Here in NE Wisconsin we have two companies that still bottle their soda product in returnable bottles. My family really enjoys the diet Sun Drop soda that is made by the Twig company located in Shawano. Luckily we have a small liquor store down the street that sells it by the case of 24 bottles. It seems to taste a lot better coming out of a glass bottle.

I know back in the day this was common practice. I was curious if this is still available around America. It seems like the best way to properly recycle also.

Having a plate of tacos last Sunday in Perryton Texas, I noticed the cooler full of deposit-bottles of pop. It was common in grandpa's time. Back when nickels added up to a piece of meat in the stewpot.

When I was a kid they delivered Canfields soda in large bottles in a wooden case. Seven up came the same way. They cases were stored in the cellar and the guy came in a week or two to pickup the empties and leave new a new case.

Beer came the same way. I thought everybody had the beer man come to your house on Fridays. The boy from the grocery store delivered too. You had to walk to the bakery because they did not deliver.

Oh yeah, the milkman left the bottles by the front door or put them in the icebox in the hallway. Almost forgot.

I think some states have it where you can get a dime for returning the bottle. Not a free dime mind you, just the ten cents they tacked onto the purchase price when it was bought.

Not soda but I remember when you would get a "long neck" at a bar and it was in a returnble bottle (not for money but for reuse). After you were done the bartender would place it back into a heavy duty cardboard case to be picked up by the vendor to be sanitized and refilled. Used to see them all the time up in Boston but my buddy said the "bar bottles" as they were called are no more. All one time use now. I have never seen soda (or tonic as we used to say) sold in those type of bottles.

Not to get off topic but when I was a kid everyone called soda 'tonic'. You were never asked if you wanted a Coke or Sprite, but if you wanted a tonic. When my cousin came to visit from Duluth she asked for a 'pop' and we all looked at her funny. She pointed to the Coke and we said "oh you mean a tonic".

When I worked at Kroger back in the 60s sorting bottles was a full time job. Had a tin roof shelter in back of the store with chain link around it and bottles had to be sorted by brand. It was hot and kind of nasty work but the boss would let you take your shirt off on the hottest days and you could smoke as long as it didn't slow you down. Was generally considered the best job a peon could get. Beat the hell out of bagging groceries.

Is there a bottling plant in existence that bottles Dr. Pepper in its original formula? I remember Dr. Pepper from the late 60's and 70's...it was AWESOME!!

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Originally posted by .38supersig:
I think some states have it where you can get a dime for returning the bottle. Not a free dime mind you, just the ten cents they tacked onto the purchase price when it was bought.

Michigan is one. I buy a 12 pk of beer/soda and when I go back, I feed them into a machine that gives me a deposit slip. When I go through at the cashier, I hand the slip over and they scan it, deducting the deposits.
As for bottles "by the case", we used to have "Towne Club Pop" that came in short pallets. Red, green, orange, etc. flavors when I was a kid. I don't remember if there was a deposit on those.
Towne Club images:
https://www.bing.com/images/se...n+club+pop&FORM=IGRE

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Originally posted by doublesharp:
When I worked at Kroger back in the 60s sorting bottles was a full time job. Had a tin roof shelter in back of the store with chain link around it and bottles had to be sorted by brand. It was hot and kind of nasty work but the boss would let you take your shirt off on the hottest days and you could smoke as long as it didn't slow you down. Was generally considered the best job a peon could get. Beat the hell out of bagging groceries.

I remember being a kid and bringing some bottles back to Kroger. They had a little window with a conveyor belt in the back of the store.
That was on its way out when I was a kid.

Around here we still have a locally made soda called Ale8 that some places still sell in a returnable bottle.

Back in the 50’s, 2 cents a pop bottle, chipped ya got nothing. I walked miles picking them up and putting them in my newspaper bag.

Ben Franklin was on the 50 cent piece, plenty of Mercury dimes and buffalo nickels were still in circulation. A kid could have a great weekend with all that silver.

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Originally posted by erj_pilot:
Is there a bottling plant in existence that bottles Dr. Pepper in its original formula? I remember Dr. Pepper from the late 60's and 70's...it was AWESOME!!

Yes! At the North Carolina state farmers market in Raleigh there's a vendor who sells dozens of brands and flavors of sodas. When I go I always grab a six pack of Dr. Pepper. It's made with cane sugar and even has the 10, 2 and 4 sticker on the front.

I’m surprised you have bottle Sundrop there. In Tennessee growing up we had it and you could see orange pulp in the bottle. Tall bottles or short chubby 10 Oz and 16 Oz.

