Milk run

Not to be confused with the Australian grocery company Milkrun.

A milk run, milk round, or milk route is the fixed route taken to pick up milk from dairy farmers, or to deliver milk to consumers, as part of a milk delivery system.^[1] In extended usage, it may be a transportation service that has many stops. Metaphorically, it may be a slow or tedious trip, a military air mission posing little danger, or any circular route.

Dairy use

Milk runs are documented in the American Upper Midwest as early as 1917, where it was a train that made frequent stops to pick up farmers' milk cans for shipment to local dairies for processing and bottling.^[2]

It may also be the route used to distribute full milk bottles and collect empties by a milkman.^[3] The route may be sold by one milkman to another.^[1]

Transportation

In scheduled passenger airline or rail travel, a milk run may involve a trip with many stops,^[4][1] and more generally a slow, tedious trip. It may also be an uneventful trip.^[4]

Military aviation

For United States Army Air Corps and Royal Air Force aircrews, a milk run was a mission posing little danger.^[5]

Commercial aviation

In the airline industry, a "milk run" is a multi-stop, regularly-scheduled passenger flight operated with a single aircraft. Current examples include:

• Several Alaska Airlines routes connecting smaller Alaskan cities to Juneau, Anchorage, Fairbanks and Seattle.^[6][7]
• The Rex Airlines Milk Run in Queensland, Australia.^[8]
• United Airlines tri-weekly Island Hopper service from Honolulu to Guam via Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, Kwajalein and Majuro.

An historical example of a transcontinental airline milk run in the U.S. in 1962 was National Airlines (1934-1980) flight 223 operated daily with a Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop aircraft on a south and then westbound routing of Boston - New York City - Jacksonville, FL - Orlando - Tampa - New Orleans - Houston - Las Vegas - San Francisco.^[9][10][11] According to the March 2, 1962 National Airlines system timetable, flight 223 departed Boston at 7:30 am and then arrived in San Francisco at 8:42 pm on the same day with seven intermediate stops en route.

Logistics

In logistics, a milk run is a circular route.^[12]

References

1. "milk run, n. meanings, etymology and more | Oxford English Dictionary". www.oed.com. Retrieved 2023-10-23.
2. Wegner, A. C. (February 3, 1917). "A Heavy Freight Carrying Railway". Electric Railway Journal. XLIX (5): 207f. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
3. Werner, Hartmut (2008): Supply Chain Management. Grundlagen Strategien Instrumente und Controlling /// Grundlagen, Strategien, Instrumente und Controlling. 3., vollständig überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage. Wiesbaden: Betriebswirtschaftlicher Verlag Dr. Th. Gabler | GWV Fachverlage GmbH Wiesbaden
4. "MILK RUN (noun) American English definition and synonyms | Macmillan Dictionary". www.macmillandictionary.com. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
5. Ammer, Christine (1989). Fighting Words from War, Rebellion, and Other Combative Capers. BookBaby. p. 14. ISBN 1626759669.
6. "The Milk Run is a hop, skip and a jump along Southeast Alaska's coast". Alaska Airlines Blog. 2015-06-11. Retrieved 2018-11-07.
7. Kirkland, Erin (2014). Alaska on the Go. University of Alaska Press. p. 9. ISBN 9781602232211. Retrieved 2018-05-01.
8. Pfleger, Jacob (2 December 2016). "The True Aussie 'Milk Run'". Airline Reporter. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
9. https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/na62/na62-1.jpg
10. https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/na62/na62-5.jpg
11. https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/na62/na62-7.jpg
12. Meusel, Winfrid (1995): Realisierung eines Logistikberater-Arbeitsplatzes für das Frachtkostencontrolling mit wissensbasierten Elementen. Nürnberg, Univ., Diss.--Erlangen, 1995. Frankfurt am Main, Berlin: Lang (Europäische Hoch-schulschriftenReihe 5, Volks- und Betriebswirtschaft, 1755).