If you're downright disgusted, and life ain't worth a dime
Portlanders get many opportunities to see what a third world country looks like without wandering too far from their homes. But for a guaranteed-vivid version of this, just stop by one of the bottle deposit depots. They're located around the edge of town.
The one I go to to turn in my empties is out on Hayden Island, along I-5 almost to the Interstate Bridge. There the people who are hard up for money queue up with bags full of empty containers worth a dime each. They get paid in cash on the spot.
Better-off sorts like myself drop off specially marked bags full of empties; the labels on the bags allow the counters inside to credit our dimes to an individual electronic account that we can cash in at the local grocery store. The charge is 60 cents a bag, but there's usually eight or nine bucks' worth of containers in a bag, and the store credit adds another 20 percent to the net amount. I make a run when I have three bags to drop off. Even with the cost of gas, I make money.
The scene outside the depot is so bleak that those of us in the better-off class quickly slide our bags down a chute through a hole in the exterior wall of the facility, then run back to our cars and get out of there without touching anything unnecessarily or making eye contact with the any of the denizens of the parking lot. As some of us have learned, you have to be sure that your bag goes all the way down the chute, or one of the wretched folks hanging around the place will fish it out right after you leave and steal your money. The last time I was there, some disturbed 20-something was ranting at me about some problem or other as I shut the car door and started the engine.
Anyway, several weeks ago there was a fatal shooting in broad daylight in that parking lot, and when I saw the news, I immediately thought to myself, "The Bottle Drop crowd." Sure enough, I was right, as this detailed story from OPB recounts. That place is not a happy scene.
I may hustle back and forth to the car a little faster the next time I go.
I stopped using the bottle return years ago, when they were at the supermarkets. I just recycle my empties.
ReplyDeleteThe beer distributors and street people thank you. But at a dime a pop and with a household of four, I'm getting my dough back.
DeleteI donate mine to a nonprofit that likes the revenue.
ReplyDeleteYou could write them a check, get a receipt, take a tax writeoff, and give them that too.
DeleteYikes. I'm going to walk the other way if I see Cornerstone Security out and about.
ReplyDeleteJack, you don't have to Dante's Inferno to return your bags if you don't need the immediate cash. There is a bottle drop at the Hollywood Freddie's, although I prefer the bottle drop behind the New Seasons at 32nd & Broadway. I have bags provided by Meow Village and they get the funds.
ReplyDelete