No more deliveries

“For many years now we have ignored the cut price cartons of milk on the supermarket shelves, preferring instead to deal with our local milkman who makes doorstep deliveries three mornings per week,” emails T. McFarlane.

“When we moved to Wolfhill more than 25 years ago, most of the households were customers of the Blairgowrie Coop who not only ran a milk delivery service but also had a fleet of travelling grocer’s shops.

“One of their drivers, the late Allan P. Seggie (a regular contributor to your column), was said to know all the various delivery routes in the Blairgowrie and surrounding areas off by heart. Not only did he know just how many pints to leave, what type of product was required, and where to pick up the money but he also had a very friendly word for everyone whom he met.

“Sadly this morning we awoke to a letter from our current milkman pointing out that with the added costs of fuel, maintenance and staffing issues, he found that he had no alternative but to charge his existing customers a delivery charge of 25p per day on top of the price of the carton of milk itself.

“When I spoke with the chap,I discovered that, despite many new properties having been built, there were now only nine households within the village who received deliveries. Suffice to say this latest development is likely to sound the death knell for one of the country’s oldest traditions – the local milkman.

“Supermarkets, out of town shopping malls and the internet have contributed to the demise of traditional country life.”