Home deliveries of milk may be on credit

Press, 25 September 1982, Page 2

Home deliveries of milk may be on credit

Milk vendors will study a plan to make credit widely available for the daily delivery of milk to overcome the problems of theft. The proposal was put to the annual conference of the • Dominion Federation of Milk Vendors by its president, Mr lan Murray, at Napier yesterday. ' Mr Murray put' forward the suggestion as part - of a "personal plan” for an improved system based on the findings of a recent major survey of customer preferences' “The widespread availability of payment for milk using an account 'system eliminates at a /single stroke the theft of money and tokens and the problems of token availability or forgetting to buy more tokens,” he said. The survey, which highlighted an overwhelming customer, preference; for the;;

daily home delivery service, showed that theft of money and tokens had become a "very significant" problem for many householders. Mr Murray said that with more than 20 per cent reporting some degree of theft, the vendors would have to find ways and means to overcome the problem. The credit system would also allow customers to have a'standing order with the milkman’, he said. Mr Murray warned, however, . that there would be problems in getting the vendors fully to support the proposals. Obviously some would be.worried by the risk in the extensive use of credit and the possible liability, it posed to their business. Simi-larly,-if vendors were giving credit to their customers they should also expect to be able to receive credit facilities from the milk stations.