Returnables: 1960s Style
A TDE reader sends this along: Straub Brewery still uses returnable bottles. I thought to myself, "Most breweries use returnable bottles because various states impose a bottle deposit. In Michigan, each bottle requires a ten-cent deposit." But here's what I learned: Many breweries used a voluntary returnable program years ago. In 1981, 12% of U.S. beer was sold in returnable bottles in such voluntary programs, but now the percentage is negligible. The reason the story was sent to me: Straub is one of the holdovers: "customers pay a $1.50 deposit per 24-bottle case and can get it back or just buy another case when they return the bottles to the store, distributor or brewery." Straub, however, is getting ready to stop the program because customers aren't returning the bottles.
I'd never even heard of Straub, but my correspondent tells me it's a tasty beer with a fine German Catholic heritage.
