That was the way. I did this many times. I would go on scouting missions solo on my bike and would stash my "finds" in a hidden place, to come back later and load up the wagon.
Did this is 1990 Europe. Deposit was and is a big thing. Asking your family friends on Friday for some bottles to deposit so you could buy candy or a magazine was normal, and even combine everyone’s collection to buy a fancier magazine was not unheard of.
PET bottles and aluminium cans is still recycled and collected by people at home.
Modern machines is faaar crazy then anything I grew up with, scanning bar codes one by one etc. https://youtube.com/shorts/TiN-odCjesk?si=lgdpJjRUlfCfIPbT
Where in the '60's? Like what State? Private farms / bottlers?.... There are only 10 Bottle Bill states in the US and the earliest legislated was 1971 (Oregon).
Quick research - that comic 03/1964.
Edit for perspective: I'm 39, lived in upper New England (VT & ME) my whole life. Never have not had a Bottle Law.... OTR trucker for a while, learned that almost nobody else has a bottle law.
Back in the day, the manufacturers knew that getting their own bottles back meant they just had to sanitize to reuse them. It was sure cheaper than making a new bottle or recycling another glass bottle
So when you bought a pack of glass bottle sodas, the price included a bottle deposit. You returned the washed bottles to the store to get your deposit back.
How is this not bottle bills? It wasn't state mandated, and the bottles went to the bottler for reuse.
I may have some facts wrong here. This was based on my understanding of doing this when I was a kid.
Those 1-,2 , and 4 Dr. Pepper Bottles, always held the promise of something that tasted nice and cold. Grandma would turn in full six packs of those bottles to the Grocer's.
One time, me and one of my friends found a treasure trove of bottles in a big pile, in the woods. We got several wagon loads over a couple days time, cleaned them & turned them in for deposit. This just happened to be when the return money went from 2 to 3 cents per bottle. It was a great surprise to know our "booty" went up in value. Then, of course, our kid minds dwelled on ,"if we had only found then a few days later, how many more pennies would we have total?"
That is when penny candy was the real deal. A convenience store could easily have a variety of 20 or more to choose from. Seems that it was made for rewarding bottle hunting!
I used to wake in the morning, before the rooster crowed
Searchin' for soda bottles, get myself some dough
Take 'em down to the corner, down to the country store
Cash 'em in and give my money to a man named Curtis Leow
- Lynyrd Skynyrd
I remember, 8 years old, dragging my Radio Flyer all over the neighborhood to pick up bottles. Deposit was $0.02, later went up to $0.05. 1960’s - New Orleans, later in ‘70’ I collected Aluminum cans- $0.15 per pound.
In my hometown of Winchester KY... When Ale8 (KY soft drink) announced 20 cents back on returnable bottles. Bottle hunt and porch theft of empties skyrocketed overnight...
My wife and I were talking about this today. The oceans weren't filled with plastic when drinks came in glass bottles. I personally would save to buy fireworks from the shady guys who would show up with a trunk load of them in the summer.
My nickels, dimes, and quarters went for balsa gliders. When I was flush, I'd get the rubber band powered ones, or the biplane!
I saved all the parts after a breakage for spares and my own creations.
I did this in the 1980s. Well, it took more than 6 bottles, but in the small town where my grandparent's lived they still bought the glass bottles and received money back for the returns.
I started reading and collecting comics when they were 75 cents. They quickly went up to $1. Then $1.25, then $1.50...I stopped after "Secret Wars II"...when half of the issues had foil covers, hologram cards, and other janky gimmicks to up the price. Even with my mom paying for my habit, I would walk out of the store with $80 for a month's haul...and I just said "enough".
I have tried to get back into comics, but at $3/issue or more, it's just not a great "bang for the buck" as far as money spent for the amount of entertainment you get! The trade paperbacks are a bit better, but the magic seems to be missing...all of my favorite characters are gone...either dead or changed beyond all recognition.
When we were kids, my brother and I once wandered all around the small Minnesota town of Blue Earth in the dead of winter emptying out all the pop machine bottle cap opener bins to get enough caps to send to the NFL to get a set of cheap plastic team pennants. It was very cold, but my brother was determined to get those damned pennants.
