DELIVERY OF MILK

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 24, 29 January 1924, Page 6

DELIVERY OF MILK

STANDARD OF SERVICE

1 COMPLAINT AND ANSWER

SMALL BOYS ON MILK CARTS.

In the course .of .a detailed letter, •"63872" complains of faulty delivery of milk by City Council" roundsmen. He refers particularly to an unreliability of service in his particular locality, and also to the practice of roundsmen of allowing snUll boys to help them out in their work, and asks Whether that practice is winked at by the council or whether it is definitely against the rules laid down. As showing the unreliability of service in his particular case, the writer gives the following record of deliveries made to his house in one week, the regular order being for one pint: Sunday, 1£ pints; Monday, nil; Tuesday, pint; Wednesday, quart; Thursday pint; Friday, nil. "The other day," he continues, "I saw a youngster of about eight crying all over a milk bottle he' was carrying. He told me that, he had been sent in with a milk bottle, but: that he Was frightened of the dog. I wonder if any milk was left at that place that day. Perhaps he fold the roundsman that no bottle was left out., This seems to me rather a serious state of affairs." The complaint was this morning referred to the general manager of the Milk Depot, Mr. R. E. Herron, who stated, that he regretted the cause of the 'criticisms levelled. The- council's standard of service was that leach householder should each day be supplied with exactly what was required in either mjlk or cream. That standard was steadily aimed at day in and day out, but it Was to be remembered that in the delivery of milk,-- as in everything else, the human element had always to be reckoned with, and mistakes would be made. The management was always j open to receive complaints from customers, and, in fact, in that way only could mistakes, trifling or otherwise, be ,put right. SEVEN AND SIX-DAY WEEK. ■ | Unfortunately, through a variety of causes, the standard of service during the last few weeks had been somewhat lowered, though certainly not to an extent Which justified wholesale condemnation of, the delivery system. The mistakes which had occurred in some instances were natural enough, and, moreover, not all were due to faults of roundsmen. Recently the Arbitration Court awarded roundsmen ' a six-day week in place of the seven-day week which' had held previously, and that had entailed a complete recasting of rounds in such manner,as to provide that the seventh rouad in' each' group was.incorporated in the remaining six, thereby freeing one roundsman from that seventh round to enable him to act as relieving roundsman in turn on each of the remaining six. It could be readily understood'that (hat recasting was not simple, and had to be brought about gradually! Ihe relieving roundsman was engaged on a round with which he could not be at first familiar, while the position was made' still more difficult by the holiday times and the fluctuating demands of householders ' from week to week resulting from people leaving town for the seaside, and so on. It was not humanly possible for the regular roundsman to pass on all his detailed information to the relieving man, though theoretically it might be done; and so mistakes would crop ,up. 3 ' EARLIER DELIVERIES. Singe just before Christmas, continued Mr. Herron, it had been found necessary on account of the hot weather, to brine straight into the depot the milk produced on the farms in the evening, instead of that milk being allowed to remain overnight on the farms, and that supply had enabled the depot to commence early morning deliveries to avoid the heat of Uie day. There had been a good deal of criticism against the department for choppmg and changing in the hours of delivery, but the reasons were'sound enough for was it not wiser to send round the city's milk when the air~ was ■cooler and with as little delay between milking time and delivery as possible ? SMALL BOY NUISANCE. "The-department does not countenance the employment of small boys by "the roundsmen," added Mr. Herron; "in fact, it roundly condemns the practice, and when the whole question of delivery was before the -Arbitration Court, sought for and obtained a clause in the new award expressly forbidding the employment of boys-under the age of 18, either by the department or the roundsmen." The. department was taking steps to enforce that clause, but the officers knew well enough that some'of the roundsmen were disobeying the rule. Apparently the idea of so lessening the day s work was attractive to them, but if a case was proved against one of the employees very definite steps would be taken. To know that boys were helping out was one thing, to prove it was another. ALWAYS WILLING TO REMEDY > MATTERS. "The department deprecates customers writing anonymously or under pen names," concluded Mr. Herron, "for plainly enough we would prefer to have concrete complaints set before us in order that we may investigate at once and apply a remedy or put right some mistake made by one or other of, the parties. _ The department cannot discover who is at fault unless'the facts are placed before it. I am just afraid that some of those who criticise most caustically not referring to the writer of the-letter you refer to in particular—haye, short memories, and that under Wellington's old system of go-as-you-please deliveries were not always 100, per cent, efficient and regular, and that small boys then delivered milk and were scarcely noticed."