Plastic milk bottles arrive

Press, 23 January 1988, Page 10

Plastic milk bottles arrive

Two-litre plastic milk bottles will be introduced for sale in Christchurch from Monday, February 1. Containing more than three glass milk bottles, the two-litre plastic bottles proved very popular in the Auckland area, which had had them since October, 1986, said the distribution officer for the Auckland distributing firm, Ambury’s Milk Company, Mr Brian Waterman.

The popularity of the plastic milk bottle, however, cost the Auckland milk vendors, four of

whom had been forced to reduce their milk rounds to delivering alternate days. Fears that Christchurch milk vendors might follow suit were dismissed by Canterbury Dairy Farmers, Ltd, the supplier of milk to the Canterbury area. "Once you begin cutting back your delivery service, it’s an open invitation to consumers to start buying their milk from the dairy or supermarket,” said the marketing manager for C.D.F., Mr Garth Asher. “Milk is delivered seven

days a week to Christchurch homes, and we hope to keep it that way for many years to come,” said Mr. Asher. The twolitre bottles were not introduced earlier to Christchurch because, at the time Auckland adopted them, they were a big risk, he said. "We waited until our milk carton sales had settled down, and we watched the effects it (two-litre containers) had in Auckland. By waiting this long we hope to make a better job of adapting it to home deliveries,” said

Mr Asher. One hundred thousand leaflets had been arranged by C.D.F. for the public, as well as a major advertising programme to let buyers know where they could get the twolitre plastic bottles of milk.

“Vendors must, however, make sure that their service is top notch, because in the end the customer always makes the final decision,” he said.

How to deliver the large plastic bottles of milk would pose a problem for milk vendors, said

Mr Asher. “They’ve yet to work out the means of communication between vendor and customer. With a glass bottle it was easy enough to let the milkman know you wanted another bottle just by putting the empty one out, but the light-weight plastics are more difficult,” he said. Unlike Auckland, Christchurch enjoyed a marked increase in domestic sales last year. According to Mr Asher, milk sales to the home were up 3.7 per cent last December.