To answer the OP's question: No one.

Yes. The sundrop bottles still have pulp at the bottom just like the original.

Some groceries store in recent past carried refillable coke product. Always seem to taste better. But I havent seen any in five or more years.

In the early 80's I owned two coke machines that dispensed glass returnable coke product.. I set them up at a warehouse I ran for a textile co I was sales mngr and warehouse mngr for. Set up an accnt with local coke truck route and we sold a good amnt of coke products through those two old machines. Nice side concession. Returnable was much more common means of beverage distribution back then.

The folllowing has nothing to do with soda but something to do with returnable package beverage distribution.

In the 1976-1977 I worked at a Schlitz beer distributor in NC. Started as a rider on route trucks. Hard work but was good pay and pretty nice uniforms that you no longer see in the trade.

The bar accounts which would in addition to draft and cans(which accorded its own route and truck for kegs), would purchase long neck bottle beer that was in returnable/refillable glass. We had to get the empties back to the truck and then to the warehouse. From there we loaded on pallets and the onto a railcar for shipment via rail back to the beer plant in Winston where they were washed re-labelled and refilled. Very heavy duty cardboard boxes.

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Originally posted by Black92LX:

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Originally posted by doublesharp:
When I worked at Kroger back in the 60s sorting bottles was a full time job. Had a tin roof shelter in back of the store with chain link around it and bottles had to be sorted by brand. It was hot and kind of nasty work but the boss would let you take your shirt off on the hottest days and you could smoke as long as it didn't slow you down. Was generally considered the best job a peon could get. Beat the hell out of bagging groceries.

I remember being a kid and bringing some bottles back to Kroger. They had a little window with a conveyor belt in the back of the store.
That was on its way out when I was a kid.

Around here we still have a locally made soda called Ale8 that some places still sell in a returnable bottle.

How anybody can drink Ale8 mystifies me.

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How anybody can drink Ale8 mystifies me.

What??? Everytime I go to Kentucky I bring home a few cases. Good stuff! (But then I also love Moxie and bring back multiple cases when I go to Maine...)

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Originally posted by recoatlift:
Back in the 50’s, 2 cents a pop bottle, chipped ya got nothing. I walked miles picking them up and putting them in my newspaper bag.

Ben Franklin was on the 50 cent piece, plenty of Mercury dimes and buffalo nickels were still in circulation. A kid could have a great weekend with all that silver.

Yeah, I remember pulling a radio-flyer? wagon from my house in Lewiston, Idaho along the highway picking up bottles for the deposit. Did a "marathon" trip up US highway 12 from Lewiston to the Indian reservation at Lapwai. 12 miles each way. AIR, I got about $6 for the effort. Blew virtually all of it buying flowers for my girl friend. I think I was 14 at the time.

We keep hearing all the horror stories these days about all the plastic trash that pollutes the water and landscapes. Simple solution, in my view, would be to outlaw those plastic bottles. Not to mention all the other plastic shit that our "society" generates on a daily basis.

Yes, I realize it would take some efforts, and an added cost, but one has to wonder if it would not be worth it.

Oh man, brings back memories. One of the many nice memories of visiting my grandmother was the drawer loaded with A-Treat soda in glass bottles. One soda so chose wisely. Empties went into the carrier and the deposit was passed along to the next case. A-Treat with a BLT that had makings fresh from the garden, perfect bacon and Hellman's on toast, nirvana.

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Originally posted by 21bubba:

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Originally posted by Black92LX:

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Originally posted by doublesharp:
When I worked at Kroger back in the 60s sorting bottles was a full time job. Had a tin roof shelter in back of the store with chain link around it and bottles had to be sorted by brand. It was hot and kind of nasty work but the boss would let you take your shirt off on the hottest days and you could smoke as long as it didn't slow you down. Was generally considered the best job a peon could get. Beat the hell out of bagging groceries.

I remember being a kid and bringing some bottles back to Kroger. They had a little window with a conveyor belt in the back of the store.
That was on its way out when I was a kid.

Around here we still have a locally made soda called Ale8 that some places still sell in a returnable bottle.

How anybody can drink Ale8 mystifies me.

Because it is delicious!!!

I will say that how it is served makes a huge difference.

Returnable Green Glass bottle is by far the best!
Green Glass Bottle (non returnable) Excellent and most common
From the fountain is quite good
Aluminum Can better than nothing I guess
Plastic twist cap bottle IS terrible (don’t know for sure I but I believe it is bottled by a contractor and it is no good).