milk run
{{Distinguish|Milkrun|text=the Australian grocery company Milkrun}}{{short description|A circular transportation route}}
A milk run, milk round, or milk route is the fixed route taken to pick up milk from dairy farmers, or to deliver milk to consumers, as part of a milk delivery system.{{Cite web |title=milk run, n. meanings, etymology and more {{!}} Oxford English Dictionary |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/milk-run_n?tl=true |access-date=2023-10-23 |website=www.oed.com}} In extended usage, it may be a transportation service that has many stops. Metaphorically, it may be a slow or tedious trip, a military air mission posing little danger, or any circular route.
Dairy use
Milk runs are documented in the American Upper Midwest as early as 1917, where it was a train that made frequent stops to pick up farmers' milk cans for shipment to local dairies for processing and bottling.{{cite journal|last1=Wegner|first1=A. C.|date=February 3, 1917|title=A Heavy Freight Carrying Railway|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z45NAAAAYAAJ&dq=milk+run+train+%22milk+run%22&pg=PA208|journal=Electric Railway Journal|volume=XLIX|issue=5|pages=207f|access-date=8 January 2019}}
It may also be the route used to distribute full milk bottles and collect empties by a milkman.Werner, Hartmut (2008): Supply Chain Management. Grundlagen Strategien Instrumente und Controlling /// Grundlagen, Strategien, Instrumente und Controlling. 3., vollständig überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage. Wiesbaden: Betriebswirtschaftlicher Verlag Dr. Th. Gabler | GWV Fachverlage GmbH Wiesbaden The route may be sold by one milkman to another.
Transportation
In scheduled passenger airline or rail travel, a milk run may involve a trip with many stops,{{Cite web|title=MILK RUN (noun) American English definition and synonyms {{!}} Macmillan Dictionary|url=https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/milk-run|access-date=2021-06-12|website=www.macmillandictionary.com|language=en}} and more generally a slow, tedious trip. It may also be an uneventful trip.
Military aviation
For United States Army Air Corps and Royal Air Force aircrews, a milk run was a mission posing little danger.{{cite book |last=Ammer |first=Christine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XKVYDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT149 |title=Fighting Words from War, Rebellion, and Other Combative Capers |date=1989 |publisher=BookBaby |isbn=1626759669 |page=14}}
Commercial aviation
In the airline industry, a "milk run" is a multi-stop, regularly-scheduled passenger flight operated with a single aircraft. Current examples include:
- Several Alaska Airlines routes connecting smaller Alaskan cities to Juneau, Anchorage, Fairbanks and Seattle.{{Cite news |url=https://blog.alaskaair.com/destinations/the-milk-run-flight/ |title=The Milk Run is a hop, skip and a jump along Southeast Alaska's coast |date=2015-06-11 |work=Alaska Airlines Blog |access-date=2018-11-07 |language=en-US}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sIjvCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA9 |title=Alaska on the Go |last=Kirkland |first=Erin |publisher=University of Alaska Press |year=2014 |page=9| isbn=9781602232211 |access-date=2018-05-01}}
- The Rex Airlines Milk Run in Queensland, Australia.{{Cite news|url=https://www.airlinereporter.com/2016/12/true-aussie-milk-run/ |title = The True Aussie 'Milk Run' |date = 2 December 2016|first=Jacob|last=Pfleger|website=Airline Reporter|access-date=10 March 2024}}
- United Airlines tri-weekly Island Hopper service from Honolulu to Guam via Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, Kwajalein and Majuro.
An historical example of a transcontinental airline milk run in the U.S. in 1962 was National Airlines (1934-1980) flight 223 operated daily with a Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop aircraft on a south and then westbound routing of Boston - New York City - Jacksonville, FL - Orlando - Tampa - New Orleans - Houston - Las Vegas - San Francisco.https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/na62/na62-1.jpg {{Bare URL image|date=August 2024}}https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/na62/na62-5.jpg {{Bare URL image|date=August 2024}}https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/complete/na62/na62-7.jpg {{Bare URL image|date=August 2024}} According to the March 2, 1962 National Airlines system timetable, flight 223 departed Boston at 7:30 am and then arrived in San Francisco at 8:42 pm on the same day with seven intermediate stops en route.
Logistics
In logistics, a milk run is a circular route.Meusel, Winfrid (1995): Realisierung eines Logistikberater-Arbeitsplatzes für das Frachtkostencontrolling mit wissensbasierten Elementen. Nürnberg, Univ., Diss.--Erlangen, 1995. Frankfurt am Main, Berlin: Lang (Europäische Hoch-schulschriftenReihe 5, Volks- und Betriebswirtschaft, 1755).