Bring back the milkman

Reusable glass bottles are both good and cool

A milkman.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Fox Photos/Getty Images, 3d_kot/iStock, Cheremuha/iStock)

In films, one way of instantly signaling a quaint, old-fashioned setting is with a milkman. A trusty, white-clad man dropping off a fresh set of milk bottles and picking up the old ones says 1920s just as clearly as a title card.

However (as with many modern so-called conveniences), the way a milkman treated glass bottles is objectively far superior to how they are treated today. Whether it's for milk, beer, soda, water, or any other consumer use, it's time to bring back reusable glass bottles.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.