Home Delivery of Ice, Milk, Laundry, etc.

[Big Man]

I recall my Dad telling me about following the ice man around and getting ice chips when he cut off blocks of ice. My Dad said they had a device on their front porch that had the numbers 25, 50 and 75 on it that you would turn to indicate how many pounds of ice you wanted for your ice box.

While the ice man had long ceased to make deliveries by the time I came along, I do remember home delivery of milk and laundry/dry cleaning. We had a little clip on the front porch where we would put our "dairy order". The milk man would leave the amount of milk or butter that you requested. At my grandmother's house, there is still a rock about the size of your fist that sits at the edge of the steps by the road where she would put her "milk money" for the milk man to pick up. I still remember the glass bottles with the cardboard stopper that were left in a little container at the edge of the steps.

I also remember when you put your dry cleaning out on the porch for the laundry man to pick up. There was a little hook on the porch where he would hang the returned laundry. I believe we got a monthly bill for the dry cleaning (unlike the milk money that was left under the rock).

Do any of you remember this kind of "home delivery"? Is there anywhere that this kind of service is still available?

 

[lframe]

I am in the Charlotte area and we get vegetables delivered now, but are also starting to receive dairy delivery! I decided to wait until it cools off due to the extreme heat and to test their containers. But, I love it. I can walk outside, get my insulated cooler, and bring in milk, yogurt, etc.

http://www.lakeviewfarmshomedelivery.com/

My Grandfather used to work for the Biltmore Dairy servicing the Lake Lure, NC area. He loved that job.

 

[Big Man]

... My Grandfather used to work for the Biltmore Dairy servicing the Lake Lure, NC area. He loved that job.

We used to have family that lived in the Lake Lure area. Possibly, your Grandfather delivered to them. It's a small world, isn't it.

 

[lframe]

That it is. I grew up in Rutherford Co., not that far from Nebo! It is a small world, because he probably did. I am lucky I still have him around to tell me about things like that. Like to pick him up, take him on long drives and he tells me all about different areas.

 

[Lincsong]

Michal the Milk Man

Out here on the San Francisco Peninsula there is Michal the Milk Man, he has a fleet of vintage white milk trucks. I see him mostly in the more expensive areas; Palo Alto, Belmont, San Carlos, Atherton.

http://michalthemilkman.com/Moo/Home.html

 

[Big Man]

... I grew up in Rutherford Co., not that far from Nebo! ...

You left Rutherford County for Charlotte? Did someone hold a gun to your head?

 

[lframe]

You left Rutherford County for Charlotte? Did someone hold a gun to your head?

LOL. I married a boy from the Beltway area. He moved to Charlotte and I moved from my tiny town of Union Mills to be with him. I do like it though. We are in a quiet area and I do have access to some decent vintage shops

 

[Big Man]

Out here on the San Francisco Peninsula there is Michel the Milk Man, he has a white milk truck. ...

Growing up, my Dad was a school principal. Our house was on the school grounds. Our milk man was Mr. Bridges (he also drove a white truck). When he made milk deliveries to the school cafeteria, he would always slip me a half-pint carton of chocolate milk. Those really were the good old days ...

 

[Honey Bee]

Back in around 1965, I rememeber the delivery man from Holland Dairy would pull up to my grandparents house, drop off the order of milk, cottage cheese, butter and take the empty milk bottles and the list my Gram would leave him, return a few days later and repeat the cycle.
The old Holland Dairy is still standing, but no longer a dairy, not for many a year, but rather a makeshift mini-market which is now in a bad side of town.

 

[Big Man]

... I moved from my tiny town of Union Mills ...

fftopic: My great aunt Amanda Brown Williams lived in Union Mills (that was a long, long time ago). My daughter-in-law is from Union Mills. When she and my son married, they moved to Hickory. They should have split the difference between Union Mills and Nebo and settled in Sugar Hill. Now, that's a real metropolis.

 

[Lincsong]

There are some dry cleaners that still deliver. However, they're not the $2.50 stores. lol

 

[lframe]

I could very well know your daughter-in-law, Big Man! Sugar Hill? Thriving metropolis of what? 200?

 

[lolly_loisides]

I'm a child of the 70's & I remember the Milkman, the Breadman and the Panman (he didn't actually deliver anything, he took "things" away, other Australians will know who I'm referring to).

I also remember the Sheetman (a travelling salesman that sold my Grandmother sheets) & my very favourite, the Mango man. The arrival of the Mango man was always celebrated, he meant the beginning of summer and endless trays of Mangoes.

 

[Mav]

Grew up in the 60's on the SF peninsula, and I remember Herb, our milkman, who lived just up the street. Went out on a few runs with him when I was about five.
My mom had this fan kinda thingy, with different dairy products that she'd fan out and leave in the wire milk basket, and Herb would just pull what she wanted off of the truck and leave it.

G-d, I sound like an old fart.

 

[Big Man]

Grew up in the 60's ... G-d, I sound like an old fart.

You are (of course, so am I).

 

[Tomasso]

Do any of you remember this kind of "home delivery"? Is there anywhere that this kind of service is still available?

Yep, I remember the milkman and the laundryman. They're both still truckin' in Chicago and Manhattan. Miami Beach still has the laundryman but the milkman, he singsa no more...

 

[Lady Day]

We had a fish man. He had a pick up truck with a long metal cooler and would drive to our house with fresh catfish, whitings, and the like.

Came every week.
My Grandfather was Catholic (died before I was born) but my Granny still made fish on Friday. Still does.

LD

 

[lolly_loisides]

Oh, we still have a fishman, he's called Frank the Fisho & he turns up every Thursday afternoon.

 

[Tomasso]

As a child I caught the tail end of coal deliveries in Chicago. You still see it occasionally in NYC.

 

[Puzzicato]

Our neighbourhood still has a milkman. And he wears a white lab-coat sort of thing with a blue & white striped apron. We don't use enough milk to take advantage of his services though.