88 THE MARKETING OF WHOLE MILK 



the case of special milk. Men making a specialty of high- 

 grade milk frequently have customers scattered rather 

 widely over the city, which necessitates longer routes. 

 A small Columbus dealer has used a two-ton truck for 

 several years for retail and wholesale deliveries combined, 

 but has not found it especially desirable for the retail trade. 

 Too much time is lost in starting and stopping. With 

 horse delivery, on the other hand, a horse soon learns the 

 route and keeps moving for some time after the driver is 

 well on his way to the house where he delivers milk. In 

 fact, the horse and driver may meet some distance farther 

 down the street, after the driver has delivered several 

 bottles at neighboring homes. When the driver gets back 

 into the wagon, he gets ready the bottles necessary for 

 the next stop, makes records, etc., while the wagon is 

 moving to the next place. With a machine, the driver must 

 keep his hands on the steering wheel until the car comes 

 to a full stop. Another Columbus dealer is just now try- 

 ing out the small electric truck for retail delivery. These 

 trucks are proving quite successful. 



A stop-watch study made on a number of Columbus 

 routes in 1917 showed an average running time of thirty- 

 eight seconds and an average stopping time of fifty-one 

 seconds for each wagon. In other words, but 42.7 per cent 

 of the time was running time and 57.3 per cent was stop- 

 ping time. Any saving made by the truck would have to 

 come out of the 42.7 per cent of running time and out of 

 time going to and from the plant. 



In Columbus and in many other cities much time is 

 spent in delivering milk at the back door, although the 

 wagon passes along the street in front of the houses. A 

 study made in one of the better residential sections of 

 Columbus indicates that nearly one-fourth of a driver's 



