Demand grows for home milk deliveries

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This article was published 06/04/2020 (2288 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When the COVID-19 pandemic first struck Winnipeg, Garry Peters, a milkman, lost nearly two-thirds of his business.

But since then, his phone line and email inbox have been inundated with orders from new customers.

The job of a milkman — often believed to be obsolete — has been revived as a result of the pandemic.

“Because a lot of stores are out of dairy (customers) are looking for a milkman. They can’t go outside (because of) self-isolation. Our website has just blossomed. People are calling left, right and centre. They’re emailing. And I’ve been busy like a little beaver for the last week,” said Peters, whose business is located in the St. Vital area.

Before COVID-19, Peters, who has been running his business for 18 years, normally delivered to roughly 140 homes and 60 small businesses. With the indefinite closure of most businesses across the city, Peters’ orders began to fall, only to rise again as households began to contact him.

“In the last week we got close to 40 new home service calls,” Peters said.

As a one-man operation, physical distancing for Peters’ business is rather simple. He wakes up at midnight, picks up his products in the North End, makes his first home delivery around 2:30 a.m., and returns home at 11 the same morning.

“For the most part I don’t meet my customers because I’m there at three, four or five in the morning. Most people are still sleeping,” he said.

While Peters’ business has been growing, other milkmen haven’t been so lucky.

The province announced on March 31 that all kindergarten to Grade 12 classroom learning would be suspended indefinitely — leaving uncertainty in the hands of milkmen who service schools and daycares, such as Virgie Fabbri and Gilbert Marion.

Fabbri said he’s searching for a part-time job and plans to apply for financial aid from the government, since most of his business came to a halt.

“Majority of my business, 90 per cent of it, is schools, daycares and coffee shops. Those are technically all closed at the moment, and I’ve got a bakery and a few office buildings left,” Fabbri, whose business is also located in St. Vital, said.

“It’s pretty much obliterated (my business) because I only do schools and daycares,” said Marion, who delivers to approximately 32 locations in the northern part of Winnipeg.

“I’m more willing to accept the fact that it’s probably going to be September before I’m back to work.”

Marion has been in the business for 35 years. For most of his career, he made deliveries to households, but transitioned to only delivering to daycares and schools a few years ago to downsize his workload.

“To be honest I have received a few calls from people that are inquiring about whether I would consider doing (home deliveries) again. It’s not something I really want to do… but nothing’s off the table I guess,” he said.