152 MILK SURVEY OF THE CITY OF ROCHESTER 



in separate lots, would all be shipped to the same distributor and land at 

 the same receiving station. These changes, all of them, would result in 

 economies in the labor connected with the loading and unloading of the 

 milk, and would, without question, reduce the work of the railroads and 

 trolleys and the work of the trucks and wagons. 



It is difficult to estimate accurately just what this reduction would 

 be. The experience of large milk companies in other cities in the reduc- 

 tion of freight rates would indicate a possible reduction of 10 per cent, 

 in the cost of freight in large lots over the cost of handling milk in small 

 lots. It is believed that the reduction would be greater than this but, for 

 the purposes of this survey, an allowance of only 10 per cent, in the cost 

 of freight will be made. This amounts to a total of $16,580.50. 



LOSS ON SURPLUS 



One of the items which is commonly overlooked by persons not 

 familiar with the milk industry is the loss on surplus milk. Contracts 

 between milk producers as a rule provide that the distributor shall accept 

 all of the milk which the producers furnish. There is no constant rela- 

 tionship between the supply and the demand. At certain times of the 

 year, especially in the spring months when cows are put out on pasture, 

 there is as a rule a production of milk far in excess of the market de- 

 mands. In some years, during the months of May and June, this surplus 

 exceeds the market demands by as much as 80 per cent. As a rule, during 

 the months of July and August, when the hot weather dries up the grass 

 and flies are numerous, there is a shrinkage in the production of milk by 

 dairy cows, which results in an actual deficiency, so that the quantity of 

 milk produced by the regular milk producers supplying the milk dealers 

 of Rochester and other cities is less than the market demands. This 

 deficiency is made up, if possible by bringing into the city market milk 

 from outside source of supply, such as butter factories, cheese factories, 

 condensed milk factories, etc. 



The successful milk dealer is compelled to arrange his business so 

 that such deficiencies, if possible, will not occur. This means that, for 

 most of the months of the year, the dealer is compelled to carry a surplus 

 of milk in excess of market demands which ranges annually from 5 to 

 20 per cent, of his total business. This surplus milk cannot be marketed 

 at the flat price of fluid milk, but must be made up into milk products 

 such as condensed milk, butter, cheese, powdered milk, buttermilk, cream, 

 etc. The market price for these milk products as a rule brings in to the 

 dealer less money than he would receive if the surplus milk could be sold 

 at full fluid milk prices. Consequently, in every milk company there is 

 an annual loss of money due to the manufacture and sale of surplus milk. 

 In most large cities this loss is estimated at about y 2 cent per quart. 



