MILK SURVEY OF THE CITY OF ROCHESTER 149 



results in its bottles making nearly 43 trips before they are broken or 

 lost. Figures obtained from company No. 8 for the month of August 

 showed that during that month the glass bottles of that company made 

 51 trips before they were lost or broken. 



Under a centralized system, where there is no competition and where 

 all of the bottles are of the same type and stamped with the same name, 

 and collected and delivered by the same wagons, the loss on bottles would 

 be reduced to its lowest terms. If milk consumers co-operated to reduce 

 these losses, the life of the milk bottle would be greatly increased. 



Forty trips would seem to be a fair estimate for the bottles of the 

 City of Rochester under a centralized system. This would mean an ex- 

 pense per quart of milk sold of only .001377, and an annual cost for glass 

 bottles of $38,997. The savings under the centralized system would be 

 therefore .001343 per quart, and $29,199 per year. 



Taking the average reduction in cost on savings resulting from the 

 centralized system on the items of heat, light and power, horse feed and 

 bedding, and loss on bottles, the figures show a percentage reduction of 

 34.4 per cent. 



For purposes of comparison the same items of factory expense were 

 obtained from milk companies in the cities of Ottawa, Canada, and Balti- 

 more, Md. 



Company No. 8, located in Ottawa, Can., finds that the cost of factory 

 supplies is, in many instances, higher even than the figure of the United 

 States. It is lower, however, on horse feed. It seems fair to assume, 

 therefore, instead of a reduction of 50 per cent., a reduction of about 34 

 per cent., as indicated by the three largest factory cost items above men- 

 tioned, should be made. Applying this percentage to the entire factory 

 costs of Rochester under the present system would result in a cost under 

 a centralized system of $409,572, which is at the rate of .014464 per quart. 

 This would result in the saving, under the centralized system, in factory 

 expenses, of $214,975.85, which is at the rate of .007592 per quart, as 

 shown in Table No. 77. 



