The handling fee and the 5c deposit are separate. The deposit system starts not with the manufacturers of the bottle, but with the people handle the product in the bottle (bottler, or distributer). When the distributor drops off a shipment of a beverage to a retailer, the retailer pays them the deposit on the bottles they take from the distributor (the retailer is down a nickel per bottle and the distributor is up a nickel). When the customer purchases a bottle of a beverage from the retailer they pay the retailer a deposit on the bottles they purchase (the customer is down a nickel per bottle and the retailer is even). When the customer returns the empty bottles to the retailer, they receive a nickel per bottle from the retailer (the retailer is down a nickel per bottle, the customer is e