In some countries, when a lack of good refrigeration meant that milk would quickly spoil, milk was delivered to houses daily. Before milk bottles were available, milkmen took churns on their rounds and filled the customers' jugs by dipping a measure into the churn. Due to improved packaging and the introduction of more refrigerators and cooling appliances in private homes, the need for milk delivery has decreased over the past half-century. These advances contributed to the decline or loss of services in many localities, from daily deliveries to just three days a week or less in others.

Milk deliveries frequently occur in the morning. It is also common for milkmen and milkwomen to deliver products other than milk, including butter, cream, cheese, eggs, meat and vegetables.

In some areas, apartments and houses have small milk-delivery doors. These are small wooden cabinets inside the residence, built into the exterior wall, with doors on both sides that are latched but not locked, to allow groceries or milk to be placed inside the box when delivered and when collected by the resident.

Horse-drawn vehicles were originally used for local delivery from the inception of the first milk round around 1860. These were still seen in Britain in the 1950s and parts of the United States until the 1960s. Now, motorized vehicles are used. First introduced in 1889, battery vehicles saw expanded use in 1931 and by 1967 had given Britain the largest electric vehicle fleet in the world.

United States

In 1963, nearly 29.7 percent of consumers in the US had milk delivered, but by 1975, the number had dropped to 6.9 percent of total sales.

In 2005, about 0.4% of consumers in the United States had their milk delivered, and a handful of newer companies had sprung up to offer the service. Some U.S. dairies have been delivering milk for about 100 years, with interest continuing to increase in the 2010s as part of the local food movement. During the 2020 coronavirus outbreak, some remaining milkmen saw demand increase suddenly (similar to other grocery delivery services) due to concerns about the infection risk involved with shopping in stores.

Asia

In India, those delivering milk usually use milk churns, a practice that has ceased in western countries. On the road, they are put on any kind of vehicle. In big cities such as Mumbai, milk churns are often transported in luggage compartments in local trains.

In the Philippines, the milkman or milkmaid is called lechero. The tradition stemmed from the community production of carabao milk, which the lechero delivers fresh to his or her designated barangay (village). The lechero heritage used to be widely practiced in the country but declined after the introduction of store-bought milk during the American-occupation period. Nowadays, only a few communities have lecheros, notably in Nueva Ecija province, the milk capital of the Philippines.

Oceania

In Australia, the delivery vehicle was usually a small petrol or diesel truck with a covered milk-tray. In hotter areas, this tray is usually insulated.

Europe

Milkmen appeared in Britain around 1860, when the first railways allowed fresh milk to arrive in cities from the countryside. By 1880, the milk was delivered in bottles. By 1975, 94% of milk was in glass bottles, but in 1990, supermarkets started offering plastic and carton containers, reducing bottled milk from 94% to 3% by 2016. In the 20th century, milk delivery in urban areas of Europe has been carried out from an electric vehicle called a milk float.