38 BULLETIN 9*73, U. S, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
NUMBER OF MEN REQUIRED TO OPERATE MILK PLANTS. 
The average number of workmen employed in a milk plant, also 
of route foremen, office clerks, etc., is shown in Table 12 for 153 
plants of various sizes. Wide variations occur in plants of similar 
sizes, but a general idea may be obtained from this table for purposes 
of comparison. 
Table 12. — Number of men employed in 153 milk plants of various 
Plant em- 
ployees (not 
including of- 
Delivery routes. 
Administra- 
tive force. 
Office force. 
fice force). 
Aver- 
Gallons milk handled 
daily. 
Num- 
ber of 
plants. 
Aver- 
age 
gal- 
lons 
han- 
dled 
daily 
Aver- 
age 
men 
per 
plant. 
Aver- 
age 
num- 
ber 
routes 
per 
age 
num- 
ber 
routes 
per 100 
gal- 
lons 
Aver- 
age 
num- 
ber 
routes 
per 
route 
Aver- 
age 
per 
plant. 
Aver- 
age per 
100 gal- 
lons 
han- 
dled 
Aver- 
age 
per 
plant. 
Aver- 
age per 
100 gal- 
lons 
milk 
han- 
dled 
daily. 
Aver- 
age 
num- 
ber of 
routes 
per 
office 
per 
plant. 
han- 
fore- 
daily. 
em- 
plant. 
dled 
man. 
ployee. 
daily. 
Up to 100 
4 
85 
1.0 
1.0 
1.2 
101 to 250 
18 
31 
35 
15 
168 
390 
788 
1,303 
1,745 
1.7 
2.8 
5.7 
7.2 
2.4 
4.4 
9.8 
12.4 
1.4 
1.1 
1.2 
.9 
"6.7" 
6.0 
0.52 
.74 
1.1 
1.0 
0.31 
.19 
.14 
.08 
0.52 
.77 
2.7 
2.4 
0.31 
.20 
.34 
.18 
4.7 
251 to 500 
5.7 
501 to 1,000 
3.7 
1,001 to 1,500 
5.2 
1,501 to 2,000 
11 
11.5 
20.5 
1.2 
7.0 
1.4 
.08 
4.7 
.27 
4.3 
2,001 to 3,000 
12 
2,621 
3,921 
14.6 
25.4 
.97 
8.0 
1.3 
.05 
5.6 
.21 
4.5 
3,001 to 5,000 
16 
20.5 
37.9 
.96 
7.1 
1.9 
.05 
7.7 
.20 
4.9 
5,001 to 10,000 
7 
7,357 
32.7 
62.6 
.84 
7.4 
2.1 
.03 
14.1 
.19 
4.4 
Over 10,000 
4 
17,250 
85.8 
138.2 
.80 
9.7 
3.0 
.02 
44.2 
.25 
3.1 
From the average number of routes per 100 gallons the approxi- 
mate average load carried by the dealers with plants of various sizes 
can be determined. It will be noted that the larger dealers have 
fewer routes per 100 gallons handled than the smaller ones. This 
is owing in part to the fact that in many cases they handled a greater 
proportion of bulk milk. 
The average number of routes per route foreman varied, but as a 
general rule the larger dealers were able to economize in this respect 
and more routes were handled per route foreman than in the case of 
the smaller dealers. The number of administrative officers, also, 
was proportionally larger at the smaller plants. The number of 
office employees required in proportion to the number of routes 
depends more on the system of accounting used than on the size of 
the business. Some of the large dealers have many more office em- 
ployees per route operated than some of the smaller ones. 
Table 13 presents some interesting information as to the number 
of men employed in plants in different cities. Figures from the 
principal plants in each city were obtained. 
