Milkman

: This article is about milkman, the milk delivery occupation. For the Phranc album, see Milkman (album).

A milkman is a person â€" traditionally male â€" who delivers milk in milk bottles or cartons. Milkman deliveries frequently occur in the morning and it is not uncommon for milkmen to deliver dairy products other than milk like egg nog, cream and even yogurt or butter. The term "milkman" is used to refer to either a man or woman working as a milk delivery agent.

Originally, milk needed to be delivered to houses daily, as poor refrigeration meant it would quickly spoil. The near-ubiquity of refrigerators in homes in the developed world has decreased the need for frequent milk delivery over the past half-century and made the profession shrink in many localities and disappear totally in others. Additionally, milk delivery incurs a small cost on the price of dairy products that is increasingly difficult to justify and leaves delivered milk in a position where it is prone to theft.

A milk truck in Culver City, California

Despite these drawbacks, the enterprise is still common in the UK and Ireland.

Historically, British, Irish, and other European milkmen have travelled in an electric vehicle called a milk float. In Australia the delivery vehicle was usually a small petrol or diesel engined truck with a covered milk-tray. In hotter areas, this tray is usually insulated.

Milkmen in Culture

*The frequent deliveries of milkmen to homes during the day has led to a high level of familiarity with many homemakers â€" often female â€" which has made the occupation a central figure in numerous milkman jokes.
*In the Uganda region an often used title for "king" is "Omukama", which means "superior milkman/milk bringer": a title that refers to a) the role of the leader as a feeder of the people and b) the historical tradition, that the ancient ruling class of some Ugandan kingdoms was of Hima-tribal stock (the Hima were cattle-holders).
*'Milkman' is the title of a song by Aphex Twin, and is also the name of a flash cartoon based on the same song, made by David Firth.
*Before becoming famous, Benny Hill worked as a milkman.
*In the Xbox, Windows, and PS2 [ video game Psychonauts, there is a character who goes insane after he is fired from his job, and who develops a separate identity called the Milkman. The Milkman hurls glasses of milk which explode like molotov cocktails
*For many years, the WNEW radio station carried an overnight big bandbroadcast called "The Milkman's Matinee".