It is known that dairies forty and more years ago filled milk in bottles. Not only milk, but also sweet cream, while some other products, like sour cream and yogurts were put in glasses covered with aluminium foil. This was the way Ljubljanske mlekarne also packaged their products. This required besides the filling machine also the washing machine and a host of other jobs which are today already a part of history. The glass packaging was returned to the dairy. About 4 years before its 15th anniversary (around 1967) Ljubljanske mlekarne thoroughly renovated the unit for drinking milk. They bought the most modern equipment for processing milk and they discontinued the classic filling into bottles. The new non-returnable carton packaging Tetra Pak and packaging made of plastic were introduced all over the world and we wanted to keep up with the progress. Of course, some of the customers nostalgically missed the bottles but in time they accepted the new packaging and discovered its numerous advantages. It guaranteed higher quality of milk and its hygienic properties, while it met the requirements of modern trade and warehousing.

How we used to deliver milk to homes

Older residents of Ljubljana, if they search their memories, will surely remember young boys who, four decades ago, drove milk bottles on the streets of Ljubljana with tricycles. They were a curiosity of the city which enriched everyday life on streets and gave it the quaintness characteristic of old town centres as we imagine them today. The boys were making money for school and a few treats, the customers were happy to get their milk delivered to the door of their apartments. In 1955 Ljubljanske mlekarne wanted to increase the sales of milk. They got an original idea – they decided to deliver milk to homes, which was nothing new in the world, but business-wise it was a somewhat risky and unusual decision for our circumstances. Later it turned out it was not so. The entire plan was entrusted to the unit Retail trade, and Janez Volaj became the referent for home delivery of milk, the overall organiser of this unusual but rather grand sales project. Thus such a good idea was becoming reality though planning, accurate lists with street names and house numbers where the goods were to be delivered, the customers had to be notified and orders collected, and a call for delivery men to be published.

The organisers were thinking of students and a fair number answered the call, so the milk delivery could be carried out in all the municipalities of the Ljubljana at the time. The most appropriate transport vehicle was the tricycle. All the tricycles were made in mechanical shop Gonilka in Njegoševa ulica, where they were also taken for repairs. There are a few amusing anecdotes from those times. The delivery boys, students, are today mature men, who are happy to remember them. Some remember incidents when tricycles broke down, other vividly remember meeting the clients, who were sometimes so generous to give the students a bit more extra money, and some still wonder how they were able to walk up thousands and thousands of stairs and not get tired. They were young, full of spirit and, of course, eager to earn some money.

Today, Janez Volaj says the boys worked hard and the customers often praised them, especially those who were able to deliver a bottle of milk punctually. The sales in the city of Ljubljana, to the happiness of Ljubljanske mlekarne, increased noticeably, which also made the shop managers who supplied the milk to delivery boys very happy.

Milk home delivery was carried out for twenty years, until 1970. Three years before the discontinuation the organising of delivery was taken over by the Students Service from Ljubljana. Due to different methods of filling milk and more strict hygiene regulations and changes of city life in general, home delivery was gradually abandoned, but a pleasant memory of the pioneering era remained, today already covered with a layer of dust. But the memories are still clear in the minds of delivery boys. All those early mornings, rain, snow and cold, and also sunny mornings when they hurried from street to street, from stairway to stairway, from door to door of their customers, left a permanent mark. How useful and also pleasant were those student days. Many students also often helped with other work, like selling ice cream at various events, which was also good advertisement for Ljubljanske mlekarne, for the company needed the promotion.

The best delivery boys were also awarded. Jože Možgan, Maks Tomkijevič and Jože Šmid were given wrist watches for their effort. An overview of the generation of delivery boys is very interesting. Some of them, after finishing the studies, became important and famous residents of Ljubljana. They became doctors, managers of large companies and successful business men. To name but a few: architect Andrej Turnšek, Peter Jeglič, Jože Možgan M.D., Peter Poschl, dr. Stane Repše, Jože Šmid, dr. Štefan Ivanko, painter Štefan Potočnik and many others.

Adventures of milk deliverers

Andrej Jerovšek most vividly remembers accidents with the tricycle. Every bigger bump made it turn over and the street was quickly full of broken bottles and white puddles. When it was cold it was extremely difficult to carry up to 10 bottles up the winding stairs. They had a tendency to slip out of his hands and he had to return to the shop to get new ones. The customers were not interested in the difficult working conditions.

Five years ago, in a bar in Ljubljana, Andrej Turnšek was very surprised when a gentleman who celebrated his birthday on that same day recognised him after all those years as the milk deliverer from those days. Jože Možgan tells us that he used to deliver around 120 bottles per day but later the number climbed even to 500 so his district had to be divided among 3 deliverers. When he became a student he doubted he could manage the hard work and one of his clients, professor Robert Neubauer, convinced him to continue delivering milk and also to finish the medical school. Today he is still very grateful for the advice.

A funny thing happened to Jože Šmid. On New Year’s Day most of the customers offered food and drinks to delivery boys and were looking for the opportunity to chat. He vividly remembers an older gentleman from Podjunska ulica who offered him a cup of red drink and in the hurry to finish his work as soon as possible, Jože downed the drink, bid him happy New Year and hurried on, but his stomach started to burn so he had to drink an entire litre of milk. Two days later the gentleman desperately apologised to Jože for giving him vinegar by mistake. Well, it happens. There are lots of similar stories.

Prepared by Bruno Majer