The Milkman Rings Again, Bringing Back Nostalgia in a Glass Bottle

Most local grocery and convenience stores put the price of milk up on red-lettered signs and placards because it's a must-shop-for item -- it's the gateway purchase, the one that gets us to the store in the first place.

Consumers often make a determination about where to shop based on the price-per-gallon, an indicator of the store's other prices (or a warning that the rest of the prices are going to be outrageous to make up for it, such as at a convenience store). And once you're in the door for milk, the stores hope, you're locked in as a customer.

But these days, the old joke about going out for eggs and milk and coming home with $100 in groceries is more of a reality than most family budgets can bear. That's just one reason the old-fashioned milkman is coming back -- and maybe should be back in your life, too.