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Do I Care about Nickels Back?
Dec. 4th, 2020 03:46 pmIt struck me the other day that it's been a long time since I've cared about getting my nickel back. No, I don't mean Nickelback, the Canadian grunge-rock band popular in the early 00s that everybody loves to hate the past 10 years....
...I mean getting a nickel back. As in, returning recyclable bottles and cans for the 5 cent (or more!) deposit.
When I was a kid the notion of getting 5¢ back for returning a bottle seemed hopelessly old-fashioned. It was the stuff of my dad's stories from his own childhood, back when everything looked like black-and-white TV and soda and beer companies would wash the old bottles and refill them. But even though mass reuse of bottles has long since gone the way of black-and-white TV, paying a deposit hasn't— and least not in some states.
My first experience with returning cans and bottles for the 5¢ deposit came when I attended college in New York. A nickel was worth more then than it is today— and way more to a starving college student. My housemates and I would save our empties in their original cartons and take them back to the supermarket with us on our next shopping trip. It was often worth about $2 off on our groceries. Again, real money to college students back then!
A big part of what made the system work was the return was easy. All the major grocery stores in town had container-return areas. In the small city where I lived these were staffed counters. We'd wait in line, hand our bags and cartons over to a staffer who'd count them out, and get a receipt valid for cash back or a discount at checkout. In bigger cities the process was automated, with grocery stores having automated machines. They were nice self-service setups, with customers inserting their empties one at a time and getting cash out at the end.
It's different out here in California. While we have deposits, we don't have effective returns.
The difference is that New York required large grocery stores to handle returns. California made it optional, which meant no stores did it. (Returns take up valuable space and staff time, and attract scavengers stores would rather not have come in.) California instead had return centers run by cities and counties... but these were too few, usually inconveniently located, and had short hours. In NY it was great being able to return empties for money back just steps away from grocery shopping.
Oh, I still recycle. Recycling is easy. There's a bin outside I put my cans and bottles in, and it's taken to the city dump. But they don't give you your deposit back.
And you know what? I barely care about those nickels back. The flip side of those nickels being worth real money, years ago, when I was a college student, is that today, years later, when I'm professionally employed, they're just not worth much. I looked at the recycling bin outside my kitchen door the other day and thought, "Hmm, I bet there's $3 in there when it's full!" Then I thought, "And it's not worth $3 to drag that sack across town, to a facility that smells like a dump and is only open a few hours a day, and wait in line probably only to get a voucher that I have to mail off to some state office to get a check in the mail 2-3 weeks later." Nope, they sure don't make it easy!
...I mean getting a nickel back. As in, returning recyclable bottles and cans for the 5 cent (or more!) deposit.
When I was a kid the notion of getting 5¢ back for returning a bottle seemed hopelessly old-fashioned. It was the stuff of my dad's stories from his own childhood, back when everything looked like black-and-white TV and soda and beer companies would wash the old bottles and refill them. But even though mass reuse of bottles has long since gone the way of black-and-white TV, paying a deposit hasn't— and least not in some states.
My first experience with returning cans and bottles for the 5¢ deposit came when I attended college in New York. A nickel was worth more then than it is today— and way more to a starving college student. My housemates and I would save our empties in their original cartons and take them back to the supermarket with us on our next shopping trip. It was often worth about $2 off on our groceries. Again, real money to college students back then!
A big part of what made the system work was the return was easy. All the major grocery stores in town had container-return areas. In the small city where I lived these were staffed counters. We'd wait in line, hand our bags and cartons over to a staffer who'd count them out, and get a receipt valid for cash back or a discount at checkout. In bigger cities the process was automated, with grocery stores having automated machines. They were nice self-service setups, with customers inserting their empties one at a time and getting cash out at the end.
It's different out here in California. While we have deposits, we don't have effective returns.
The difference is that New York required large grocery stores to handle returns. California made it optional, which meant no stores did it. (Returns take up valuable space and staff time, and attract scavengers stores would rather not have come in.) California instead had return centers run by cities and counties... but these were too few, usually inconveniently located, and had short hours. In NY it was great being able to return empties for money back just steps away from grocery shopping.
No More Nickels Back?
Many years after moving to California I don't even know where to go to claim my nickels back. At first I did, but it was out of the way and the hours were poor (like I mentioned above)... then they closed it. For at least 20 years I haven't even thought about carrying empties back for a deposit return.Oh, I still recycle. Recycling is easy. There's a bin outside I put my cans and bottles in, and it's taken to the city dump. But they don't give you your deposit back.
And you know what? I barely care about those nickels back. The flip side of those nickels being worth real money, years ago, when I was a college student, is that today, years later, when I'm professionally employed, they're just not worth much. I looked at the recycling bin outside my kitchen door the other day and thought, "Hmm, I bet there's $3 in there when it's full!" Then I thought, "And it's not worth $3 to drag that sack across town, to a facility that smells like a dump and is only open a few hours a day, and wait in line probably only to get a voucher that I have to mail off to some state office to get a check in the mail 2-3 weeks later." Nope, they sure don't make it easy!
