To think using a milkman is good for the environment

[Meadowland]

Just that really. Using returnable glass bottles instead of plastic.
Mine also delivers lots of organic stuff.
I know it works out more expensive, but there are usually plenty of things on offer, and I get so much from mine so save on fuel.

Our neighbour over the road used to get a Milk&More delivery 3-4 times a week from Colin in his diesel van, who would deliver at 2am and then sit parked outside her house with the engine running for 45 minutes. First I thought perhaps they were having a not-so illicit affair, then I decided I didn't care and all the environmental benefits were outweighed by 45 minutes of noisy diesel fumes and I complained to Milk&More, nothing happened, so I mentioned the potential affair angle to the very nosy busy body neighbour next door and then Colin was no more.

Yeah it's great but in my area it costs about 3x more than buying milk from the supermarket so its cost prohibitive for us and many others. I wouldn't mind paying slightly more (20-50%) but it's just too much.

Ours uses electric floats and reuses bottles

Ours is not quite double the price per pint. And the float is electric. Better than all the supermarket delivery vans

We used to get ours pinched off the doorstep before we could use them! 😂

We had a milkman growing up, I think everyone on the street did. I haven’t seen one for years and I mean, years. I have lived in two different cities and now a small town, still yet to see one.

I remember someone posting a ‘find me a milkman’ link on here so I put my postcode in and there’s no local milkman at all. It would be nice for nostalgic purposes but I reckon it’s a lot more expensive than supermarket milk. I have four DC so we use a fair amount of milk, I don’t think the little glass bottle would last long.

We use a milk man and love it. We use an app where we can update our order until 9pm, they use an electric milk float, pay the farmers more and they also deliver meat, fruit and veg, fruit juice and bread.
We find, although it is expensive, we save money because we seem to suffer with an affliction that means we can’t nip to the shop without spending another £15 on crap.

I disagree. More gas used, companies are no longer able to reuse glass containers for many reasons, your saving fuel is negated by the delivery to your door in terms of environmental impact, etc.

The glass bottles are all reused by the dairy. There's no waste, except for the foil lids. And round me they deliver to 10 houses on my street alone, so there is definitely a fuel saving.

Avoiding plastic is the big benefit as far as I am concerned however

I pay 84p a pint to our milkman in a glass bottle, plastic is cheaper.

@RebeccaRae .You're right. I used to hate using all those plastic milk containers.

Definitely worth it. We've used a local milkman for years...they've never missed a delivery. Most of the village use them as well as local businesses, including my son's nursery which is great as they go through a lot of milk!

I’ve never actually seen a milkman delivery before. How does it work? I’ve checked Google, and there is apparently one that delivers in my post code. Do they knock on the door, or just leave it on the doorstep

I use milk and more, my dad uses a local milkman where he lives.

Milk and more are moving to all electric vehicles.They deliver where you want so in my case into the back garden, I put milk bottles out there and they are taken away.

My dad's are delivered to the front door in plastic.

I can order on line up to 9pm for delivery before 7am. They don't knock on the door, you wouldn't want them to they may be delivering at 4.00am

I actually believe mine is a ninja, I have seen the van once (having a bad night so not sleeping) and I still did not hear the delivery.

I'm disabled so a trip to the corner shop involves me using the car, I get most shopping delivered but I find the milkman is good for the things you would buy in a top up. I actually don't drink milk if someone is visiting I can orderit, I mainly buy bread and the occasional orange juice.

www.milkandmore.co.uk/electric-pioneers

I use milk and more - they had big problems a year ago when moving to a new website, got into all the newspaper consumer columns and they failed to cancel my order when we went on holiday, so my lodger ended up giving away milk to loads of neighbours! But now it's fine again.
I get the glass bottles so they can be reused but also the dcs can lift them more easily than 4 pint jugs.

Sometimes I order a sack of potatoes, too. Everything else is too expensive. But not having to go out for milk means I can do shopping on foot with a pully trolley, so no driving to the supermarket.
The vans are slowly being replaced by electric ones now their range and cost is suitable for the job.

Those having milk delivered in this hot weather, is it staying fresh in the time between delivery and you picking it up off the doorstep the next morning? It was 20 degrees through the night here earlier in the week. I can't imagine milk staying fresh for long in that heat. I have thought about leaving a cool box/bag on the step for it to be placed into, but not sure it would make much difference.

We use milkandmore 81p for a pint, but since using them we waste less milk.

Those saying about them using plastic bottles, you can usually select whether you want glass 1pt bottles or larger plastic ones on milkandmore.

I was going to order these for the warmer weather but they were out of stock www.milkandmore.co.uk/At-Home/Milk-%26-More-Milk-Minder/p/73911

Will get one for next summer.

Mine is great - electric float and the glass is definitely re-used.

I saw those milk minders too Haribo. Also out of stock in my area. The blurb says that it doesn't last forever though. Making the change to single pint glass bottles at 81 pence per pint delivered by a milkman, plus £10 each for a milk minder (and I would need two), is definitely loads more expensive than adding a 4 pinter for £1.09 to the online Asda shop, albeit that there are other benefits.

Yes but the overnight heat is realistically only an issue about 2 weeks a year, during which you can easily suspend delivery and buy the plastic stuff temporarily.
It's so easy to stop and start and change deliveries.

My father used one, until people started stealing the bottles, as he'd come early and even hiding behind the bins didn't work.

We live rurally and so the milk delivery is a diesel van.

I pick up milk at the supermarket when I'm there already so see no need to add another journey.

I'd be up for reusing bottles though.

By far the most useful, environmentally, thing you can do with regards to dairy (along with everything else) is minimise consumption, i.e. eat less & never buy so much that you end up throwing stuff away.

I doubt that the mode of delivery makes a tremendous difference. From a transport perspective, the vehicles are often electric but then you're talking about dedicated journeys just to deliver milk, rather than bundling it in with a regular weekly shop. Re-using the packaging is obviously a good thing. I daresay that milkman is a slightly greener optoin overall.

Ours is an electric float and supplies the milk in glass bottles (which is what sold it to me - because it certainly wasn't the value for money!).

I'm not sure what time they deliver but the milk certainly wasn't very cold this morning but then last night seemed the hottest so far to me. It's not normally a problem though.

(I always wanted a go on a milk float. Years ago, I was waiting for a bus and our local milkman stopped and offered me a lift home. Well, I leapt at the chance and sat very smugly for the first mile or so. By the time I got home I thought I could have bloody walked quicker!)

My dads a milkman so it's nice to hear some people still use them. He delivers to loads of people. But due to the decrease in demand over the years he has had to cut back from 6 days a week to 3 days a week. It's a hard job in many ways. He is a traditional milkman in the sense it's a local dairy, he has to load the crates, handle the books and the payments himself. I used to love going with him when I was younger. In fact my dh 1st job was working for my dad.
He is 65 now and is hoping to continue for a few years yet.
Sadly there is no milkman where I live currently or else i would use one. Although I don't really drink much milk, my dd and dh do.

A local farm has a milk vending machine. It's £1 a litre and £1 for a reusable container, or bring your own.