Illawarra milkmen have become casualties in the milk price wars between major supermarkets, according to retired milk vendor Bob Young.
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"When you're selling milk at $1 a litre, the profitability falls out at all levels of the system, from the farmers to the processors to the vendors like us," he said.
Mr Young said the industry had changed considerably since his first milk run in 1978.
"When I started, 80 per cent of our business was home delivery, then, after supermarkets started stocking it, we would get 'No milk today' notes left out," he said.
"Ladies had bought it cheaper at Woolworths."
The South Coast Milk Vendors Association had 130 members at its peak in the 1970s but now has just 12, Mr Young said.
"Deregulation in 1992 was another death knell for milkos and the profits diminished," he said.
Bob Whitling has been in the business since 1979 and said that flavoured milk delivery to cafes and fast-food outlets kept his job alive.
"If New Zealand can set their price at $2, I don't understand why we can't here," he said.
Mr Young and Mr Whitling won't be crying over milk or its prices when they reunite with colleagues at the South Coast Milk Vendors Association reunion.
The first ever reunion for Illawarra milk vendors will be held on November 8 at Balgownie Hotel.
Past and present members of the association can contact 4229 3547 to register their attendance.