Talk:Milk delivery

Non-homogenized milk
I used to go to Britain as a child in the 80s and the milk was delivered. The owner of the house where I went would leave a note when she was leaving for a long time. There was also milk in supermarkets, but corner stores had the same milk that was delivered.

Still, there are three things I remember clearly:


 * The empty bottles were always left at night for the milkman to pick up in the morning.
 * Unlike any other milk I knew, the milk from the milkman was not homogenized and the cream would float at the top of the bottle.
 * The bottles were closed with an aluminium foil capsule. The color of the capsule would indicate what kind of milk it was: whole milk (what in the US is often called. "Vitamin D milk"), semi-skimmed (with half the cream left in), or skimmed milk (what in the US would be called 100% fat free milk). The bottles were all glass and the same for each kind. There was also chocolate milk that had its own capsule color but that could easily be identified by its own color.

I actually came to this article to verify that the milk was indeed not homogenized and, hopefully, to find out why that was.

I don't know how to source this, and this might have been specific to where I was in England, in coastal Dorset, but I remember it very precisely.

Eje211 (talk) 16:13, 13 November 2020 (UTC)

Prone to theft?
Is this really a big problem? My family have had milk delivered since I can remember (30 years) and I think we may have had *one* bottle go missing in all that time! 86.132.137.65 05:34, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

I've deleted the bit about the transestite because it is completely irrelevant. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.160.147.205 (talk) 03:30, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Name of this article
"Milk Roundsperson"? Does anybody ever call these people this? WP:MOS says to use the most common name. And regardless, the "R" in "Roundsperson" should be lower case. Corvus cornix talk  23:14, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Corvus cornix talk  23:17, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

'''move###. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 18:37, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Requested move
Milk Roundsperson → Milkman — "Milk Roundsperson" is not the common name for this occupation. A check of Google comes up with very few hits for this title. "Milkman" or even "Milk deliverer", if you wish, is much more common. — Corvus cornix  talk  23:19, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Survey

 * Feel free to state your position on the renaming proposal by beginning a new line in this section with  or  , then sign your comment with  . Since polling is not a substitute for discussion, please explain your reasons, taking into account Wikipedia's naming conventions.


 * Oppose. Wikipedia should always try to use gender-neutral language. Georgia guy (talk) 00:23, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

The three comments below were copied from WP:RM, where they were misplaced.
 * support - I would refer to a female deliverer of milk as a "milkman". This may change in the English language in the future, but so far it hasn't changed. --Gronky (talk) 00:21, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Support - We should use the words that people use, not the words we think people ought to use. The Drama Llama (talk) 00:39, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. Naming convention is the most used English name, not the most politically correct. Also, the current title is discriminatory against square milkmen. --erachima formerly tjstrf 00:42, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Support We should not retain sexist terms which have been pruned, nor should we invent substitutes faster than English does. We are not a crystal ball. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 05:31, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Support. Milk Roundsperson is not in any of my dictionaries, dictionary.com, or OED. Wikipedia can't be used to invent words. Sam Staton (talk) 07:59, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Comment. Two-word phrases are usually in dictionaries only if they have meanings of their own independent of the meanings of the individual words. Georgia guy (talk) 13:34, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
 * But roundsperson would be listed, at least in the OED, if it occurred. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 13:42, 3 April 2008 (UTC)
 * AFAIK, there's been no decision to always use gender-neutral language in preference to terms which are far more frequently used. I have never heard the current title in use, and would not even immediately associate it with the profession.  Milkman is overwhelmingly common usage. Knepflerle (talk) 11:47, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Discussion

 * Any additional comments:

Are there any Wikipedians who are opponents of gender-neutral language in English (not just at Wikipedia)??


 * Gender-neutral language? Of course not. This particular term, however, is not in even remotely common parlance, so the article should be put back where it belongs at Milkman. --erachima formerly tjstrf 00:56, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

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Milkman Jokes
" ... central figure in numerous milkman jokes."

O RLY? Who'd have thunk it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.229.235.38 (talk) 16:32, 10 August 2009 (UTC) The name "roundsperson" only came about 4/5 years ago,as it was sexist to say milkman as both men and woman do the job. KENT MILKMAN —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.211.143.253 (talk) 15:12, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Picture
Is that rather graphic picture really necessary? 207.134.118.183 (talk) 08:14, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

History of Milk Men?
Methinks something important is missing in this article: The history of milk men.

I doubt that milk was unavailable to common people in the UK in the Dark Ages as suggested by some articles.

91.51.207.57 (talk) 00:07, 3 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Truly, this whole article is a little lacking. There's a BIG "In Popular Culture" section, many of the references being to things that I'm not sure are really "popular".  That section is longer than the rest of the article.  What we need is more about the profession itself: More history as was said, statistics about numbers of people and geographic distribution of those employed as milkmen, mean incomes/education/age, information about the companies employing the milkmen (local grocery stores?, larger food distribution companies?), unions or associations for those so employed, etc.  The so-called "Popular Culture" references are fine, but let's try to stick to the subject! 65.0.192.41 (talk) 03:54, 16 September 2010 (UTC)

Paying the milk man
In a presentation I recently attended, a debator claimed that, in the UK in the 1970s, you could pay the milk man by leaving money in an empty bottle overnight - and nobody would steal it! If this is true, then I suggest it be noted in the article, since this is a pretty foreign and curious concept as far as I'm concerned.199.212.11.97 (talk) 03:01, 29 March 2010 (UTC)

Generally true, yes. Stealing of the money by kids was rife. If no money was collected, then no milk was left. Business customers were always on monthly accounts, as they were less likely to leave town. All customers are on monthly accounts these days, so no money is left outside. The milkman loses less money to bad accounts than to theft by kids.220.244.72.156 (talk) 01:59, 8 October 2014 (UTC)

Who pays the milkman?
For whom did the milkman work? The paper pays the paperboy; the USPS pays the mailman -- was the milkman an employee of the local dairy farm? A local supermarket (I know those were not common until recently)? Was it just an independent contractor who would talk with the homemakers and agree to deliver to each of them on an individual basis? Deltopia (talk) 12:06, 8 February 2013 (UTC)

Depends on the country. In the EC they are usually employees of a dairy co-op, or distributor. Elsewhere they are usually a heavily regulated owner-operated business, much like taxi licenses. The license area is strictly defined, and the license is transferred with the sale of the business. The value of the license is entirely dependent on the number of included retailers, restaurants, and businesses, but less so households. Most jurisdictions have been removing heavy regulation of this type for the last 20yrs. A handful of international companies, such as Parmelat, have had a substantial influence, and they have put privateer milkmen out of business.220.244.72.156 (talk) 02:17, 8 October 2014 (UTC)