Is home delivery milk and bread viable now?

[turkeycall]

While this thread could apply to many cities and towns, Detroit is the place of my youth.

So many years ago, on the east side of the city near Balduck Park, my neighbors had food staples delivered by men in Divco trucks. [OK, why would anyone want to staple food together?]

Our milkman was Mr. Schewe who first delivered Schwitzer's milk and then Wilson's Dairy products - half and half, cottage cheese, ice cream, even eggs. We had Awrey's bread, rolls, and coffe cakes delivered, too.

Bulletmagnet's family, our next-door neighbors, had Borden's delivered. The neighbor on the other side had Twin Pines and the neighbor next to them had Rosebud.

As I wax nostolgic, it seemed to me that the sight of these men in the neighborhood meant everything was all right with the world.

I haven't seen anything like home delivery in a very long time. Could someone today establish a home delivery milk route and make a living at it?

[jams]

Calder's has home delivery downriver, I recently saw a job posting for a trainee driver. I did wonder about the long-term prospects though.

[rooms222]

Oberweis seems to have it for Farmington, Royal Oak, and Clawson [[not Ferndale, Detroit, or Southfield, though)......Milk in glass bottles 2.99-3.59 a half gallon plus a $2.99 delivery charge.....

[daddeeo]

I'm afraid the "Worry free, home delivery" days are long gone. Cost for insurance to deliver in Detroit alone would be prohibitive.

[Ocean2026]

If people ever get too scared to leave their houses or say an older person works days but uses only public transportation, he or she may not find it easy to shop.

Detroit for those reasons might actually have some potential for a grocery delivery system. Perhaps some enterprising person can start such a business.

[Lorax]

I've always thought there was a need and potential business in home delivery of such staples. It was extremely popular in my youth, in fact, I don't remember even one house that didn't have home delivery in my neighborhood.

As time passed, and supermarkets took over, shopping became an outing, and much less a drudgery, since you could get everything in one stop, and not have to go to different stores for things, i.e. butcher, cheese shop, bread, etc.

We had Awrey's and Silvercup baked goods delivered, and Twin Pines milk products.

I haven't thought of this in years, but didn't Twin Pines have a logo that featured a strange looking clown with a cone on it's head? I remember being frightened by the image as a child. My sister thinks his name was "Milky", however I can't confirm that.

Is Twin Pines still in business?

[psubliminal]

I used to work at Calder's in '88-'89 making ice cream. I have a ton of old labeled milk bottles from City Dairy, Wayne Creamery, Wilson's, even one from the Michigan State Dairy Dept. Every time I saw an interesting one in the cooler I'd grab it and keep the bottle. My next door neighbor had a Twin Pines route in the 60s-70s. I miss those days.

[lilpup]

Oberweis seems to have it for Farmington, Royal Oak, and Clawson [[not Ferndale, Detroit, or Southfield, though)......Milk in glass bottles 2.99-3.59 a half gallon plus a $2.99 delivery charge.....

The real problem is the delivery charge relative to the item price. With the size of a full grocery order the fee could be higher but still be acceptable. Perhaps a minimum flat rate for small orders then a percentage of the order for larger orders would work. Online payment would cut down the risk of payment issues, though obviously it could not be the only option.

[diver1369]

I was rescued from a house fire by a milkman doing his route.

[rid0617]

I don't know why I kept it but somewhere in a box I still have my Milky the Clown fan club button

[gnome]

I was rescued from a house fire by a milkman doing his route.

That is a tantalzing lead-in. Sounds like quite a story. Care to share the details?

[Parkguy]

We also had a vegetable truck that made the circuit of our neighborhood. We had bread from Silvercup, and Borden's dairy, too. Now, my milk chute is sealed on the outside, filled with insulation, and plastered over on the inside.

[lilpup]

We also had a vegetable truck that made the circuit of our neighborhood. We had bread from Silvercup, and Borden's dairy, too. Now, my milk chute is sealed on the outside, filled with insulation, and plastered over on the inside.

Ah, such a waste. Ours is sided over on the outside but holds keys, gardening gloves, hand clippers, and the occasional trowel on the inside. [[It's next to the stairs leading to the back door.)

[Bearinabox]

Ah, such a waste. Ours is sided over on the outside but holds keys, gardening gloves, hand clippers, and the occasional trowel on the inside. [[It's next to the stairs leading to the back door.)

