Castanet. News or BS

[wanderingman]

Well if I pay someone .20 cents deposit, I expect to get my bottle deposit back, but the stores are just pocketing the deposit money.

that's where your story falls apart!! when the shell station buys the 2 litre pop bottle they too pay the 20 cents
So its impossible for the store to deposit any deposit money
I understand your plight but all you do is take it to a designated bottle depot and your 20 cents is returned

[goatboy]

While a little annoying for you, maybe the fact that Global had nothing better to report is the real story. How this would qualify as a "news" story beats me. Investigative reporting at its best!

[FreeRights]

While a little annoying for you, maybe the fact that Global had nothing better to report is the real story. How this would qualify as a "news" story beats me. Investigative reporting at its best!

Up to making a Global: News or BS thread?

[twobits]

Vendors pay deposits when they purchase and collect it back when they sell it. No one is getting richer and no one is getting ripped off when the retailer refuses to take in empties. I can understand why a lot of retailers don't even want the hassle of taking them back. Let the bottle depots, government liquor stores, and whoever else that wants to mess with them.

The whole reasoning behind deposits on containers is to encourage people to recycle. And that is why the law is written in the way it is. If you are going to sell the product, you are also going to support the mandate of recycling. If you do not want the hassle of dealing with returns, do not sell the product and take the margin of profit while leaving the backend to someone else.
And when a vendor refuses to refund my deposit money, I am getting ripped off because they are forcing me to store, sort, and make a special trip to another location. That expends my time and fuel to do so. And when you do that, the return is not worth my personal investment in time and fuel and I am then more likely to throw the bottle or can in the trash, be it mine, or the gas station or convenience store garbage can.
And that is why the law says if you want to sell it, you have to refund it.

[the truth]

10/10 great point

[Smurf]

I have to agree. When we had the service station we always took them back because we felt it was good relations and usually ended up in sales. Having said that it was a terrible job and did take a lot of space. Often you are buying back bottles that you never sold and then you have to pay for someone to sort them, someone to haul them down, the cost of hauling them etc. You just have to hope it somehow brings in enough sales to make up for it all. You never know if it's a wining or loosing situation.

[Auto1]

I think they should have to take bottle back, if they choose to sell them, however - it is really annoying when there is a line up of customers and someone comes in with a whole bag of soggy, stinking bottles.

I like the limit of twenty bottles. It puts a cap on things, but yet recycling remains a possibility.

And I know it isn't breaking news - but it is news, and I think it is good that someone investigated, and now the policy has changed. I don't blame Castanet for not taking the story, but I do commend Global for doing it.

[goatboy]

Do gas stations even sell 2L bottles of pop?

[goatboy]

And I know it isn't breaking news - but it is news, and I think it is good that someone investigated, and now the policy has changed. I don't blame Castanet for not taking the story, but I do commend Global for doing it.

If this is news, what has Global come to? Gas station refuses to refund .20c, more at 11. Oh, and by the way, I hear there's some kind of fighting going on in Ukraine, wherever that is.

[Auto1]

Lol - perhaps I used incorrect words.

I don't think it is 'news', but it is a story, and without Global's interest, nothing would have changed.

I guess it is a human interest story?

Again, I don't care that Castanet didn't pick the story up, but I am glad Global did.

[Randall T]

The whole reasoning behind deposits on containers is to encourage people to recycle. And that is why the law is written in the way it is. If you are going to sell the product, you are also going to support the mandate of recycling. If you do not want the hassle of dealing with returns, do not sell the product and take the margin of profit while leaving the backend to someone else.
And when a vendor refuses to refund my deposit money, I am getting ripped off because they are forcing me to store, sort, and make a special trip to another location. That expends my time and fuel to do so. And when you do that, the return is not worth my personal investment in time and fuel and I am then more likely to throw the bottle or can in the trash, be it mine, or the gas station or convenience store garbage can.
And that is why the law says if you want to sell it, you have to refund it.

I really have to dispute this. It's an inconvenience to you, so the business should have to sort, spend time and wages and fuel, in order to complete the return process? You have created the demand for the beverage and the retailer has supplied it to you, so what lets you off the hook? I get the feeling you believe all business owners are getting rich off your purchases. Obviously you have never been in business and face the challenges of keeping it viable. Some businesses may be set up for container returns but for others it's a larger expense and inconvenience than what you have to go through. I really can't believe people are upset because a gas station won't take back returns. That would be the last place I'd think of to impose my bag of cans and bottles on. Be like the majority of us and take them to a bottle depot. Yeah, I don't like having to do it either, but it's the way it is these days.

[twobits]

I really have to dispute this. It's an inconvenience to you, so the business should have to sort, spend time and wages and fuel, in order to complete the return process? You have created the demand for the beverage and the retailer has supplied it to you, so what lets you off the hook? I get the feeling you believe all business owners are getting rich off your purchases. Obviously you have never been in business and face the challenges of keeping it viable. Some businesses may be set up for container returns but for others it's a larger expense and inconvenience than what you have to go through. I really can't believe people are upset because a gas station won't take back returns. That would be the last place I'd think of to impose my bag of cans and bottles on. Be like the majority of us and take them to a bottle depot. Yeah, I don't like having to do it either, but it's the way it is these days.

You are completely off base here. The recycling laws clearly state that if you sell the product and collect a deposit, you are obligated to refund that deposit when an empty is returned. The law also provides a limit of 24 returns per person per day so no one is going to show up at the damn gas bar with a shopping cart full of empties. The exercise in dealing with returns is a cost of business that the owner should be prepared to pay for if he wants the margin on the sales of the product. And I do have a clue. The margins on beverage sales exceed 50% at the gas bar/convenience store level. As the past owner of a convenience store, I dealt with returns. Besides the need to separate Pepsi from Coke products, which is 95% of the beverage market, I received an immediate credit off of my current order delivery and the driver took the empties with him. So, perhaps it is you that needs to get a clue on the challenges business face because you have none.

And in your model of forgiveness to retailers, all retailers could do the same thing. Gas bar to Safeway. They would all love it and we, the public, would have no other option than to collect a few hundred empties, cuz that is the only thing that justifies standing in line at a putrid bottle depot for an hour or more (on a slow day), or just hiding them in with regular garbage.

And congrats to you for enduring the bottle depot exercise. I prefer to take my few recyclables back to Safeway each shopping trip. I am going there for groceries so I am not wasting any time cuz I'm going there anyway. And I also don't have to accumulate garbage bags of stink in my house and garage until they take over living space and force me to endure the pleasure of the bottle depot.

[jamapple]

If you go to a gas station and don't get your deposit, just ask for the washroom key, and go flush the can down their toilet. I'm sure the attendant will find it worth more than .20 cents to clean the water off the floor. Just sayin'.

[Catri]

They told me to drive to Columbia Depot to cash in a .20 bottle, even though it would have cost $5 in gas to cash in a .20 bottle!

The Dease Rd bottle depot is about 2km from Salem's Shell, what are you driving that a 3 minute drive costs you $5?