My bottle return story

I've lived in states that have a recycling deposit (Massachusetts) and states that do not (Arizona, New Jersey). Personally, I am a much bigger fan of the "no deposit" states. Not only do you get to pay a bit less for your beer but the effect of getting a few nickels back in return does not change my recycling habits. I always recycle regardless if there is money involved or not. I wonder if they took away the deposit system (in those states that participate) if recycling would take a big nosedive?

@Lahey I did this a long time ago. A bomber had a strange glass defect near the bottom of the bottle, it had a really tiny sharp glass shard sticking out of the side. One small little poke had me gushing blood all over the Shaw's Supermarket beer isle (Prudential Center, Boston). Annoying as hell.

 

I would've gone straight to the store manager and lodged a complaint. And people rarely piss me off. That guy sounds like a stubborn fool.

 

This is

This is kinda why I gave up on returning all together. Most craft brands were never in the system and would get rejected. Not to mention the putrid smell inside the area in which you have to redeem. I get MI has a little higher charge(10 cents?) than Iowa(5 cents), so there is a little more incentive to take them back. I just give mine to the neighbor kid who uses them for whatever fund raising they are doing for school sports.

 

More horror stories: I use three stores in town for my beer purchases (one is a Meijer store) and try to remember which beers that I bought where to avoid issues, or at least know if a store carries that particular popular brand even if I bought it elsewhere. I've had only a few bottles rejected by the Meijer store's machines like you, @Lahey, even though I know I bought them there. But the machines are nice if you don't go during non busy periods because I hate standing there in a line to wait for a machine to become available. Then you have one machine for bottles and a different one for cans. Waiting twice in line is bothersome to me. Then the collection bin behind the wall fills up and shuts off the machine and you have to wait for someone in back to exchange the dumpster!

One of my three store is all manual for returns and they group each bottle type and scan them to check to be sure they carry that beer. And the third store could care less.

But two issues that really irritate me are when I know a store carries a certain brewery's beers, just not the specific beer that I'm returning, and reject it. A Bell's bottle is a Bell's bottle is a Bell's bottle dammit, why does it matter?! Or if you bought a beer at one Meijer store but the next Meijer store won't take the bottles! Sometimes I think the states that don't have deposit laws are better off.

And don't get me started about the difficulties due to the 10-cent deposit in Michigan vs. 5-cent difference in close-by states, Kramer!!

 

I can say for MA the whole bottle return thing is dumb. Towns that have trash collection have required curbside recycle pickup. Towns that don't provide trash collection you pay for trash but not for recycles, whether that's to bring to the dump or to have a company come to your house. There's no point in bottle deposits because who would throw out a bottle or can into trash that will actually cost you money when you can separate it and not pay for it? Those who would probably wouldn't return it for the money anyways.

Most people recycle but don't return for their 5 cents which means the money collected for deposits just goes back to the state. The only reason the deposit exists really is for the state to make money, not to save the world! I'm not one of those "I hate the government and they tax everything" type of people but the bottle deposit is really just a tax given the current state of recycling.

 

I take offense to the fact that you had to mention that it was an older man. That had nothing to do with the fact that he was an asshole. Me=older man.

 

Yeah, I moved from NY to NJ in 1996, and it's so much better just using the recycling bin. These stories make it sound like it's still a nightmare for drinkers who enjoy variety to do what should be a simple process of redemption.

 

I hate the doctor too, but I was bleeding all over the floor and didn't have much of a choice. And if you were handling dirty bottles, definitely don't mess around.

 

IIRC, at least in NY, the deposit stays with the store, so that they have the money to refund with, without going into their pocket.

 

We do not have mandatory recycling here. I do remember though that one used o able to buy cases of beer in returnable bottles. That has been gone for a long time. I used to bring a cas of empties and $3.10 and get a new case of Rhinelander. Kiss those days goodbye

 

Used to be a hassle to return them to the stores, although not as bad as the OP's experience. Oregon now has stand alone redemption centers. Clean, swift machines that take plastic, glass and cans and 99% of the brands.

 

Yeah it's a real pain in the ass. When I visit family in MA I leave all my beer cans so they can be redeemed. Unfortunately those stupid scanner machines do not regsiter the vast majority of craft beer labels like Finback, Trillium, Bog Iron, etc. I guess the solution would be "don't use the machine, go to the sorting guy" but it's still a pain in the ass regardless of all that.

 

The redemption center here by me is an absolute shithole. Mold on the walls, on the plastic carriers you put glass/plastic/cans into. Smells gross.
I always use the proceeds from taking bottles back to get more beer!

 

Agree on recycle, we have a separate can just for that and everything we use that can be is tossed into it for recycle. We get zero money for it but try and do the right thing as is reasonable. I also wonder if folks stopped getting back money if they would be as faithful in recycling as they are now.

LOL my wife always laughs when the can is dumped because all the glass beer bottles making tons of noise in the truck, she says the neighbors must think we are massive party folks lol. Well I guess I will take that title.

 

That's funny. We listen for that sound each Thursday around 7:30 AM. A bomber or two adds a touch of bass and a distinctive thud to the higher pitch of the smaller bottles.