Where is your bottle return?

So, I was sitting and talking with an old friend tonight who has moved to Michigan within the last year.  We were catching up on what was new in our lives and she was telling me how she liked her new home.  She mentioned that one thing that drives her crazy are the bottle returns.

Now, if you are like me and live in Indiana or a state other than the eleven bottle return states you are probably asking exactly what a bottle return is.

Well, apparently Michigan and ten other states have enacted “bottle bills” which require a minimum refundable deposit on beer, soft drink and other beverage containers in order to ensure a high rate of recycling or reuse.  So in these states, consumers will find bottle return areas at grocery stores and  big box stores so that they can get their deposits back on the bottles or cans they have used.

My friend was telling me all about the bottle returns and mentioned that the pain is not the act of recycling, which she is all for, but rather the pain is when she has to walk all the way through the store to get to a bottle return as she feels silly carrying her dirty bottles half way through the produce section just to get her $0.80 back.  She didn’t understand why they couldn’t all just be put in the front of the store.

This got me to thinking and reminded me of other companies that require you to go through the store in order to get to a much needed or wanted item.  Dan Kennedy talks about Disney doing this with many of their gift stores.  When you get off a ride you don’t automatically go out the exit.  No, first you must go through the gift store.  Also, I remember growing up that most bathrooms were at the back of the store.

Why is this?

Well of course the stores believe that if they can keep you in their store long enough you will most likely buy something.  So rather than placing a bottle return in the front of the store where you can just run in and run out, they have you walk through the store in hopes that something might catch your eye.  Same applies for Disney.  What parent doesn’t attempt to steer clear of most of the gift shops in hopes that their six year old princess doesn’t see the Cinderella display and want EVERYTHING on it?  So of course Disney makes sure that there is no way they can avoid them.

Some may say that is manipulative.  I would say that is orchestrating the perfect buying scenario and therefore is smart business.  It’s the same as sending your ice cream truck to the local park or strategically placing your pet store next to an elementary school.

What would be the bottle return or ice cream truck for your business?  And where should you place it?