258 THE MARKETING OF WHOLE MILK 



carry the milk of various dealers so as to eliminate dupli- 

 cation in delivery would be an almost impossible and cer- 

 tainly a wasteful undertaking, since the dealer assigned 

 to deliver the milk in a particular zone would be required 

 to carry in all sizes of containers milk of all the different 

 dealers having customers in that zone, carrying each in 

 quantity sufficient to meet the fluctuating demands of such 

 consumers. 



A plan now being tried in Cleveland, Ohio, provides 

 for cooperation between producers and grocers, the stock 

 in the bottling plant being owned largely by producers 

 and grocers. The aim in this instance is for the cooper- 

 atively owned plant to process the milk which is to be 

 sold to the grocery trade, the members of the grocery 

 trade sharing in any reduced costs which may result. 

 The grocers get the milk which they require from the cen- 

 tral plant with their own delivery wagons and deliver the 

 milk to the consumers along with their regular grocery 

 deliveries. 



Cooperation among consumers is not likely to prove 

 feasible. The consumer has but little interest in milk 

 after all. It is but one of his many interests, and he would 

 hardly devote enough attention to the plan to make con- 

 sumers' cooperation efficient. There is, however, a suc- 

 cessful small consumers' milk company at Ashtabula Har- 

 bor, Ohio, which has been in operation for a number of 

 years. This particular plant has, as a rule, sold milk a 

 cent or two under many of the other plants. The stock 

 is owned almost entirely by Finnish laborers and business 

 men, a class of people who have been used to cooperating 

 in their mother country. Practically the same group of 

 people have been successfully operating a cooperative 

 store and a cooperative bakery. 



