At the risk of descending into “grumpy-old-man-ism”, I present here an email I sent and the reply in regards to a consumer complaint:
*****from: Brian Moon
to: jan.smith@state.or.us
date: Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 10:51 AM
subject: Question about retailer policies
I found your email address at the DEQ site for the bottle bill. If you're not the right person to address this question, please pass my email along to the correct group.
The closest retailer to take bottle returns has just informed me that they will not take flattened bottles. I live in an apartment and don't have a lot of space for recycling, so I normally flatten the plastic bottles to take up less space. The retailer (Foster's Market on SE Clatsop & 17th in Sellwood) either won't take them, or requires me to re-inflate the bottles.
I know that there are provisions in the law that allow a retailer to refuse up to a certain number of bottles, or bottles that are unclean or damaged so that their labels aren't visible - but not taking back bottles that are readable but take up less space seems unreasonable to me.
What can you tell me about how the law governs this situation? Thank you for your time.
--
Brian Moon
Portland, OR
*****
from: Jan Smith
to: Brian Moon
date: Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 10:52 AM
subject: Re: Question about retailer policies
I just spoke to the manager at the store and they will not be doing that again. They can not refuse because they are crushed. If you have any further problems please contact me.
Thank you,
Jan Smith
Janice L. Smith
License/Compliance Assistant
Oregon Liquor Control Commission
*****
I just knew that lady was giving me trouble when I tried to bring back those cans! She’s the lady who also once refused to sell me a lottery ticket because she didn’t know how to work the machine. Ugh.