COST OF DISTRIBUTING MILK. 49 



The per quart costs of retail delivery of the 66 distributors considered 

 are approximately as follows : — 



4, or 6 per cent., less than 1.5 cents. 

 14, or 21 per cent., between 1.5 and 2 cents. 

 16, or 24 per cent., between 2 and 2.5 cents. 

 13, or 20 per cent., between 2.5 and 3 cents. 

 12, or 18 per cent., between 3 and 3.5 cents. 



7, or 11 per cent., over 3.5 cents. 



The first striking observation is the wide variation in costs, and the 

 comparatively uniform distribution between 1.5 and 3.5 cents. 



The second is the fact that there is no marked correlation between costs 

 and size of business; dealers distributing 300 quarts or less and dealers 

 distributing more than 1,000 quarts daily are found in every group except 

 the first. The third group contains as many dealers handling less than 500 

 quarts daily as any group and more dealers handling more than 1,000 

 quarts daily than any other group. 



Third, considered by groups, the cost per quart of retailing increases 

 and the size of the retail load decreases from the first to the sixth group. 

 It should be noted that the high average retail load of the first group is 

 due to one dealer whose load was exceptionally heavy. 



Fourth, some correlation is discernible between the number of quarts 

 retailed per mile of haul and the cost per quart, the more quarts per mile 

 the less the cost; but the correlation is not consistent. The average 

 delivery for Group III is 29.5 quarts per mile; that of Group V is 30.9 

 quarts per mile, though the average cost per quart of delivery of the latter 

 is about 50 per cent, higher than the former. These two factors, how- 

 ever — the size of the load and the density of delivery (quarts per mile) 

 — are two very important considerations in milk delivery. 



Fifth, the individual variations in the number of quarts retailed per 

 mile per wagon, within the groups, are very significant. In Group I, 

 for example, one dealer distributes 23 and another 68 quarts per mile. 

 In Group II the variations run from 15 to 70; in Group III, from 10 to 

 70, and in Group V, from 8 to 56 quarts per mile. Under these condi- 

 tions it is very evident that the costs of milk delivery must vary tre- 

 mendously. 



Finally, the cost of delivery is closely related to the miles traveled per 

 customer (or, inversely, the number of customers per mile), running from 

 one-thirtieth of a mile between deliveries in the first group to one-nine- 

 teenth of a mile in the sixth group. Nothing more strikingly indicates 

 the individual differences in delivery conditions than the customers served 

 per mile traveled. The first group contains one dealer with a record of 68 

 customers and another with only 10 customers a mile. The third group 

 shows variations between 9 and nearly 60 customers. Group V has one 

 dealer who serves 62 customers a mile, and another who serves less than 

 3. The significance of these relationships will be considered under 

 "Disadvantages of Competitive Distribution." 



