COOPERATIVE MILK-DISTRIBUTING PLANTS. 



15 



of delivery, whether many flights of stairs must be climbed, etc. 

 In the ordinary city, where there is more or less competition, about 

 250 to 300 quarts of milk, with the usual quantity of cream and 

 other dairy products, are commonly carried on a retail wagon. For 

 wholesale trade one delivery outfit will handle 500 to 1,500 quarts, 

 depending on the type of streets, distance apart of the customers, 

 and similar factors. 



INVESTMENTS IN PLANT AND EQUIPMENT. 



If a building is rented or bought it must be remodeled to fit the 

 requirements of the business and this remodeling will cost, depend- 

 ing on the size and condition of the building, from $500 to $5,000 

 or more. The rental of a building will, of course, depend upon local 

 conditions, location in the city, on size of building, etc., but this 

 will usually vary from $30 to $150 per month. 



The money that must be invested in a new building will depend 

 on the quantity of milk to be handled, materials of construction 

 used, cost of labor, local conditions, etc. Table 1 shows the invest- 

 ments in plant building at 27 representative producers' milk plants 

 of various sizes located in various cities throughout the country. 

 While there are wide variations in cost, caused by lack of standardi- 

 zation of buildings, varied materials used, and other factors, these 

 figures will give a general idea of the approximate amount of money 

 that will have to be invested in a building. 



The cost of milk-plant equipment depends on the quality and 

 size and the cost of transportation. In Table 1 are also shown the 

 investments in plant equipment in 27 producers' cooperative plants 

 of various sizes. 



Table 1. — Investments in plant and equipinent at 27 producers' cooperative milk 

 plants, arranged according to quantity handled. 





Num- 

 ber of 

 plante. 



Average 

 number 

 gallons 

 handled 

 daily. 



Investment in plant. 



Investment in plant 

 equipment. 



Size of plant (gallons handled daily). 



Average per 

 plant. 



Average 



per 

 gallon. 



Average 



per 

 plant. 



Average 



per 

 gallon. 



500 gallons or less 



9 



7 

 5 

 6 



413.9 



793 

 1,760 

 4, 199. 66 



1 SIO, 000. 00 



2 18, 977. 87 



2 22, 515. 76 



94, 750. 25 



1 $25. 97 



2 22.77 



2 11.69 



19.14 



$11,811.21 

 25, 208. 68 



3 20, 933. 77 

 60, 960. 15 



$28. 73 



501 to 1,000 gallons 



31.79 



1,001 to 2,000 gallons 



3 11. 89 



2,001 to 8,000 gallons 



12.34 









27 



1, 602. 7 



36,339.02 



19.45 



26, 624. 28 



16.97 



1 Only 5 plants in tiiis gi'oup had buildings of their own. 



2 One plant in this group rented a building. 



3 One plant in this group handled mostly ail wholesale. 



