Doorstep milk?

[Pete]

This must be an agonising moral dilemma for many households.

Doorstep milk is dearer, less convenient, and less reliable that supermarket stuff.  But we've remained loyal to the succession of milkmen these past 26 years and more.  My wife says the deliveries have become more and more unreliable lately, deliveries are missed, today the cheque she left out wasn't collected, and so on.

When we buy milk and other groceries at the supermarket, we go by bike.  The plastic bottles are recyclable (I hope!), lighter and more easily fit in the fridge.  And if we run short, it's so easy for someone to pop on the bike and get a top-up.  Supermarkets are open virtually round-the-clock...

I think supermarket milk now accounts for about two-thirds of our intake anyway.

Should we call a halt to doorstep now and drive another nail in the poor guy's coffin?  He must find it hard to make a living these days, anyway: many neighbours seem to have cancelled.

[rae]

You've just got a crap milkman.  Ours is totally reliable, the precise order is delivered at about 07:00 every morning.   How can a delivery be less convenient than fetching it yourself?

It probably does cost more (never bothered to work it out), but it is delivered, which costs money.

[Cyclops]

Our milkman's here about 4am every morning without fail. The only problem we've ever had is very occasionally scrotes nick the milk off our doorstep before we're up in the morning

[Julian]

As agonising moral dilemmas go, it's not one that's ever pained me.  Apart from anything else, milk doesn't seem to get delivered until 8am-ish which is a bit late for those who have to head off to work early.  Plus it's easier for me to walk down to the corner shop - more difficult for people who don't live in urban areas.

I occasionally get an agonising moral cramp over whether drinking milk is in fact ethical at all, or if I should go to better lengths to get milk which hasn't come from cows kept pregnant and lactating ad perpetuam, but I find a nice big latte relieves the symptoms. 

[Rapples]

If you are getting poor service, and neighbours are cancelling, it sounds like it is only a matter of time before he goes anyway.

[hellymedic]

I know how you feel. We are continuing with our milkman for now. He comes around 4am most days, so David sometimes takes in the milk before he comes to bed.
Our milkman missed last Saturday, we don't know why, (the envelope with his cash was also untouched) but resumed on Monday and delivered OK today.
He charges 59p per pint.
I've just ordered some emergency milk for the freezer from Sainsbury's online; that's 80p for 2 pints.

Having frozen milk in reserve makes doorstep milk tolerable, just.

[hellymedic]

Our milkman's here about 4am every morning without fail. The only problem we've ever had is very occasionally scrotes nick the milk off our doorstep before we're up in the morning

Our milkman sold us a lockable 'Milk Minder'. Does yours offer them?

The lock is a tad crude but it seems to deter casual scrotes.

[Basil]

I'm not sure how delivered milk could be less convenient for you.  That is precisely the reason why I have a milkman.  Because it's more convenient.
I never have to worry if there's enough milk for that early morning cuppa.  That's why I am prepared to pay a higher price than I would have to at the supermarket.

Admittedly, the service is only of any value if your milkman delivers before you get up.

[JohnP]

My first 'milkman' was the farmer's wife across the lane from home.   She milked the cows early every morning; most was collected and taken away but she always kept a small churn in her kitchen for the locals.  We collected it every morning in a milk pail and it was still warm when it went on our breakfast.

Then sterilisation came along and it all went down hill from there .

When I was at school I helped milkie with Saturday & Sunday deliveries so have a preference for home deliveries.  Sadly we got let down too often by deliveries after we had left for work so we now collect our own .

[rogerzilla]

We canned ours a couple of months ago.  I'd never wanted to sign up in the first place, but Mrs Z can't resist doorstep salespeople (she also signed up to TalkTalk, who have similarly been kicked into touch for being crap and for having a useless Indian call centre).

It was expensive, we had to remember to cancel it when we went away, we used to be woken at 2.30am by the float (they use rattly diesel ones outside the big towns) and we were going shopping twice a week anyway, so it was pointless.  The order was set at 7 pints a week, and we were buying at least as much again from Sainsbury's, including full fat milk for the girls.  Increasing the order would have led to occasional large surpluses (e.g. if one of us was away).

In the end we decided it was an anachronism left over from the days when milk was heavy to carry back from the shops on foot, and Londoners had just got rid of the cow-in-each-street (the railways first made it possible to produce all milk in the countryside). 

[citoyen]

We signed up for milk delivery from a local independent dairy. The milk wasn't "organic", as in they didn't spend a fortune on organic certification (a cost they'd have had to pass on to customers), but it was from a good local farm where the cows were treated well.

Unfortunately, thanks to the supermarkets, a small, independent dairy is not a viable business these days, so they eventually had to sell out to Dairy Crest. 

We still get deliveries, mainly for the convenience (we live out of town), and the service is OK, but I prefer not to ask where the milk comes from. 

d.

[tonycollinet]

There is no moral dilemma here.

If you are having deliveries, you are paying an expensive premum (around double the cost of supermarket milk) for a service. If that service is not up to scratch (missed deliveries or cheque pickups) then there is no reason to feel bad about not paying for it.

If the service is OK - then you still have to decide if the compromises are worth the convenience.