I just don’t remember getting paid to bring back bottles. It was simply the thing to do. Like now, I bring back those dreaded plastic bags (albeit the Coke was a purchased product, not free service). I was a kid then. I think they stopped by the time I was 12 or so, when Coke and all went all plastic.
I hate to admit it and I used to think different, our county here in Maryland does recycling as a public service, we all got recycle bins and the truck comes a different day than garbage does, its sure a hell of a lot easier than lugging bottles back to the stores to try to get that $$$ back.
Incidentally, NYS has forced recycling AND bottle deposit return. I believe the deposit return was mainly to deter people from littering with them.