 excessive hauling charges and has so ruled. 



Nothing has been done with respect to routes. A study of certain routes in 

 the Springfield Milkshed has been made^* and another is in progress. It seems 

 as though a similar study in this market would lead to overlapping of research. 



'''Brown, A. A., and Donley, J. E., Millc Cartage in the Soutliwick-Agawam Area of the Spring- 

 field Milkshed, Mass. Agr. Exp. Sta., Bui. 363, May 1939. 



