Milk/Bread round

Larkinage

Hi folks

I'm posting here as I feel it's probably the most likely place to get a answer from someone who knows.

Basically I'm wondering how a milk/bread round works.

I understand that they are two different services but I assume they are similar in how they work.

I see a large amount of bread rounds for sale on done deal lately which suggests to me that it is a dying business and getting increasingly difficult to make money in. I have also seen a few milk rounds for sale but to a lesser extent than the bread rounds.

I assume the milk man gets his order from all his customers and then buys it wholesale from the dairy factory and sells it to the customers at a slightly higher price of a couple of cents and makes a profit through the high volume of milk cartons he drops, assuming most houses would take at least 2 cartons and he would have a large number of homes on his round. I would assume a milk round works in a similar way, but the customers are shops and cafes etc. ?

However, surely the big supermarkets chains are selling a litre of milk much cheaper than a milk man could afford to sell it ? Unless he is getting at a very low price from the dairy factory, but even then, surely supermarkets have a much greater buying power than the milkman who is only selling a couple of hundred cartons a week? I'm struggling to see where the profit is, obviously there is as no one would be doing it otherwise but surely it can't provide anymore than a decent weeks wages.

Thanks in advance to anyone who replies. Apologies for my ignorance in the matter, I have searched online but I haven't found any decent information on it. Hopefully someone can explain it to me like I'm five and fill me in if I missed something glaringly obvious.

Cheers.

Graham

There's been a couple of threads on this subject:

http://www.boards.ie/search/submit/?subforums=1&forum=106&query=Bread+round

It has been described in the past as 'buying a job', no personal experience myself but have a read through the other threads.

Gerryhide

Dont know anyone who gets a milk or bread round these days

CeilingFly

A Milk Round / Bread round will primarily supply small local stores, guest houses, nursing homes, schools, office canteens, cafes & restaurants. Very few if any home deliveries.

Larger places will get an all in one service from foodservice companies.

Yes its cheaper to buy from a supermarket, but time is money and most business understands that the time saving and convenience of having it delivered to the door is worth the extra few cent. Also with strict food record keeping, a traceable delivery of all product is better for the records.

Hours are unsociable for some people but suit others perfectly - usually a 5am start to collect goods, finish delivery by 12 and then a couple of hours paperwork.

DubTony

Apart from the nursing homes. Hotels, restaurants etc., a bread/milk round will generally deliver to shops.
These are typically daily deliveries. Most shops are parts of some symbol group or another and through their billing system they pay directly to the supplying company. Bread and milk delivery people are, in the main, just that - delivery people.
They are effectively paid a commission on the goods they deliver, the volume of which is usually determined at the time of delivery i.e. see what they've got and know what they need.
Delivery people are responsible for returns on bread, not so much on milk anymore (although it can be the case) and have agreements with their suppliers. E.g. A Brennan's driver gets a flat 1% allowance for commission. It takes ages to figure out how to maximise profits, and as said, it's very much like buying a job. Buy too much you lose money, buy too little and you lose sales - and piss off retailers.
This might explain why so many are for sale.