CITY MILK SUPPLY

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 10, 13 January 1932, Page 11

CITY MILK SUPPLY

BATTERY LIT CARTS

THE :DAY/DELIVERS

• ..::Tlie ;day delivery:of--ttie-'.city'iiiilk-is proving "satisfactory ;to the bulk ;of customers, "■.'and' is..pijijeceding without any; .trouble.' .Thpre v aro:. a .fe,w who: do no t : rieturn-; 1 0;: their_ homes,' until- comparatively late" in ■'■|;lio 'evening, and who have to remember to put out the bottle before: tl\ey leave, .for: tho; city, or regret it; :b\it for t;he great majority the- day-vdeHve"ry;is--m()r'e;Buitable; in r suring:; as N-it doe's tli6'"preseiicq 6i the millc:- for- the';firs"t':"nieal ;bF-tlie :<foy/, which,'-"ini-tifo -Sase; of 'thpse^ whtf awayvall day, <vahd' especially-.''"th'bSe whose ;wotk ;isv df- the ".physical bfaerjl is; generally 'a'substalitial7 arid iinport--ant.'fene;' :' ' . r-'v. ..-Vi -■■■■'{'. ■--.■ '•'■■■

.'lt .was partly the difficulfjr- in geWiiig the milk' delivered by breakfast time in all cases, that caused the change, but there was also the; question of: getting th 0.- fnil ■, economic value .for . the '• work doneiwhich^'-with the night aelivery!; :was ('not possible ;ih. 'with tho Shops, and-Offices -Act. Under' the'i regulations of ■ the Act;' it was not permissible to send the men out before 3 a ; m. As a-46-houi- week'is worked for six days, -1 hours 40 minutes are worked daily.' That meant that1 fOKmerly it was impossible to: Tinish .; the rounds until 10.40 a.m., which 'did not take into account, the breakfasts of customers who had'to be on theyob at 8 a.m.; some 40, per cent, of whom,had;to go without or use the milk of the day before. Under, the .present system everybody. is. supplied for the current morning's .breakfast with' the:'. samo day's milk,that, would have been delivered perhaps, just, too' late under.the old system. The men start out with tho carts about ■'4;30.'j5.m".; ancl all are finished before -midnight.'- -Moreover, when economy is all .important in 'distribution costs, itis-something for the milk department..to be able to. make a. full economic iiso.of. labour. There is the advantage also that, interference with tokens' is appreciably less when the bottles stand • out' in - daylight. Improvements which are economics are all toe; scarce, but the replacement of candles on the delivery carts by battery lamps is an instance. At a cost of £2 10s a vehicle the old lamps have b.een wired and; fitted with'bulbs of a hardy variety, while there is also tho benefit of a tail light. To say nothing of the waste of candles in the occasional winds, ,tho now lighting will -I prove much more economical. As thel milk depot pays on a maximum current rate; and the batteries ,aro charged at hours that make for cheapness, the cost' of charging is practically negligible