Funny about buying sodas in Chile back in the day

[BillVol]

When we got to Chile around 1971, to buy soda, you had to have an empty glass returnable bottle to bring to the store to exchange for a full bottle of soda. As I recall, these bottles were around two liters. Obviously, when we got off the plane from the USA, we didn't have any empty glass bottles with us. When we went to the Almac, I LOL at my dad protesting to the store manager, "Do you think we brought some with us from the US? How do we get some bottles?" Again, you couldn't buy soda without first exchanging for empties. He didn't know how you got these bottles. Thanks to some nice neighbors who must have had 40 of them, we were able to buy some soda. They gave us around five. A mystery we never figured out was how did these people who had empty glass bottles get them in the first place! I still wonder about that.

[eeuunikkeiexpat]

Don't know what was going on at that store but since I've been here since 2001, they simply charge you for the new bottle of soda. For my beer retornables, it is 300 pesos extra if you have no bottle to exchange if all they have are retornables and no deschables for sale.

[BillVol]

Yes, things have changed since 1971. The last time we were in Chile (1996), we could buy Coke in plastic liter or two-liter bottles just like in the States. We even saw McDonald's, Taco Bell, TGI Fridays, multi-level shopping malls! We said, "Hell, it ain't even Chile anymore." Just kidding. It's still Chile. But in 1971, it was all glass. In fact, as I recall, in 1971, it was all-glass in the States, too.

[Donnybrook]

We just paid extra for the bottles when we did our first shop. 1965. I miss Almac.

[BillVol]

We just paid extra for the bottles when we did our first shop. 1965. I miss Almac.

We sure would have been happy to do that if they'd given us that option. But at least progress on finding out how people got them!

BTW, according to this, Coke introduced plastic bottles in 1978.

https://www.coca-cola.co.uk/stories/con ... le-history

[frozen-north]

We sure would have been happy to do that if they'd given us that option. But at least progress on finding out how people got them!

BTW, according to this, Coke introduced plastic bottles in 1978.

https://www.coca-cola.co.uk/stories/con ... le-history

Coca-Cola has bad memory. The first thing to be introduced were the 1.5 liter glass bottles, and I believe that it happened in 1978. After many injuries and deaths around the world caused by exploding bottles, they were replaced by the plastic-covered 1.5 liter bottles. I seem to remember that those plastic covered bottles weren't around for very long, and they were only marginally safer than the glass only bottles.

The explosive problem of defective pop bottles
Soft drinks could be harmful in 1979, and not because of the sugar

https://www.cbc.ca/archives/the-explosi ... -1.5127714

[Donnybrook]

Don't know where they were hiding the plastic bottles in 1965 but we never saw them. It was all glass.

[BillVol]

Don't know where they were hiding the plastic bottles in 1965 but we never saw them. It was all glass.

Same in '71-'73. All glass.

And speaking of Almac, I waited in many a long line there for a little piece of meat! I don't know if we waited in line for cooking oil, but it was scarce. Even today when I to go Publix and see shelves upon shelves of bottles of golden cooking oil, I think "wow."