Hah, yeah. As a kid, I was fascinated by milk chutes on houses [[my house was one of the few in the neighborhood that was built without one, since the side of the house facing the driveway was all bedrooms), and couldn't for the life of me understand why my neighbors kept sealing them shut. I still think they're pretty cool, but I think I have a slightly better handle on the concept of people breaking into houses and stealing stuff than I did then.

[lilpup]

When I delivered newspapers as a kid some of the people who still had chutes open to the outside wanted their papers left in them rather than sitting on the porch.

[lizaanne]

Hah, yeah. As a kid, I was fascinated by milk chutes on houses [[my house was one of the few in the neighborhood that was built without one, since the side of the house facing the driveway was all bedrooms), and couldn't for the life of me understand why my neighbors kept sealing them shut. I still think they're pretty cool, but I think I have a slightly better handle on the concept of people breaking into houses and stealing stuff than I did then.

This is why milk delivery will never work again - you can't do it without a milk chute!!!! LOL I used to crawl through ours when I forgot my house key, man my dad would get all over me for that. He would tape it up from the inside so the cold would not get in and I would ruin his awesome tape job. hehehe

Anyway - when I was in England a couple years ago [[my husband is British), people still have home milk delivery there. I loved seeing all the little white bottles of milk sitting on the front stoop - made me feel safe for some weird reason. I guess if you can trust your neighbors to not mess with your milk it can't be that bad of a place. Oh - and this was NOT in London or some big city, it was in rural little villages. Can't wait to get back there again. Mmmmmm.

[Gistok]

We also had a vegetable truck that made the circuit of our neighborhood.

In the Balduck Park area that would be the produce truck of Tom Lappicola [[a Marseilles St. resident). Back in the 1960's he used to drive down the streets around Balduck Park and 48224 area.

I can still hear his loudspeaker in the recesses of my brain.... "strawberries, strawberries... 3 quarts for a dollar..."

[Lorax]

In the Balduck Park area that would be the produce truck of Tom Lappicola [[a Marseilles St. resident). Back in the 1960's he used to drive down the streets around Balduck Park and 48224 area.

I went to school with Tom's son? - Bob Lappicola- they lived in Grosse Pointe at that time.

[reddog289]

They still had the milkman back in the 70,s on my block in the burbs. I cannot recall seeing the milkman on either one of my Grandparents streets during that time. I could tell who got their milk delivered because they had galvanized steel boxes on their porches then.If the customer is willing to pay for the milk delivery then it must be viable enough to keep the service as Calders does.When the "honeymooners" were living under my roof, The "son in law" and I wished that the milkman was still around. Went through almost a gallon a day.

[Hermod]

In the 40s and 50s, we had home delivery [[Borden's). Some of the neighbors had Sealtest and for a long time, Sealtest used horsedrawn carts for delivery. We also had the Mills Bakery delivery man and the two Italians with the open backed truck full of fruits and vegetables.

The supermarkets killed home delivery. In 1961, they deliverymen and their wives did a protest at a Great Scott, filling up baskets with milk and then just leaving them in the aisles. Home delivery just couldn't compete pricewise with the discount supermarkets.

[DetroitDad]

Yes, it does, along with other groceries and countless other items. I believe the Pharmacy in Brush/Cass Park already does prescription deliveries.

[mwilbert]

There is a tradeoff between density and price--if you have more deliveries in a given area, you don't have to charge as much per delivery. But the idea that you couldn't do home deliveries in Detroit at all is contrary to reality--UPS delivers stuff in the city all the time--even food.

Food deliveries make sense for people who can afford to pay to save time, and for affluent shut-ins. I don't know how many of either of those are around in the city.

[DetroitDad]

There is a tradeoff between density and price--if you have more deliveries in a given area, you don't have to charge as much per delivery. But the idea that you couldn't do home deliveries in Detroit at all is contrary to reality--UPS delivers stuff in the city all the time--even food.

Food deliveries make sense for people who can afford to pay to save time, and for affluent shut-ins. I don't know how many of either of those are around in the city.

That makes sense in theory, but in reality it's only the small condos, row houses, duplexes, and the like that are the least time consuming and expensive. Suburban areas take twice as long because of the winding roads and high traffic, among other reasons. High rises and skyscrapers are even more time consuming than the others because it can take awhile to park, sign in, and wait to get in an elevator.

Some of our buildings can be excruciatingly slow. I have waited as long as ten minutes for elevators in and around Detroit.

[RO_Resident]

Oberweis offers home delivery of milk and other groceries in portions of the metro area.
http://www.oberweis.com/web/homedelivery.asp

[MikeM]

My neighbor here in Grosse Pointe gets weekly delivery. Schwan's or Schwietzer's or something similar.