Will never forget how I (German) walked into a Safeway in San Francisco with my bag full of bottles and asked the cashier where the deposit-machine is. She had absolutely no clue what I was talking about.
Recycling is very regional. Some states don't have bottle deposits.
Where I live now, they gave up on the rules that nobody followed (plastic # types in particular) and have "single stream" where everything that might be recyclable goes to one plant and is sorted by machines/people.
I remember having to buy my bag in germany because I didn't have one. Ikea did the same thing here for a while (no bags), but they have plastic ones now.
http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/BevContainer/Recyclers/Director...
(I see California on all the returnables from my state (which requires stores accept any that they sell), so I wondered what you were talking about)
I like California's policy so much better cause I buy a lot of beer that gets rejected in the reverse vending machines.
The problem with the recycling centers is that you pretty much need a car to return them. With in-store machines you can just bring the bottles with you when you go grocery shopping.