Re-using 650 ml bomber bottles

We still have deposit bottles here for the 2 local beers. They come in plastic crates.
It's more or less the same in my home country, the Netherlands. Local beer come in plastic crates and deposit bottles.

Years ago, when I moved to Uganda", I got into a catch 22 situation.
I couldn't buy beer as I had no deposit bottles (and crates)....
So, you had to go and look for the adverts.
Ecpat leaving. For Sale: 2 crates of empties..... ;)
 
You had to have empties in order to buy beer? How does that even work?
 
Hawkbox said:
You had to have empties in order to buy beer? How does that even work?
Click to expand...
You started by paying the deposit, then you had your case of empties whenever you went in to buy more.
 
Yeah but it sounds like that wasn't even an option. If I just paid a deposit why would you need to find someone to buy empties off of?
 
Hawkbox said:
Yeah but it sounds like that wasn't even an option. If I just paid a deposit why would you need to find someone to buy empties off of?
Click to expand...
That was in Germany quite a few years ago.... I'm missing something here.
 
Zambezi said

Years ago, when I moved to Uganda", I got into a catch 22 situation.
I couldn't buy beer as I had no deposit bottles (and crates)....
So, you had to go and look for the adverts.
Ecpat leaving. For Sale: 2 crates of empties..... ;)
 
Hawkbox said:
Zambezi said

Years ago, when I moved to Uganda", I got into a catch 22 situation.
I couldn't buy beer as I had no deposit bottles (and crates)....
So, you had to go and look for the adverts.
Ecpat leaving. For Sale: 2 crates of empties..... ;)
Click to expand...

Correct.
So if you were new in the country, you couldn't buy beer, except for what you drunk there and then, as you couldn't take a deposit bottle with you, unless you had an empty bottle to give them in return.
So you had to start looking for someone who could sell you a crate of empties and then you could finally buy your own.

Basically, once you got your crate of empties, you didn't mind your friends drinking your beer, as long as they did not liberate (steal) your empties!
There was a shortage of bottles in the country.

It was similar in Zimbabwe and Zambia, although these days you can normally just pay the deposit. Once you get in the rural areas, you need your empties again.
Hence, most people have a couple of empties in the car.
It doesn't matter if they are deposit beer bottles or deposit soft drink bottles though. They are interchangeable.

In Europe, you just pay the deposit. Easy peasy
 
Oh ok so you couldn't buy beer and take it from the store because they didn't have enough bottles? You either traded an empty or drank it right there. That makes more sense.
 
Hawkbox said:
Oh ok so you couldn't buy beer and take it from the store because they didn't have enough bottles? You either traded an empty or drank it right there. That makes more sense.
Click to expand...

Yep, that's more or less it.
It was very confusing initially.
I bought 2 crates of empties from an expat that was leaving the country.
 
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