Doorstep milk deliveries

We have a local milkman, a one-man band who delivers three times a week. Peter is always very cheerful, even in this constant rain, and he does deliver to others in the village. Last year he put his prices up (they were already dearer than a supermarket) and I had, regretfully, to tell him we could no longer afford him. He promptly offered to maintain the original prices, as he said he had had a good deal from his new supplier, so we are still very glad to see him during the week. He's no spring chicken, so when he retires eventually I will revert to the supermarket, but at the moment we appreciate his efficient service and local milk, too.

We have milk deliveries mon, wed, Friday, sat, and newspapers delivered ,daily when the weather is bad it is a boon, as we live in a hilly village, and we don't have to go out if it is icy and slippery

We have had our milk delivered for the last 40 0dd years, but the gap between price hikes are getting shorter and the amount each time getting larger !!! After the last price increase I told my milkman sorry I am reducing the amount I order each week and topping up from the supermarket as a protest. I am carrying on with the deliveries as I agree it would be a shame to see the milkman disappear as it is a great help to the housebound who wish to keep their independence.

I don't think they would "do" the Guardian in my local Morrisons Maggiemaybe perhaps the Daily Mirror or The Mail?

The nearest Waitrose is about 13 miles away from me but I find it too expensive anyway so probably wouldn't shop there even for a free cuppa and a newspaper.

Ah, you posh lot with your Waitrose cards... Some of us are still not worthy - we now have a Waitrose 20 miles up the road, but my sister's 60 miles from her "local" branch. I don't see Asda and Morrisons rushing to offer us free Guardians and lattes.

When I lived in a quiet test valley village many years ago the quiet electric milk cart was replaced by a noisy diesel one and in summer with all windows open it woke everyone up at silly o'clock in the morning. At the same time the milk was going off quickly and one by one the residence chose to travel the 10 miles or so into the nearest town and bought their milk with their weekly shop. Yes it may have been far more economical to have a diesel vehicle and it may have resulted in less milk being poured away if it was left for customers even if a few days old but sadly the market evaporated (no pun intended). I fear the doorstep deliveries are or will be a thing of the past - sadly.

Our milk deliveries simply stopped about two years ago. No warning - they didn't even call to collect the one week's money that we owed them. When we tried to contact them we found that the only phone number we had was disconnected.

I haven't seen a milk float in my area for years. I'd love to have milk delivered as it's one of the heavy things I have to lug home as I don't have a car. Our chap used to deliver orange juice and bread too - also in the spring one could order bags of compost. The round was taken off as I was the only customer in the road. In the end the dairy went out of business. I used love the sound of the milk float.

What's break?! That should be bread of course.

roses you need to have a Waitrose card (easily obtained, just ask for the form and they'll give you a temporary card till the plastic one arrives in the post); and you need to spend £5 or more (including the cost of the chosen newspaper) and then at the till the cost of the newspaper comes off the total. At my local Waitrose - which has a cafe - you also get a free or coffee on your card!

I have it down to quite a fine art as to spend £5 on milk, break and a sandwich for lunch. Of course sometimes I spend much more than the required fiver...

You need to have a 'My Waitrose' card and of course you have to make a purchase. I don't know how much you have to spend, but obviously more than the price of the newspaper. You have a choice of the Telegraph, the Guardian or the Mail - sadly not the Independent, but I don't begrudge the price of the I, even though it has gone up 50% to 30p.

apricot how do you get the paper free from Waitrose? [gets excited, .... can we all do this?]
No milkman here, and have never seen one in the general area, but even if there was I would buy from either the supermarket, or as we do a lot, from the village shop.I remember unreliable milkmen, even once a dishonest one, and so much warm undrinkable milk, often dirty with bird pecked top.Then twice when we cancelled milk [for holidays] milk arrived for a few days afterwards on the step, piling up, an invitation for burglars.

