What Ever Happened to the Milkman?

Grocery deliveries may be a modern convenience, but the service hearkens back to a bygone era when clinking glass bottles signaled the arrival of the milkman. The milkman (or milkwoman, though the job was usually held by men) is a cherished fixture of American history, as a prominent part of much of the 19th and 20th centuries. While milk remains a staple of the American diet, changes in consumerism and technology have made the once-ubiquitous milkman a relic of the past.

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Cattle farming was a common means of sustenance in the early United States, beginning with the colonial era in the 16th century and continuing for the next few centuries. Many farming families produced milk, butter, and cheese for themselves and their local community. By the 19th century, the U.S. saw a rapid transformation due to industrialization and urbanization; people moved from rural areas to urban centers where better employment opportunities awaited. Owning a cow and making milk was much more impractical for these new city folk, but the demand for dairy remained.

The concept of the milkman emerged around the late 18th century. The earliest providers filled large metal barrels with fresh milk right from the cow, carrying them by horse-drawn cart to customers’ homes. Milk was ladled into whatever containers were available, including pitchers, jugs, or pails. This often meant that the milk was contaminated by debris — anything from hair to dirt to insects. The advent of the now-iconic glass milk bottles in the late 19th century was a major advancement for both the convenience and the hygiene of milk delivery. Early bottles often had glass lids held on with metal clamps and were embossed with the name of the dairy that used them. Glass bottles were replaced by single-use, wax-coated containers in the 20th century, but to this day, glass milk bottles remain a niche, nostalgic emblem of another time.

In the early 20th century, when milkmen were delivering milk in clean and secure glass containers, houses and apartments began installing insulated boxes or built-in milk doors for drop-offs. Empty bottles, along with the milkman’s payment, would also be left for pickup in the boxes. On average, a milk bottle made about 22 round trips before getting broken or lost. By the mid-1900s, deliveries were being done in trucks as opposed to horse-drawn wagons, but despite being more hygienic and efficient, the milk delivery industry began to dwindle.

Several factors contributed to the decline of the milkman. Following World War II, the U.S. saw a mass migration of people into sprawling suburban areas. This meant longer delivery routes and new logistics for milkmen, increasing their costs. The widespread availability of cars by this time also allowed more Americans to shop independently — and they could do so at an increasing number of one-stop-shop supermarkets, where prices were lower than the milkman’s rising rates. But perhaps the single biggest detriment to the milkman was the proliferation of refrigeration in households. Refrigerators were first introduced in the 1910s, and just 30 years later, more than half of American homes had one. By the 1960s, just about every home had a fridge, and families were able to store perishable items, including milk, easily and reliably — all but eliminating the need for daily deliveries.

Milk delivery saw a sharp decline in the latter half of the 20th century. In the 1920s, if there was milk in the household, you could bet on it having been delivered. By the early 1960s, 30% of milk consumed was still delivered to homes. But by the mid-1970s, that number dropped sharply to only about 7%. Throughout the 1990s and mid-2000s, milk deliveries accounted for less than 1% of milk consumed in the U.S.

Over the years, there have been signs that milk delivery is still desirable in the U.S. While the 2020 coronavirus pandemic led to a surge in home deliveries of all kinds — including from the milkman — deliveries were trending upward even before then. In Maryland, South Mountain Creamery saw its deliveries increase to 8,500 homes across five states in 2014 — a massive leap from its 13 local customers in 2001. The return to milk delivery is driven not only by nostalgia, but according to customers who have made the switch, by the superior quality of the product. Although the efforts have yet to culminate in a widespread resurgence, they do underline the ongoing allure of an institution that once played a central role in everyday American life.