30 
BULLETIN 9^3, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
1,500,000 were obtained in three years. The usual charge for bottles 
returned to the owner is from one-half cent to 3 cents each. Cans, 
jackets, bottle cases, and other articles which constitute a milk 
dealer's delivery equipment are also handled by some of the exchanges. 
In many cases the exchanges are operated by dealers, who generally 
are stockholders. 
In some exchanges a small profit is made, though the object of the 
exchange is not to make money, but simply to help the dealers recover 
their bottles, and the latter can well afford to pay the small price 
asked. While these exchanges do away with but a small part of the 
large loss of bottles incident to the milk business, yet they are a useful 
Fig. 20. — Dealers must keep a large supply of bottles on hand. Fifty dealers bought on the average 
120 bottles a month for every 100 bottles filled daily. 
factor in reducing expenses, and dealers in those cities where such 
exchanges do not exist would do well to consider this subject with a 
view to organizing an exchange. 
All milk plants should have a system of checking up their drivers 
on the number of bottles brought back each day. Drivers often 
become careless even when there is such a system; but if no record is 
kept, the losses are of course much greater. 
People are often ignorant of the value of the bottles and sometimes 
break them, throw them into the ash barrel, or use them for other 
purposes. Many dealers send special notices to the consumers in 
regard to the necessity of returning bottles; this tends to eliminate 
some of the carelessness. 
