Milk from booths to milk from apps: how delivery of milk has changed

As a boy, holding a milk carrier made of wire and walking alongside of my grandfather on a chilly winter morning in Delhi of the sixties is what I remember. We would walk down, carrying the previous days empty milk bottles, to the milk booth near our house and stand in queue to get our milk.

It would come in bottles with a metal foil cap. Punching the cap with your thumb would open the bottle. The cream on the inside of the cap used to be a small but welcome treat.

This is how it was for many years.

Then came the automated milk dispensing booths. Bottles were no longer required. We bought stainless steel milk containers.

A token purchased from the milk booth attendant and slipped into the dispenser token socket would wondrously lead to the flow of an exact quantity of milk to the eagerly waiting container placed below in the dispensing slot. For some reason it was always exiting to see this happen.

So for many years the only way one got milk was by walking down to the milk booth.

That is if one did not buy it directly from a milk man who would come to your home and pour it into your milk vessel using his milk measure.

Branded milk starting arriving at our door steps once it started getting packed in poly bags. This was now supplied by the local grocery shops.

While earlier the milk was collected directly from the milk companies outlet, the poly bags were from a local shop to which the company supplied. This was a change in the supply chain.

The quality of milk would always be a point for discussion.

Recently milk of certified quality is being supplied by new companies. This is supplied through an app. Milk comes in poly bags. Reaches your door step like clockwork every morning.

What is more one can change the amount of milk you need any time by going to the app.

Convenience and quality have come together.