Bottle Deposit history

[kdimeg]

Does anyone have knowledge on how bottle deposits worked on old soda machines back in the day?

Background:  my V-39 has a badly worn off decal that said “2 cent deposit on all bottles taken” or something like that. I haven’t seen any reproduction decals like this, so I assume the 2 cent deposit was a regional thing and not very common. The decal was on the coin door above the handle / below the coin entry bezel. This has me curious:

1) How did the user pay the deposit? It had a 2 coin slot mech but was configured to accept a single dime. Does that mean the soda cost was actually 8cents and the machine operator was responsible for subtracting the deposits later upon collection?
2) My family acquired this from a Detroit area service station in the early 70s.  I don’t believe MI enacted deposit laws until the mid 70s (and 10cents at that). So where/when do you suppose this machine was in service?

I'm just trying to put the pieces back together (both literally and figuratively).

[Kilroy]

Welcome to the boards KD, always good to see another Michigan  person here. We have a  fair amount  on the boards here.

The 39 was in production from 1949 to the late 50's, (Maybe 1957) so your machine was in service from then until the gas station  did away with it. Until the late 1960's  pop bottles had a deposit, cans didn't.  
claiming  cost issues pop bottlers started  introducing no return  bottles in the late 60's.early 70's. and I remember how bad the roads got littered with  cans and bottles tossed out car windows before Michigan started the Bottle return law in the late 70's

The machine route operator was charged a deposit for the bottle, he in turn charged a deposit to the location of the machine , and the store/gas station owner  charged  if the bottle was taken off site. It had nothing to do with the vending  mech on your machine.

I can take pictures of the 2 cent decal I have on my Faygo machine, it isn't perfect, but enough you should be able to create a new decal. It was added by the route operator, not Coca cola or vendo.

My 39 was also form Detroit, and had the additional "Do not use Canadian Coins"  warning decal below the coin slot. Again, this is not reproduced and i've only seen or heard of the form border states.

[kdimeg]

thanks, I'd actually like to see a picture. I haven't decided if I really want that decal or not.  The sentimentalist in me wants it because that's how it looked as I grew up with it (near Kilroy in Sterling Heights), but in general I'm not a huge fan of all the decals I see slapped on some restores.  This machine been a part of my family for nearly 40 years, but it's nice to learn the history of it's previous life.

[Kilroy]

I'll snap some photo's  tonight and post them for you. or you. I was thinking of making a new one, if i do I can send you a copy.
i'm not a fan of the excessive decals either ( sprite Boy, Coke Hand, Moon Headers) but vendor tags or warnings are kinda cool

[Kilroy]

Thanks Ideal Bob for  sending me his copy of the pic.

[kdimeg]

thought I'd share the original decal I described earlier - though it's difficult to make out from the pic. It was about the size of a 10cent coin entry decal I'd guess.

[collecture]

I think I was paying a nickel deposit to the Coke or DP plant in the early to mid 70's.