I don't very often buy milk but have a similar guilt thing over my newspaper. I buy it from the local shop on Saturdays whereas I could get it free from Waitrose. It's £2.50, which is a lot and I wonder how much of that is profit for the shop?

i stopped my milkman years ago as it was getting too expensive also he used to get me out of bed at 7 am saturday mornings to pay him!! no idea if theres a milkman who calls in my area anymore...

I kept my delivery going for years, even after the 'local' milk man sold out to the big national firm, because I felt I was helping to keep deliveries going for people who really needed it. But like others on here, the milk kept going sour, and we hardly used it. Then they cancelled my delivery without even warning me! So now I buy micro-purified milk which lasts all week and is no more expensive than I was paying before.

I know how you feel, Soutra, because I felt the same when i cancelled my milkman.
It was simply the cost, of course.
When my circumstances changed and money became an issue, I just had to harden my heart and do the dreadful deed. Great swathes of guilt hit me every time I thought about it, and when I heard his van approaching I used to run and hide.
The guilt gradually wore off. Life is tough and we all have to do tough
things at times, so go ahead and do what is best for you. Good luck.

We have had the same (father & sons) milkmen since we moved her nearly forty years ago. They deliver at 7.00am and I can't recall them ever having let us down.

Same here ginny. Our milkman also delivers on Saturday. Very reliable local family run farm and comes early in the morning, so I am more than happy to support them.

We still have doorsteps deliveries , Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So far always reliable . Milk is delivered early morning and we rarely hear him.

We stopped it when before a bank holiday we would often be left with the milk for the next four days. Our garage and fridge were full of bottles so now we just buy a four pinter. I feel a bit sad that the milkman is becoming a thing of the past but needs change. I can remember the sound of the horse-drawn cart when I visited my Grandmother in Scotland in the 1950s. The electric van was considered very futuristic!

I carried on having milk delivered for years even though it cost a lot more than milk from the supermarket. But I lost the loyalty when I no longer knew who i milkan was and he wasn't always reliable timewise with his deliveries. When the milkman used to come round on a Friday night to collect the money, I used to enjoy having a chat; once it became impersonal I no longer wanted to be out of pocket by supporting it. Mind you, if someone started delivering items with a horse and cart again I'd pay the earth for it!

I cancelled my milk delivery at Christmas. I had been wondering why the milk kept going off in the fridge, but one night when I stayed up after midnight, the dog started barking as the security light went on and I opened the door (hoping to catch a fox or other night visitor) and found my milk on the step. It was being left until I picked it up at breakfast time, so no wonder it wasn't staying fresh. That explained why the box of eggs kept getting tampered with, too. There was always one egg broken and the yolk spilled everywhere. I had been blaming birds, but it could have been any nocturnal animal. My milkman didn't make any offer to deliver at a reasonable time, so I sacked him.

If the milkman can't accommodate what we need to keep milk fresh and prices reasonable, why feel guilty Soutra? It's a shame as it's such a convenience, but customers do need a good service.

Yes we do have doorstep deliveries but I do not use it.

I stopped years ago as we had a 7 day a week shift pattern and sunday was not a delivery day and we would run out. Also I hated getting home to warm milk or the top pecked open.

We buy milk in the plastic containers and they freeze brilliantly, never run out now.

I live in a smallish town near the Potteries. We have had two doorstep milkman in the 26yrs I have lived here.
Both have been incredibly reliable, apart from the occasional major vehicle failure.
They were/are both really nice people.

When the older man retired on health grounds he sold the business to a young man with (then) a new baby.

Darren buys from a local dairy supplier but owns his own delivery round. He has a cold store at a farm in our small town. When in the very bad winters and the shelves in the local supermarkets were bare, Darren still delivered the milk. He generally gets to us at about 7 to 7:30am.

Darren has said he enjoys being out in the early morning, he likes the birds, the stars and skies, and the relative quiet.

There is something cheering about knowing a person who really enjoys their job, whatever it is. He seems to make a "good enough" living out of it and is very happy with that.

Aka ditto, exactly! I'm particularly impressed when they replace stolen milk. In fact I no longer have the heart to tell them when it happens as I don't think they can be held responsible for that.