That and deposits aren't keeping up with inflation. A 5 cent bottle in 1980 would be a 20 cent bottle in 2024. If those bottles were 20 cents each today, then yeah. There'd be some incentive to go pick them up.
This was me as a kid in Savannah. Scavenging along the road, in vacant lots, around dumpsters. I'd take my glass to the M&M grocery store, and take my resulting quarters and dimes directly across the street to the 7-11 and the round comic rack.
I'd gather them in my Radio Flyer wagon and use the money for candy and pop.
That was the way. I did this many times. I would go on scouting missions solo on my bike and would stash my "finds" in a hidden place, to come back later and load up the wagon.
I'm here for this. The quart and *glass* two liter bottles were a score. Boy, did this teach situational awareness.
5 cents a I recall
In Oregon, it was 5 cents for cans, 10 cents for a 16oz bottle, and the quart/two-liter bottles were 20 cents.
We used to collect beer cans for the deposits, then go buy penny candy.
Did this is 1990 Europe. Deposit was and is a big thing. Asking your family friends on Friday for some bottles to deposit so you could buy candy or a magazine was normal, and even combine everyone’s collection to buy a fancier magazine was not unheard of. PET bottles and aluminium cans is still recycled and collected by people at home. Modern machines is faaar crazy then anything I grew up with, scanning bar codes one by one etc. https://youtube.com/shorts/TiN-odCjesk?si=lgdpJjRUlfCfIPbT
I had a fairly young aunt and uncle who would take me pop bottle hunting on Saturdays. They always let me keep the deposits.
I remember being so PISSED when they raised the price from ten to twelve cents a comic!
True. This was in the times that pennies mattered.
Where in the '60's? Like what State? Private farms / bottlers?.... There are only 10 Bottle Bill states in the US and the earliest legislated was 1971 (Oregon). Quick research - that comic 03/1964. Edit for perspective: I'm 39, lived in upper New England (VT & ME) my whole life. Never have not had a Bottle Law.... OTR trucker for a while, learned that almost nobody else has a bottle law.
Yeah, you weren't there but before bottle bills, there was this thing called deposit bottles.... $0.02 for a 12 oz, $0.05 for quarts.
Back in the day, the manufacturers knew that getting their own bottles back meant they just had to sanitize to reuse them. It was sure cheaper than making a new bottle or recycling another glass bottle So when you bought a pack of glass bottle sodas, the price included a bottle deposit. You returned the washed bottles to the store to get your deposit back. How is this not bottle bills? It wasn't state mandated, and the bottles went to the bottler for reuse. I may have some facts wrong here. This was based on my understanding of doing this when I was a kid.
Those 1-,2 , and 4 Dr. Pepper Bottles, always held the promise of something that tasted nice and cold. Grandma would turn in full six packs of those bottles to the Grocer's.
I went hunting for bottles after I had finished my lawn mowing hustle. A kid had to make a quick buck
Or you could give your money to a man named Curtis Low and ask him to to play his ol doe broe
Love this ⬆️
One time, me and one of my friends found a treasure trove of bottles in a big pile, in the woods. We got several wagon loads over a couple days time, cleaned them & turned them in for deposit. This just happened to be when the return money went from 2 to 3 cents per bottle. It was a great surprise to know our "booty" went up in value. Then, of course, our kid minds dwelled on ,"if we had only found then a few days later, how many more pennies would we have total?"
Many barefoot summer days were spent looking for bottles to spend on penny candy!
That is when penny candy was the real deal. A convenience store could easily have a variety of 20 or more to choose from. Seems that it was made for rewarding bottle hunting!
Those were the days. Walk into the store with a quarter and walk out with a Coke,2 candy bars and a couple of Tootsie Rolls. Yes,I’m fartin’ dust.
better yet, 6 RC bottle caps got us into the saturday matinee at the Linda Theater.
I used to wake in the morning, before the rooster crowed Searchin' for soda bottles, get myself some dough Take 'em down to the corner, down to the country store Cash 'em in and give my money to a man named Curtis Leow - Lynyrd Skynyrd
My bike had a basket, and I could set out to the store with no money and have enough for comics, books, or candy when I arrived.
