Mjölkcentralen

"The summer went by without any action taken. No one engaged to try to sway public opinion. No one tried to get Eskilstuna-Kuriren to adopt a more impartial line. And eventually, Sven Wedén’s campaign became an increasingly greater threat to Tetra Pak. He managed to drive Mjölkcentralen’s Sven Lundberg to agree to conduct a market survey on the situation among consumers. Ruben, on his part, tried to get Prime Minister Tage Erlander to ban the bulk sale of milk. The Prime Minister was well aware that bulk milk was one of the main sources of contamination behind the paratyphoid epidemics that were spreading across the country. Poor hygiene meant that store and dairy personnel often contaminated the milk, and the disease then spread to consumers. But banning bulk milk was the absolute last thing Erlander wanted. To legislate that milk could only be sold in packaging would mean an indirect price increase for consumers, since they would have to bear the cost of the packaging. And in Sweden, household milk was, and is, sacred. Contributing to an increase in the price of milk during an election year would be committing political suicide. However, Ruben lacked an understanding of the nuances of realpolitik and became quite irritated over Tage Erlander’s stubborn refusal to agree to a ban. And Erlander, in turn, became irritated over Ruben’s constant proposals."

"The two dairies that Tetra Pak tried to convince to package milk in tetra, Mjölkcentralen and Lundaorten, demanded that the company lower the price, otherwise they were not prepared to sign any contract. The price was so low that the entire profit margin disappeared. Negotiations soon reached a deadlock, which could be devastating for Tetra Pak. The company’s weak finances meant that it was necessary to get the milk machines on the market. When Hilding Borstam began to argue that the tetra packaging would result in decreased revenues for the dairy, Ruben became irritated. He did not present his most important argument, that the dairies could save significant amounts just by utilizing the trucks’ space to 87 percent with tetra packaging instead of just 42 percent with glass bottles. It seemed so obvious to him that he believed Borstam would understand it himself. Therefore, no one informed Hilding Borstam that the lost revenue on glass bottles would be replaced by extensive rationalizations that would ultimately give the dairies a much larger surplus. Instead, Ruben gave him a pompous lecture about the sweep of history."