DISTRIBUTION OF MILK 99 



consideration of all available facts clearly leads to the 

 conclusion that the store should be recognized as the 

 proper agent for the performance of two phases of the 

 milk distribution service, that of supplying emergency 

 needs and that of providing cold storage for milk where 

 consumers do not have such facilities. Any proper policy 

 of price regulation should contemplate the continued 

 performance of these services by allowing therefor an 

 adequate return. 



Persons who have claimed that the store is the more 

 economical channel for milk have quite often compared 

 unequal services. They have, for example, compared 

 the cost of handling and delivery by a store with the cost 

 of delivery by a milk dealer, ignoring the fact that in the 

 former case a part of the service has already been per- 

 formed by the milk dealer who delivered the milk to the 

 store.' In other cases the cost of retail delivery by a milk 

 dealer has been compared with over-the-counter sales by 

 the store. If a comparison is made, it should be between 

 (i) the cost of delivery to the store plus the cost of han- 

 dling and delivery by the store and (2) the cost to the 

 milk dealer of delivering directly to a home. 



The margins now received by stores vary widely in 

 various cities, ranging from nothing to three cents or more 

 per quart bottle. The table on page 100 shows store 

 margins for fifty-five cities in 1918.^ 



In most cities stores retail milk at the same prices as 

 milk dealers charge their family trade. This is true 

 whether the consumer goes after his milk or has it delivered 

 at his home with his groceries. Dr. Clyde L. King, of 



• See Retailing Milk Through Grocery Stores, U. S. Bureau of Markets, Milk 

 Letter, October, 1919. 



* Fifty-one of these cities are in Ohio. 



