milk run

Definition

Delivery method for mixed loads from different suppliers. Instead of each of several (say 5) suppliers sending a vehicle every week to meet the weekly needs of a customer, one vehicle visits each supplier on a daily basis and picks up deliveries for that customer. This way, while still five vehicle loads are shipped every week, each vehicle load delivers the full daily requirements of the customer from each supplier. This method gets its name from the dairy industry practice where one tanker collects milk every day from several dairy farmers for delivery to a milk processing firm.