I remember, when I was a very little girl, seeing the milkman deliver dairy products into a tin box in the carport. You can find those containers at flea markets. I have one. It’s in the guest bathroom. I could use it to store toilet paper.
But, for that, I use this vintage egg basket that long ago lost its handle.
Instead, I have repurposed the cooler for use as a trash can.
Do you remember the milkman? Do you have one of these coolers? What do you use it for?
I WANT THAT!!! The vintage cooler is fantastic. If I had one I’d use it for a million different things. Where do you find all your vintage egg baskets?
Flea markets and eBay.
I remember the milkman…he would come right into the house and put deliveries in the fridge.
Yes ours did that too!
No box for us. We put our empty bottles on the front porch (one of my chores) and our milkman replaced them with the full ones. On those very cold days in Kentucky the cream would rise to the top and pot the paper lid. That fascinated me!
make that “pop” the lid! I’ll wake up soon.
I do remember having a milkman as a child. I have visions of his noisy truck stopping in front of our house and the dogs on the street all barking. But I cannot clearly remember what he carried the bottles of milk in as he delivered them to our front door. I do remember the sound of the glass bottles all clanking against each other as he jostled them up our cement front stairs. We also had a milkman for a time when our kids were small. With 5 children we went through a whole lot of milk each week! It was a treat for a time not to have to constantly drive to the store for yet again MORE milk. Of course he delivered ours in blue square plastic bins……..lots of bins!
yes I remember the milkman. There is still a dairy in Sharon that delivers this way in glass bottles too, Crescent Ridge Dairy is the name
I spotted that milk crate in your bathroom when I was there for a workshop. Loved it!! ,keeping my eyes open for one.
We had a cooler on the porch. The milkman carried the bottles in a wire holder with a wooden handle. He took the empties and put the fresh bottles in the cooler. He also had big blocks of ice for people who did not have an electric frig. They were still using an ice box frig. In the summer when it was hot he would chunk off pieces of ice and give it to the neighborhood kids as a treat. We then moved to a new house that had a milk chute it was by the back door. The milkman would come in the gate and deposit the bottles in the chute which had a door. Then you would open a little door on our landing and retrieve the bottles and put them in the frig. The chute had a metal liner and kept the bottles quite cool. This chute was also good for crawling through when locked out of the house. My mom would squeeze us through it when we were small.
We didn’t have crate either. We had a milk door just beside the back door, about the size of a chicken pop door. It was actually two doors, one opening from the outside and one opening from the inside, creating a little alcove between interior and exterior walls of the house. The empty milk bottles were placed in the alcove before delivery time and the milkman would remove the empty bottles and replace them with full ones. He carried the bottles in a wire crate with a handle that had a half dozen or so bottle-sized compartments.
When I was a child our milk was delivered on a horse and cart, it was in big metal churns, you would take your jugs out and he would ladle the full cream milk in. Mum only used to give the milkman pennies !! Very fond memories the milk was very rich tasted delicious :)
Sorry !! My younger sister told me I’ve got things muddled ( problem of age ). The horse and cart did deliver the milk but it was in bottles with metal caps that you reclosed. The cart did have churns on, which had been collected from the farm and taken to local dairy. Anyway the milk still tasted far creamier and lovely than today :)
When I was small and lived in California, no milkman. We took the wagon and walked down to the store for it. Then when I was 11 (1971), we moved to West Virginia. Milkman! The cooler was on the front porch. We also had a vegetable man for a year or two after we moved there. Within a couple of years, however, they were no more. :(
I have one on my front porch. Still have milk delivered every week.
We had a milkman and had a cooler on the front porch. We also had an egg lady (Mrs. Kline) who delivered our eggs to us. I still remember the small market in town (grocery store) and they delivered our groceries to us. I grew up in small town in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
My dad was a milkman! The neighborhood kids would gather around his truck in the summer for chips of ice he’d hand out. He was very popular!
Hmmm I wonder if Mary lived in my neighborhood. Our milkman gave out ice bits too. This was long before we had air conditioning in the home. Summers were so hot and humid, and that ice was a treasure. The milk came in beautiful glass jugs and were put into a tin-lined box with wooden doors, inside and out, that was built into the frame of our house. It became the mailbox after the milkman sadly went away. By the way, we had an eggman as well. Every two weeks he would leave 7 dozen eggs stacked in the doorway, except for additional dozens around easter time.
The milkman and egg man were two different people?
Carol, you must have had a very big family! 7 dozen eggs at a time? And you’re right – no one had air conditioning back then!
I’m loving all of these reminiscenses!
Back in the early 90’s we had milk delivered! It was a great way to stay OUT of the grocery stores and still never run out of milk! I still have the cooler, too!!
Growing up in S.California in the 1980’s, we had one neighbor who still had milk delivered. She was very idealistic and civic minded, and now that she has passed away I wish I’d gotten to know her better. Although I’m sure she didn’t intend to be remembered as “the woman who still had milk delivered”, it would probably have brought a smile to her face!
When I was a young boy, I had a paper route and several customers used them for the newpaper and for mail.
That’s a good idea.