# Are there any 'milkmen' still operating? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 30, 2003, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040 "2003-11-30T08:47:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nihility\_Arise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nihility\_Arise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nihility_Arise)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040/21 "2003-12-01T05:57:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lee \* > \*\* Yes, Virginia, there are milkmen. \*\* Virginia knows: [Yoder Dairies](http://www.yoderdairies.com/index.html) Get your egg nog order in early for the holidays! ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040/22 "2003-12-01T06:13:14Z")
We’ve still got milkmen around here, too. In fact, they were drumming up customers last year in our neighborhood. I decided not to go for it, but it looks like several of my neighbors did. There’s also at least one person on our street who gets groceries delivered. ---
**Author:** ![Rhum\_Runner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rhum\_Runner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhum_Runner)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040/23 "2003-12-01T06:41:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lee \* > \*\*We get milk, butter, and the like delivered every week. Yes, Virginia, there are milkmen. At least in Chicagoland. \*\* Oberweis? Best. Ice. Cream. Ever. (oooh, and it’s pepermint season…) [Oberweis Dairy](http://www.oberweisdairy.com/) ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040/24 "2003-12-01T11:04:46Z")
Yeah. Thanks Dopers. For every additional post here, my kid is charging interest on the five bucks. I might have been able to get away with ONE place in the world where milkmen are still doing their stuff, but…OH NO…you lot had to tell me about half the bloody WORLD where they are still plying their trade. Thanks, heaps. :rolleyes: 😃😃😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040/25 "2003-12-01T11:34:11Z")
Just to fill in another detail; **Loneraven** mentioned milk floats; it used to be the case that these were exclusively electric vehicles in the form of a covered, but open-sided flatbed van and some dairies still use these, but others have switched to vehicles of similar form, but powered by diesel or petrol engines. Milk floats have become the iconic ‘annoying slow vehicle’ and this is often played upon in comedy sketches - a memorable example of this being a parody of _Speed_ in _Father Ted_ ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040/26 "2003-12-01T11:35:31Z")
On that theme, I highly recommend the “Speed 3” episode of the Britcom _Father Ted_, in which Father Dougal is trapped driving a milk float (one of those electric carts mentioned above) that will explode if it drops under four miles an hour. Hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040/27 "2003-12-01T11:36:44Z")
Curse you, **Mangetout**! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040/28 "2003-12-01T11:46:08Z")
When I was in India, staying in the big city of Hyderabad, fresh milk walked into the neighborhood every morning. The very freshest there could be: a milkmaid brought a **live water buffalo** into the neighborhood, parked it on the street corner, and milked to order. Milkman, heck. How many places still have _milkmaids_? ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040/29 "2003-12-01T11:51:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kal \* > \*\*We have them in the UK as well. \*\* Absolutely - the bugger that delivers around here reversed into my car and totalled it - hasn’t been seen since. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040/30 "2003-12-01T12:37:00Z")
I was saw a full milk float that had turned over . CCYou can imagine the mess from all that spilt milk and broken glass. The reason that it had fallen on its side was that the driver had tried to reverse round a bend which had nasty little hill on it . The reverse camber just tipped it over. ---
**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040/31 "2003-12-01T15:19:26Z")
My parents, who live in Rhode Island, get milk and OJ delivered in glass bottles. Around this time of year, they get eggnog, too. According to [this article](http://www.projo.com/food/content/projo_20021204_milkmen.75160.html), there were five dairies delivering milk and other products to homes in RI and nearby MA as of a year ago. My mom remembers the days - not more than 50 years ago - when all sorts of foods, ice, clothing, and other dry goods were sold by traveling salesmen in RI. In fact, when she was a little girl, she used to accompany her father on his rounds delivering freshly baked bread. ---
**Author:** ![olefin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d78d45/32.png) [@olefin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/olefin)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040/32 "2003-12-01T15:33:36Z")
There is a one that comes by our house but we don’t buy from them. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040/33 "2003-12-01T15:49:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rayne Man \* > \*\*I was saw a full milk float that had turned over . CCYou can imagine the mess from all that spilt milk and broken glass. The reason that it had fallen on its side was that the driver had tried to reverse round a bend which had nasty little hill on it . The reverse camber just tipped it over. \*\* No point crying over it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2003, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040/34 "2003-12-01T15:54:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*No point crying over it, though. \*\* I should have a cry over my typos though. I don’t know what happened there. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040/35 "2003-12-02T02:38:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nametag \* > \*\*Does anyone remember that comic book about “the world’s meanest milkman”? \*\* Wasn’t his name Reid Fleming? I ask because I was watching a football game the other day, and one of the players was named Reid Fleming, and it made me flash back to the time I saw a comic book in a store about 20 years ago, and the comic book was about a milkman named Reid Fleming. I didn’t even buy the comic, I just saw the cover that one time. I wish I could remeber important stuff that well. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040/36 "2003-12-02T04:05:12Z")
Dave Attell, on his show [_Insomniac_](http://www.comedycentral.com/tv_shows/insomniac/), spends some time making the rounds with a milkman. So not only do you get firsthand reports here, you also have a source to get _actual video of a real milkman in action!_ I don’t remember which city it is, and the website and Google are no help. So you’ll just have to watch the show until the segment turns up. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040/37 "2003-12-02T06:20:43Z")
As a matter of fact, I actually get my milk from a milkman. Not in the old-fashioned sense of putting out an empty glass bottle or two and getting new ones in the mornining, but every week the local dairy delivers milk, eggs, cheese, and butter to my house. Not really more expensive than the supermarket and damn convienient. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040/38 "2003-12-02T11:38:34Z")
[Obligatory link to Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West) by Benny Hill](http://www.tnsf.ca/bennyhill/lyrics/ernie.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040/39 "2003-12-02T17:38:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by r\_k \* > \*\*[Obligatory link to Ernie (The Fastest Milkman In The West) by Benny Hill](http://www.tnsf.ca/bennyhill/lyrics/ernie.shtml) \*\* As I was reading the thread i thought - I can’t believe no one has mentionned Ernie! I was gonna do it myself but then got to the bottom and realised you’d beaten me to it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040/40 "2003-12-03T16:30:09Z")
> [@](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > _Originally posted by Nametag_ > > Does anyone remember that comic book about “the world’s meanest milkman”? > > Wasn’t his name Reid Fleming? I ask because I was watching a football game the other day, and one of the players was named Reid Fleming, and it made me flash back to the time I saw a comic book in a store about 20 years ago, and the comic book was about a milkman named Reid Fleming. I didn’t even buy the comic, I just saw the cover that one time. I wish I could remember important stuff that well. Yes! It’s [Reid Fleming,](http://www.reidfleming.com) [World’s Toughest Milkman!](http://www.reidfleming.com/db-commissions-folder/html-folder/09-just_in_case.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-milkmen-still-operating/216040.md?page=1)