It wasn't all that long ago we did. I remember in the mid-80's buying soda at the grocery store in 6-packs of glass bottles, and bringing the empty bottles back to the store for a discount when buying more. The empties were sent back to the bottling plant, washed, and refilled. It was really interesting seeing the branding variations, depending on the age of the bottle, on the store shelves. I still have a 60's-era 7-Up bottle that had been through around 20 years of reuse when I bought it.

Partly the reason the United States doesn't use reusable bottles anymore is because breweries became national instead of regional in the 1960s and 1970s. When your brewery is located in the same state as the beer is consumed it is easier to get the bottles back. If you are Coors and produce in one plant in Colorado it is more difficult and expensive to get your bottles back from Florida. Also the cost of shipping the heavier reusable bottles negates some of the cost savings as well.

Perhaps one reason is that those bottles, while completely functional, tend to look pretty rough and worn out after a while, it's obvious that they've been recycled and aren't new.

Is that something a company wants to take a risk on when it comes to the psychology of consumer choice?

Market the used ones as more valuable than new.

You can always take those too worn bottles and recycle that subset into shiny new bottles..

We did -- at least in some places. I remember as a kid sometimes going with my parents to the local brewery. They'd bring back their empty bottles and pick up a fresh pack at a discount.

It's making something of a resurgence in popularity with the craft brewery movement in the United States and the accompanying popularity of growlers and growler fills.

In India Coca Cola or any cold drink 330ml bottles cost about Rs 30, & you get Rs 2 discount/cash-back if you bring the empty one back to the shop