gholt

I have been debating putting a milk crate on my rear rack. I know that it looks bad, but I think it would be a great solution to what I need. Does anyone know where one can buy them. Everywhere I buy milk they come two to a box and it is not the crate type.

pinkrobe

Buy? Just this once, I'm going to advocate something illegal: go behind your local grocery mega-mart, and just grab one. Paint over the blurb that says "Property of Milk Corp." and bolt it to your rack.

amit_shah25 

Target
Carret & Barrel
Container Store

One thing I would recommend though. Make sure the milk crates are enough "netted" that you can tie a bungie cord across the milk crate. Stuff will not jump and fall out of the milk crate that way. The ones at target were best looking, but didn't have enough nets for bungy cord to fit across. I liked the ones at container store ..

And did I tell you that milk crates are the way to go !! The ugliest, but the most functional things I have found !

mijome07

+1

I was a DJ for over 10 years and that's where I got mine to hold my 1000+ records.

whatsmyname

around here, they get dumped on the street outside stores at garbage pickup time.

BTW, milk crates might very soon become extinct: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/bu...al-mart&st=nyt

Does it make you feel weird when Wal-Mart massively reduces waste/fuel consumption (with this and the way it has changed haulage industry fuel standards), even when it's purely for financial reasons?

Psydotek

That's a terrible redesign... It's always going to be a PITA to pour until at least 1/3 of the milk is gone. It needs a little bit of a spout at the very least.

n4zou

Someone will design and manufacture a small pump which will fit in the opening allowing you to easily transfer milk into your glass or bowl.

kokomo61

A few years ago, I took all of the milk crates I had for college (about 20 of them), and put them BACK behind the grocery store that originally 'donated' them...

Michael H

When I was a senior in high school I was arrested for stealing milk crates. That's all that I really have to add.

mconlonx

https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/435530-what-will-milk-crate-set-do.html

I don't think free milk crates are going anywhere anytime soon.

They are making reductions to save themselves money, but if the industry goes that way, smaller stores will be screwed, and either the milk industry will continue using crates, or worse, resort to corrugated cartons. Good for WalMart and big box stores, yes, but might create just another disposable packing situation for smaller stores where before there was a perfectly decent reusable (and steal-able) solution.

positron

hmmm, I dont know if I agree. I would guess that most places selling milk (not just biggest box stores but also safeway, giant, sav-on, cvs...lets face it, the majority of people do not shop at mom-and-pops) can turn over at least one pallet/delivery. Given my cursory read of the article and the dramatic increase in efficiency of transfer, this seems like a good solution....

I might be wrong though, but cutting the transfer of packaging from 5 trips by semi down to 2 seems like a step in the right direction... not to mention the cost of *lost* crates being passed on to the consumer.

mconlonx

Perhaps. Besides, the milk companies know which side of their bread is buttered, so it's probably only a matter of time and public acceptace of the new packaging. Thing is, you can take a stack of milk crates on a two wheeler or a milk hook and go anywhere with it--through regular doors, revolving doors, etc. Try that with a pallet... to say nothing of the mess when some fork lift yahoo sticks a fork through... how many gallons of milk in a row on one of those things? There's a lot of places milk gets sold that does not have a loading dock.

Someone else said it: a solution looking for a problem. Not that it won't happen with Wal Mart pushing it. And heck, if you take my point out a bit further, why not reusable glass bottles, too, eh?

Chromavita

Personally I'd check some dumpsters behind these stores. I've been out dumpstering for a local charity, and I've seen a large amounts of milk crates in the dumpsters. Personally I wouldn't feel as bad about stealing milk cartons out of a dumpster. If you have any milk/juice distribution centers around you, they have a lot of them. Also you have a pretty good chance of snagging some juice that is still good. (the other day we found a whole pallet of perfectly good gatorade)

stevo9er

Just go find a store with a big ass pile of them and ask for one or two.

charly17201

I buy my milk at a creamery..... GLASS bottles, non-homogenized, butter forms on the top if you let it sit for more than a day. And yeah, they have milk crates too.

icedmocha 

Where in PA can you legally buy non-homog milk? Is it designated "for animal use only"? That is the only way I know of to purchase it.

RoadRanger

A friend of mine in FL buys "Pet Milk" through a co-op. When I first heard the term I pictured a barn full of dogs and cats being milked for "health nut" consumption (yech!).

RoadRanger

I the past I never saw a "milk crate" for sale in a store that was quite as large or well contructed as the "real thing". They were just tight enough to mess up your album covers, unlike the "real thing" that fit them perfectly. I don't know if the "store" ones are better now? Anyways my Wald baskets are ugly enough for my tastes.

Sgt Skidmark

We get our milk delivered from Oberweis and they make those new milk bottle look genius. Oberweis comes in heavy glass bottles no child could hold and pouring them takes a bit of skill. Still, can't beat the taste of that milk though.

old_school_dave

It's funny because some residual guilt at having a few commercial milk crates led me to check high and low at stores for legitimate replacements. I've yet to see anything for sale that looks 1/5 as strong and sturdy as the real thing.

See what I get for trying to be good?

Big_e

Milk crates were a major component in my apartment furnishing before I got married. Wait until trash pick up at the stores and when the crates get blown into the streets just help yourself. It's not really stealing, you finded them in the street.
Ernest

Jeffbeerman2

I read that times article this morning

-----------------

Let me tell you about another innovation:
throw away bottles

Soon, the era of returning beer and pop bottles to the store will end.

The beverage industry has developed new recyclable disposable thin-glass and plastic bottles! (availability of convenient recycling facilities may vary)

You'll never again need to make an extra trip to the sore to return bottles. Delivery men will no longer have to waste valuable time loading empty bottles. Trucks won't have to return to the manufacturing plant full of empties. Many bottlers and breweries won't even be needed, there will just be a dairy or brewery in a few dozen large cities, wasting a lot less energy in manufacturing and labor (it's great for competition too).

-------------------------

Honestly, I have no idea if it is more wasteful to add a sheet of cardboard between palletized jugs than it is to transport and replace empty crates. I do think that the milk package probably contains more plastic in order to give it the strength to support the weight of upper layers (even if they were square, I doubt current jugs would avoid bursting if supporting the weight of upper layers. I doubt that they are getting any more milk on a truck, there are weight limits for trucks and milk is heavy (they aren't going to be able to load a trailer front to back, floor to ceiling). I really really doubt that this will go mainstream, because I think it will dramatically increase damaged product. There is no way those things do a good job protecting the product during transport, especially considering the people who work at these places and their fork lift skills.

Sirrus Rider

Most of the Target/Walmart copies (for retail sale) are not anywhere near as strong as the genuine article.

TiberiusBTkirk

do you have any college dorms near you? it's too late now
but a good time to see what they throw out is the end of the semester.
I don't even know how I got milk crates in my home but I strongly suspect
it was from my college dorm years.
I'm thinking of putting one on my folding bike rack.

Mr York

https://www.advantagegrip.com/milk.htm