A creamy-white truck with black cow spots weaves through a west Boise neighborhood on a Wednesday night. Kris Wilson drives cautiously — there’s fragile cargo on board — but not too slowly. He has 100 deliveries to make in the next six hours.
The truck halts outside a house for the first delivery of the night.
Inside, someone knows: The milkman is here.
Two gallons of milk is the order — Wilson already knows that. Most orders are the same every week.
“Sometimes they add something, and try to throw you for a loop,” says Wilson, a Meridian resident.
But not tonight.
Wearing a hooded sweatshirt, beanie and dark pants, the 35-year-old collects the order from the back of the truck and approaches the house shortly after 9 p.m. Without a word or a knock, he drops the jugs near the front door. On most deliveries, he’ll put the milk in a box, but there isn’t one at this house.
“She’s one of my usuals that comes out,” he says.
Almost on cue, a woman opens the front door and picks up her milk.
“Thank you,” she says to Wilson.
“Have a good one,” he replies, and it’s off to the next delivery.
Wilson said when he tells people he’s a milkman they often are surprised. “Huh? Are you serious? They still do that?” they ask.
“Yes, they do, and it’s quite fun,” Wilson said. “It’s just like the 1950s all over again. The only difference is, we don’t wear the all-white jumpsuits and the bow tie.”
Wilson works for Reed’s Dairy, a 68-year-old, family-owned business based in Idaho Falls. Reed’s has been delivering milk in eastern Idaho since 1962 — when jumpsuits and bow ties were still in vogue — but its delivery service didn’t expand to western Idaho until about 2013.
Boise Milk delivered Reed’s products to Treasure Valley homes until 2016, when Reed’s bought Boise Milk and hired its own drivers, including Wilson. Today, four Reed’s drivers deliver milk and other groceries to 1,800 customers in the valley from Boise to Emmett. And almost all of those customers place weekly orders, according to Reed’s Dairy co-owner Alan Reed, a second-generation Reed now running the business that was started by his father and two uncles.
The dairy has 185 Hoisteins cows, which provide milk for the delivery service in eastern and western Idaho and for dairy products, including ice cream, at four retail locations in Idaho Falls, Ammon, Boise and Meridian.
There are two reasons those customers choose to have their groceries delivered, Reed said in an email.
“One, they save money because they do not have to take their time to travel and stand in line at the grocery store. Then, when in the store, they are not buying things they really do not need,” he said. “Two is, they appreciate knowing where their milk and dairy products come from. (They) are buying directly from the dairy farm. It is true farm-to-table in the most pure sense.”
The service is $2.50 per delivery. Most customers order more than just milk, Wilson said at a warehouse where the groceries are stored. They can choose from Reed’s dairy products, including cheese curds and heavy cream, as well as other local products, such as eggs and meat from Vogel Farms in Kuna and croissants from Gaston’s Bakery in Boise.
Most products delivered in the Treasure Valley are made, baked and grown in the Treasure Valley, Reed said.
“We are the ultimate farmers market on wheels,” he said.
But customers also can order goods not made in Idaho, such as a bag of Snyder’s mini pretzels or a gallon of Tropicana orange juice.
“It’s not the best place to grow oranges, I guess,” Wilson said.
On Wednesday, Wilson arrived at work around 8 p.m. His night starts at a Boar’s Head meats warehouse in Boise, where Reed’s rents refrigeration space for its delivery products. The milk is delivered to the warehouse every Monday, after being bottled and shipped from the Idaho Falls dairy. The milk is dated to expire two weeks after bottling, Reed said.
With the truck backed up to a loading dock, Wilson started loading milk crates. The 2% milk was first, then whole milk, 1% and skim. Reed’s milk is all “100% wholesome goodness,” according to Wilson.
Source: magicvalley.com
