Some people don’t like storing the cans, some people hate how sticky it gets, some people don’t like the smell (I do), but no one seems to enjoy the 5¢ deposit on bottles & cans in Oregon.
I hate the deposits because I shouldn’t be paying for the management of someone else’s containers. Coca-Cola exists because they can cheaply distribute their goods to people in bottles and cans. If you want me to drink your product, make an effort to get your cans back. I don’t want to pay for it. I don’t want to store un-crushed cans (machines can’t read the bar code of crushed cans.)
I think besides the revenue that the deposit generates, it creates an off-the-record sort of welfare. I guess it encourages people to pick up cans & bottles, but leaves no reason to pick up the other stuff. Gov. Kitzhaber even wanted to add a 3¢ tax on top of the bottle tax for state park & stream restoration a couple years ago. Can you imagine paying 8¢ on top of each beverage you purchase? Coke & beer really aren’t necessary to my life, but I really like them, so I guess I’ll keep paying the deposit, storing the cans, and walking them back to Fred Meyer, feeding them to a machine, then waiting for a clerk to come the unrecognized bottles.