Today (October 15) for the last time Aavin supply milk through will its automatic vending machines (AVMs). On a daily basis, the AVMs sell up to 24,000 litres of milk in 203 locations, both through cards and cash. Besides, institutions buy 13,000 litres a day. From Thursday, all these consumers will get milk through sachets,
The change in the mode of supply is being done as a quality control measure. “There have been complaints of adulteration of the milk sold through these machines. The organisation has chosen to do away with this mode, even though the shift will cost an additional Rs. 1.25 crore per annum,” an official said.
Introduced by Aavin in the late 1970s with some amount of scepticism, the AVMs soon became a big hit among Chennai consumers as they provided an interesting experience. But, in a matter of 10 years, sachets came to be preferred and, by the mid-1990s, the quantity of milk sold was 3.5 lakh litres a day.