I remember the milk man, Fuller Brush man and the Stanley person. We lived in a post WW2 cluster of 100 homes and one elementary school,  which was 10 milesoutside of the closest city.A town which only had a truck stop, grocery store and tavern prior to that time with a dozen homes. It is now considered a suburb.

No, I don’t remember the milk being delivered, but I do remember returning milk bottles to the store. There is a dairy truck that delivers to my neighborhood now and I think that’s great for families with young chidren who need a constant inventory of dairy.

When my kids were infants, I used a diaper service and had lovely fluffy cotton diapers delivered every week - 2 different sizes once my daughter came along and my son hadn’t ‘signed on’ to potty training yet! It was always nice to see the ‘Dydee guy’ every week - he always provided about 3 minutes of intelligent adult conversation and company.

We had a milk man when I was growing up.  We had the little milk chute in the side of our house next to the door.  A door on the outside for the milk man to put the milk, eggs, bread in and one on the inside for us to take it out.  We had to remember to get the milk before we left for school in the winter, otherwise it would freeze and crack the glass bottles.  The bottles had little cardboard stoppers in them, covered with a pleated paper cap.  If we wanted something different (their absolutely yummy chocolate milk for a rare treat, perhaps) we left a note in the neck of one of the bottles we were returning.

When we were little, if my parents went out and thought they wouldn’t be home before we got home from school, they would lock the doors and leave a key for us kids in the milk chute.  Very safe :)

My dad still lives in the same house and the milk chute is still there.  Of course, the neighbors are all aghast he has not taken out the milk chute because they think it is a security exposure. 

Home delivery … we have all but forgotten those days so long ago that were so much a part of our lives.  There were alleys - actual alleys behind our homes - where those deliveries were made.  Men came along with carts, calling out that they would sharpen your knives as you waited.  And - while you would go into the heart of the city to the department stores to shop, that same afternoon a green elegant Marshall Field department store truck would deliver your purchases free to your door.  Those were the days!!

Even in the 1990s, as we travelled through New Zealand, it was a view back in time.  At meals, doilies (you remember them, don’t you?) were always placed on the array of courses served in restaurants.  Place setting of silver to correspond with each course had been placed for each person.  If you were having fish, a fish knife was replaced for the regular knife — and this was everywhere we went.

But back to milk bottles, in Christchurch, NZ, a beautiful small church - a landmark building - was across the street from our room at the hotel.  And every morning, lined up on the stoop were milk bottles with the cream rising high over the top with that old-fashioned cardboard lid still in place on them.  Shades of the old days, bringing forth memories of old.

This Question of the Day has made me so happy!

I understand that things are different by region in terms of things like newspaper delivery, milk & eggs, etc. etc.  But I am from Wisconsin and this has been my home for 49 years. In my area, almost every home had a milk chute (as we called them) built right into the side of your home.

(Oh my Lord this gives me such a warm feeling to think about)

It’s a cool, crisp autumn Saturday morning. And as a kid I remember bounding out of bed and rushing downstairs for breakfast - cereal of course. (My dad raised 11 children by himself - hot breakfast was strictly for holidays)  Always excited about what I could send my box tops in for - praying it wasn’t something like spy glasses. And then…..opening up the milk chute to find bottles of icy cold milk and if it was in the budget, my father would order chocolate milk! We’re talking chocolate milk that far surpasses anything offered today. Rich, thick and sweet!

Thanks Wow for allowing me to reminisce for a second.  Here’s a link to the old dairy trucks that use to home deliver milk each day in my community. Enjoy.