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TABLE 25.--Percent of Sales by Retail, Wholesale and Platform Distribu-
 tion, by Milk Marketing Area, April and October 1959

 Distribution Method
 Milk Retail Wholesale Platform
 Milk Retailr
Marketing All Firms All Firms
 Area Simple : Weighted: :Simple : Weighted: :Simple :Weighted
 :Average: Average : Average: Average :Average :Average
 Percent
Northwest 71 29 25 57 4 14
Northeastb 74 26 23 56 3 18
Centralc 64 46 30 48 6 6
Tamp Bayd 48 47 38 42 14 11
Southeast 55 41 30 43 15 16

Florida 63 39 29 48 8 13


 Source: Records of individual firms.

 aIncludes all firms in the market.

 bIncluded 29 of 31 firms in the market.

 CIncludes all firms in the market.

 dIncludes 15 of 16 firms in the market.

 eIncludes 15 of 17 firms in the market.


 Types and Sizes of Packages
 for Fluid Milk Products

 Fluid milk products are packaged for distribution in refillable
 glass bottles, single-service paper cartons and refillable metal cans.
 By size, consumer packages range from one-half pint to one gallon for
 glass bottles and from one-half pint to one-half gallon for paper
 cartons. The standard size metal dispenser can is five gallons. A total
 of ten types and sizes were available for packaging fluid milk products
 (Table 27). With a minimum of ten fluid milk products commonly distrib-
 uted by dairy firms, the product mix could include 100 combinations of
 product, package type and size of container. Since many firms distribute
 two, three or even four types of fresh whole milk, two types of fluid
 skim milk and buttermilk, numerous non-fluid dairy products and other
 non-dairy items, it is not uncommon for a firm's product mix to run as
 high as 130 to 140 items.