It used to be the norm _ milk delivered to your doorstep.
But not anymore. At the end of this month, there will be no more home milk deliveries made in the Western Bay of Plenty.
For Laurie Ferry, who works for delivery company, The Milk Crew, it means an end to
19 years of delivering moo juice to home customers around the western Bay, including those in Bethlehem, Te Puna and Omokoroa.
The final delivery will take place on November 29. While he knows stopping home deliveries is a necessity, Mr Ferry will be sad to see the run end.
"You see and meet people you don't see in town. I'm going to miss the personal contact," he said.
Mr Ferry said the end of milk delivery was a sign of the times, with people leading busier lives and spending less time at home.
It simply no longer made economic sense for milk companies to continue the delivery.
"They say `I'm not at home when you come, so I may as well just pick it up from the supermarket'," he said.
Mr Ferry said although home delivery was ending he would still be making deliveries to businesses in Tauranga.
However, he was sad for Arie, a student from Otumoetai College who helped him with the home delivery run.
"He'll have to finish but we are trying to find him work. It's a shame because he's a good kid," he said.
John Reynolds, who owns The Milk Crew, said he had not come to the decision to stop the service lightly but the decline in home sales had increased the cost of delivering the milk.
"We are a bit disappointed we are having to do it, but we knew it was coming and we put it off for the last 12 months," he said.
Mr Reynolds said there were three main reasons for stopping the home run: milk selling in supermarkets, fewer deliveries because it lasted longer and fewer people being at home.
"The volume of sales have just gone down and down," he said.
"It's not just here, it's happening all over the country."
