DELIVERY charges would kill off doorstep deliveries, milk roundsmen claim. Commerce and Employment wants to change the law to permit such charges, but milkmen say it would put them out of business.
The department believes that the fixed price for milk should be abandoned in favour of a minimum price.
‘We have never asked for a delivery charge and previous departments have always been against it, too,’ said Guernsey Milk Retailers’ Association president Jason Piriou.
‘We know full well that as soon as we put a delivery charge on, we’ll lose half our customers.
‘The only ones we’ll have left will be the old and infirm, which would be very unfair to them.’
The States will debate at this month’s meeting the department’s proposals for the future of the milk industry.
Milkmen believe the proposals threaten not only their livelihoods, but the future of the whole industry.
Mr Piriou said that in the UK, which has delivery charges, doorstep delivery accounted for 12% of the market and that figure was still falling.
The department said that a minimum would provide sufficient ‘headroom’ for shops to levy an additional charge and give milkmen an opportunity to generate greater income from doorstep deliveries.
But they could compete with shops at the bottom price.
Mr Piriou said this would create a vicious circle that would ultimately put milkmen out of business.
But the department believes that its proposal would have little impact on the price most people paid.
Mr Piriou said the department’s proposal to set up a price panel would also work against milkmen.
‘Whenever the price of milk went up they would use the delivery charge as an excuse not to give us our fair share and tell us we would have to make any increase up from our customers,’ he said.
‘Not only do they want to take away our licensing and zoning system, but they want us to make a delivery charge too and it’s a double blow.’
Milk row at a glance…
Roundsmen face:
* no guarantees or legal protection for their rounds
* a minimum, rather than fixed, milk price
* and a single gate price for Dairy collections
Commerce and Employment said its proposals:
* offered recognition and a measure of protection for rounds
* excluded the Dairy from the relationship between milkmen and shops and
* protected the roundsmen against shops buying direct from the Dairy.
Article posted on 13th April, 2007 - 12.00am
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