June, 1938] The Transportation of New Hampshire Milk 13 



Table II. Description of commercial truck routes operating largely within 



New Hampshire, June, 1937. 



Total Average 



Daily Daily 



Number of routes 



Gross income 



Volume of milk transported — pounds 



Total distance traveled — miles 



Unpaved road — miles 



Number of stops 



Milk collected per stop — pounds 



Milk collected per farm — pounds 



Rate charged per cwt. — cents 



Cost per farm — -cents 



In June, 1937, commercial truck routes to the number of 152 oper- 

 ated largely within New Hampshire. Significant data regarding these 

 routes appear in Table II. These data refer to June, the month of peak 

 production, and this fact should be kept in mind when interpreting 

 them. 



Several items in Table II bear mention. Over $1,000 per day was 

 charged New Hampshire producers during June, 1937, for hauling 

 their milk from farm to plant. On a hundredweight of milk basis, the 

 average charge was 23.68 cents. On a per farm basis, the daily charge 

 averaged approximately 51 cents. Allowing for seasonal variation in 

 milk production, the yearly bill for transportation of milk from farm 

 to plant is estimated at about $300,000. 



Other averages presented in Table II must be used with great caution. 

 Individual routes vary so widely that the averages given may not be 

 typical and merely indicate summary figures for all routes studied. 



The equipment to haul this milk represents a large investment. 

 Figure 5 summarizes the trucking facilities used on most of these 

 connnercial routes. Though many different models and capacities of 

 trucks are in use, the typical truck has a stake body, a capacity of 11/^ 

 tons and is comparatively new. 



Only a relatively small number of trucks are used for other purposes 

 than milk hauling. While a few of the larger trucks are used on farm 

 work or on regular express routes, most of the trucks used for other 

 purposes are small pick-up trucks of one-half ton capacity. 



The time required from leaving the garage until arrival at the plant 

 averages two and a half hours. Many routes require only an hour or 

 two to collect their loads, leaving the major part of the day free to carry 

 on other activities. Where independent truckers operate such routes, 

 they very frequently regard their trucking activity as a part-time enter- 

 prise to be combined with the operation of a dairy farm. This is par- 

 ticularly the case in the wholesale dairy region in the Connecticut River 

 valley where many of the smaller truck routes are operated by farmers. 



In the case of distributors' trucks or of most independent truck 

 routes in the remainder of the state, trucking is either combined with 

 operating a milk distributing business in the case of the distributor, or 

 is a full-time job in the case of many independents. This phase of 

 milk transportation will be discussed later in the study. 



