“It’s all changing in milkman world – gone are the days when I would get up at 0200 hrs, milk the cows, bottle the milk, get it on your doorstep in time for your coffee and corn flakes, and be home and finished for 0900 hrs. We’ve got these new machines now – they’re called MSMs (Milk Sequencing Machines) … supposed to improve things but they don’t. To get a round out, it has to go through ‘three passes’ – pasteurised, sterilised and semi-skimmed, so it’s taking that much longer to get the milk prepped and onto the float. We’re told that ‘milk volumes are down’ due to increased competition (Asda, Tesco etc etc), so we’re having to look for alternative revenue streams. They’ve introduced these things called ‘Dairy to Doorstep’ (or D2Ds) which are a pain in the butt. Some weeks there might only be yoghurts, but other weeks we can have four or five – you know eggs, cream, orange juice, that sort of stuff. It’s all extra weight on the float, and the older ones just can’t take it. There’s talk of HCFs (High Capacity Floats) being introduced, but with some rounds (narrow streets, flats etc) they just ain’t gonna work – you have to think of the security of your stuff as well.
The run-up to Pancake Day is going to be a nightmare …”
… and then I woke up ….