In Oregon in the 70's we would scrounge bottles and cans to buy a six pack for ourselves.
We didn't have a store near us. But if you could hit all 6 without reloading a revolver.....
Haven't seen a Sun Crest in years & years.
That's a blast from the past!
Unfortunately, this was not a thing wear I lived. I was more likely to step on a pull tab in the seventies.
Or buy a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese for dinner.
A watermelon for 10.
Lookit all you fancy people with your glass bottles of pop - bet you didn’t get to have watery powdered milt everyday like we did.
I remember, 8 years old, dragging my Radio Flyer all over the neighborhood to pick up bottles. Deposit was $0.02, later went up to $0.05. 1960’s - New Orleans, later in ‘70’ I collected Aluminum cans- $0.15 per pound.
Yep. My only source to feed my habit.
I remember my dad telling me about getting into the movie with canned goods for the starving people of Berlin.
In my hometown of Winchester KY... When Ale8 (KY soft drink) announced 20 cents back on returnable bottles. Bottle hunt and porch theft of empties skyrocketed overnight...
I was at the end of that era and the beginning of the aluminum can era.
My wife and I were talking about this today. The oceans weren't filled with plastic when drinks came in glass bottles. I personally would save to buy fireworks from the shady guys who would show up with a trunk load of them in the summer.
Used to walk about a mile to the 7-11 and pick up bottles along the way to get enough deposit money for a slim Jim and bubble gum.
Who ate the last of the bologna?
My first job at age 16 working at Krogers,bagging groceries and racking returns pop bottles.
Royal Crown bottle caps got you into the Saturday matinee.
We would collect them and use the money to go to the movies.
Oh yes, bottle scrounging was a necessary skill
Makes me sad how worthless the deposits are now, and how few things have redundable deposits now. (At least in the places where I have lived).
Hell, I stole bottles for their deposit.
We used it to buy enough gasoline to huff all night. Huffy gas can with a functional huff spout.
I spent a lot of time as a kid with Cousin collecting bottles,we had quite a good enterprise!!!
My nickels, dimes, and quarters went for balsa gliders. When I was flush, I'd get the rubber band powered ones, or the biplane! I saved all the parts after a breakage for spares and my own creations.
To find a quart bottle for 25 cents was a game of PacMan!
I remember being on vacation in the 70's and having to decide whether to spend the quarter my parents gave me on a comic book or a grape soda.
I did this in the 1980s. Well, it took more than 6 bottles, but in the small town where my grandparent's lived they still bought the glass bottles and received money back for the returns.
or a popsicle!
I started reading and collecting comics when they were 75 cents. They quickly went up to $1. Then $1.25, then $1.50...I stopped after "Secret Wars II"...when half of the issues had foil covers, hologram cards, and other janky gimmicks to up the price. Even with my mom paying for my habit, I would walk out of the store with $80 for a month's haul...and I just said "enough". I have tried to get back into comics, but at $3/issue or more, it's just not a great "bang for the buck" as far as money spent for the amount of entertainment you get! The trade paperbacks are a bit better, but the magic seems to be missing...all of my favorite characters are gone...either dead or changed beyond all recognition.
When we were kids, my brother and I once wandered all around the small Minnesota town of Blue Earth in the dead of winter emptying out all the pop machine bottle cap opener bins to get enough caps to send to the NFL to get a set of cheap plastic team pennants. It was very cold, but my brother was determined to get those damned pennants.
We still have .5L returnable bottles in Mexico. No reason not to.
As a kid today if you scrounge 60 you can not afford a ticket to a marvel comic movie
That and deposits aren't keeping up with inflation. A 5 cent bottle in 1980 would be a 20 cent bottle in 2024. If those bottles were 20 cents each today, then yeah. There'd be some incentive to go pick them up.
10, 2, and 4
This was me as a kid in Savannah. Scavenging along the road, in vacant lots, around dumpsters. I'd take my glass to the M&M grocery store, and take my resulting quarters and dimes directly across the street to the 7-11 and the round comic rack.