BULLETIJSr :^o. 173. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS. 



THE COST OF DISTRIBUTING MILK IN SIX 

 CITIES AND TOWNS OF MASSACHUSETTS/ 



BY ALEXANDER E. CANCE, PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS, AND 

 RICHARD HAY FERGUSON, EXTENSION PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURAL 

 ECONOMICS, MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, CO-OPERATING 

 ■W^TH OFFICE OF MARKETS, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRI- 

 CULTURE. 



Foreword. 



The facts presented in this bulletin show that the cost of distributing 

 retail milk by more than SO distributor^, some of them producers, some 

 of them dealers, was 2.64 cents a quart in 1914 and 1915. It cost 42 

 distributors in Worcester and Springfield 2.79 cents a quart on the average. 



These costs included (1) all labor costs — labor Hired, labor of the 

 members of the family, labor of the operator and proprietor in preparing 

 the milk for dehvery, and delivering it (labor made up more than half of 

 the total cost) ; (2) all depreciation or replacement costs on all buildings, 

 equipment and horses used in preparation or deliverj^; (3) all maintenance 

 charges, or cost of upkeep of plant and equipment — repairs, oil, bottles, 

 etc.; (4) aU overhead or fixed charges and all supplies used but once — 

 rent, interest, taxes, insurance, license, soap, caps, hght, fuel, stationery, 

 bad debts, spoilage, etc. The charges made were adequate and the figures 

 obtained mean that, according to the accounts and statements of 85 dis- 

 tributors, the average milkman in 1914 and 1915 was able to pay himself 

 wages and interest and account for all expenses and losses when he received 

 from his retail customers 2.64 cents more than he paid for a quart of milk 

 delivered at his plant; or 2.79 cents if he lived in Springfield or Worcester. 



' Practically all of the data for this bulletin were personally collected by the late Professor 

 Richard Hay Ferguson, who was responsible also for most of the tabulations and for much of the 

 bulletin in its present form. Mr. Ferguson died Dec. 1, 1915. This bulletin was his last work. 



