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The skies were dark and it was raining. There was an eerie feeling as our hero peeked outside. It would not be nice, but someone had to do it. Queue the music. Our hero leaps up from the couch, slips his feet into a pair of crocs, leaps with the nimbleness of an elephant from the veranda into the drive-way. With snail like reflexes he fumbles for his keys… fumbles some more… fumbles some more… … … Our hero returns into the house, locates the correct set of keys, stubs his toe, heads back out, fumbles a bit more and finally reverses down the drive way.

The night was eerie

The mission was clear. Katherine needed her cup of tea, but we were out of milk. I had to think quick. None of my standard peddlers of milk were available as it was after EIGHT P.M. It was a desperate situation. At this late hour I’d have to hook up with Eoss  (Engen One Stop Shop).

Open 24 Hours

I dimmed my lights as pulled up to Eoss’ spot. I was ready for the exchange. I glanced around to check that I was safe, took a deep breath, opened the car door and steped out into the rain. Eoss had just what I needed. I looked the merchandise over. Yup. This was a geniune 2 litre bottle of clover milk and all that Eoss wanted was R_5.99…. I squinted at the label. After all 5.99 couldn’t possibly be correct.

A closer look revealed the truth. Eoss would not part with anything less than R25.99.

R25.99!!!

WHAT!!!!

R25.99!!! For two litres of milk.

Crying over unspilt milk

I went back home… empty handed.

Now I realise that many of you are buying 2 litres of clover milk from Checkers/Spar/PnP for about R18.00 – R20.00… the extra R6.00 – R8.00 may seem reasonable for the after hours convenience. My problem however is that we get our milk at R8.00 for just over 2 litres.

This got me thinking about degrees of convenience and what we’re actually paying for at supermarkets. The cost of milk per litre:

• R3.99 – For the convenience of not having to own, feed, look after and milk your own cow, and then having to treat and bottle the milk. Provided you travel to a dairy outlet and provide your own bottle that you’ve had to wash out and sterilise. As a bonus they always overfill the bottle. In effect I pay for 1 litre and get +- another 100ml free
• R5.00 – As above, except they provide the bottle.
• +-R7.00 – As above, except a local dairy brand at your nearest supermarket.
• R8.00-10.00 – As above, except it’s the clover brand.
• R13.00 – Clover… at a 24 hour convenience store.

Am I saying that milk peddled by EOSS is overpriced. No. Not at all. The overheads of keeping staff around the clock 24 hours so that people who are lazy or disorganised can get something they desperately need means that R13.00 per litre is actually really reasonable. In that moment however I decided that the additional cost of the milk for a cup of tea and a bowl of cereal the next morning was not worth the extra R18.00 that the 2 litres of milk would cost me.

Now what have we learned today boys and girls? Supermarkets and 24 hour stores don’t sell goods; they sell convenience.