I haven't been here in a very long time. I was so impressed by all the new features. The staff was very friendly and helpful. They took my cans quickly and it was easy to recycle them. read more

when I arrived the guy that took my cans was very friendly and he was efficient then I take my receipt for 824 cans and receive only 40 dollars. that certainly isnt 6 cents wasn't even 5 cents a can. definitely won't be returning there to get ripped off read more

I am headed to The Can Man today. I am posting this 5-star rating before my visit because: It is unfortunate that only UNHAPPY PEOPLE leave reviews. I am certain The Can Man had and still has many Happy customers. They have been in business since 1994 and made it through a Pandemic. But happy customers do not usually have the time to leave a positive review on YELP because they are happy and busy spending their can refund instead of obsessively counting every can in their bag to challenge management and hard workers making minimum wage. I was referred by two people. "WORD-OF-MOUTH" is the best review you can get! One of those people, a stranger, spoke to me while I was waiting to return cans/bottles at one of the "W" can return locations. This review has nothing to do with those locations. They can be convenient, but I had over 20 bags to return. For any of you complaining about your time spent "WAITING" at The Can Man, Keep this in mind: - A machine at the "W" can take up to three seconds PER CAN! IF the machine can read the code! If the machine cannot read the code, you must STAND-IN-LINE at Customer Service with your dirty garbage bag and sticky hands. - Even on the accepted cans/bottles, the machine will print a receipt and then you have to STAND-IN-LINE at a register or purchase something at said store and then STAND-IN-LINE at the register. - Get there early. I am going at 9am but they open earlier. And DO NOT go during lunch. Sounds crazy that I must write that, but they need to eat too! - And as Susan D mentioned in the reply to the review. "If you can find me some people who want to work, send them my way" Thank you, I will leave another review after my visit. read more

Don't come here if you don't have at least an hour to wait in line , only 2 slow employees, I do give them credit for actually working , but need to have an express line and a few more employees. read more

To the person who said she needs workers! I'm a supervisor who puts up with much crap to keep what i have! So try being more considered !

It was my first time bringing my bottles here a few months back. And maybe because of that, I haven't been that enthusiastic in accummulating bottles. I was planning to go monthly just enough to accummulate and make the trip and the gas worth it. I got ripped off by 250+ bottles and they couldn't show the rejected bottles to me as clearly it couldn't be over 2 black bags that didn't qualify. When it was time to go inside the office to get my payout, the staff that counted was whispering for about five minutes to the person at the counter before the person said that I'm only getting $86 instead of the $103. Oh well. I didn't want to ruin my first experience so I'm thinking that at least I have that instead of nothing---time to drive back home and fill-up on gas and rest because it was a 2-hour (back and forth altogether) travel for me. read more

Anytime I visit the can man, it takes forever. The average time I have to spend there is generally around a half hour to forty - five minutes. The fact that a human can take so long to count cans is mind boggling. They don't recycle your cans that they don't take, which makes no sense to me. If a bank teller can count hundreds of dollars in a minute or so, what is the difference with cans? The only positive is that you don't have to count your own cans. The place is also filthy. There are stains and gunk all over the walls. I understand it's a can redemption center but I don't think the place has ever been cleaned. You could simply paint over it. Not to mention the freak show where you get your cash for the cans. I'm surprised these people are in charge of money handling. Needless to say, if you have a better option I'd recommend doing it. read more

I visited The Can Man redemption center for the very first time today to enjoy the benefits of receiving 6 cents per can/bottle that I return. I accumulated over 400 cans and bottles on my back porch, so it was time to move them out. I had them separated, cleaned, organized, and accounted for, yes I have OCD. I drove over to their Oliver Street, Johnson City location where I was greeted by a friendly young man, who took all my separated and accounted for bags. This gentleman went at it and he recounted all of my bottle/cans and then took me to their friendly receptionist for the collection of my deposit. To my surprise my numbers were off from the number that the young man had come up with, by over 50. As someone who has an accounting/finance degree as well as a diverse background in mathematics, I was shocked. I felt that there was an error in their counts and I called them out on it. I presented my spreadsheet that I had all done up on my phone with the breakdown of all the cans/bottles that I bought in to redeem. The receptionist asked the young man how many non refundables were in my pile. He looked puzzled and confused and wasn't able to give a number. He left the lobby and came back with three water bottles that had red stripes on it (non deposit bottles) and he said these bottles were in my pile. I truly believe the bottles that were presented by this young man were not my bottles. The receptionist was nice to take my name and number and she told me that they will review the video footage from their camera and make sure that the count was indeed accurate and if there was an error they will make good. Breakdown of stars given out and the stars that have been taken away: +2 stars: for the courteous staff. They all were polite, friendly, and nice. +1 Star: I left the Can Man's establishment with at least 5 cents for each can/bottle I returned. -2 Stars: I feel there is some shadiness going on with their counting OR their counting skills are not up to par. Over all total: 3/5 Stars read more

This is the best place to take my cans and bottles. The staff are always very friendly and polite. I would rather tip the staff personally though rather than puting it in one container where I'm guessing they split it up. read more

I visited The Can Man on Upper Front st a few days ago. This business is for returning deposit bottles. Its very clear when you walk through the door how things go. The sorting stations, supplies and boxes are right there. There is a place to wait in line. The staff was courteous and quick. Amazingly quick! For as busy as it was I could tell that a couple staff were a little aggravated but it didn't show in how they talked to the customers.It was fascinating to see how fast they could count and sort bottles. The place is huge, not very clean but the nature of the business I think its acceptable. The place was very busy that day so more staff was called out front to help. Payment was swift and in cash. There was even a big bowl of lollipops on the counter as a little thank you for coming in to their business. I would recommend this business to anyone who has a large amount of deposit bottles to return. read more

THEY RIPPED ME OFF! I carefully count and bag my cans, and I was shorted by over 20 cans today! Not a lot of $, but its the principle. You can't get a recount, because they throw them all in a mass container as they "count", which consisted of the employee throwing cans in the bin by the armful while dropping some on the floor, so its their word against yours. Owner claimed it was on video, so I asked her to review it, but owner refused to let me see it with her --claimed to watch it in her office alone and get the same number as the employee. Said she "gets ripped off all the time by people", as if shorting me balances it out. Losing me as a customer is "just a drop in the bucket." Oh, and someone sneered, "You must be a Jew" as I left. read more

I visited the Johnson city site today and bcuz of what I thought was previous shortages on the number of bottles/cans I started counting the one I was bringing. After counting 12 of the bags I had a total of 806 bottles/cans and still had 2 more bags but figured w/an average of 67 cans per bag the total would be arnd 940, maybe more bcuz the 2 remaining bags were mostly cans. After the man counted as he showed me the slip he said I had over 900 and what I could see was 3 x 123 on one line and 3 x 200 on another. When the woman said it $43 and change I asked her what the count was and she said 723 I asked her was she sure and she looked at the slip and said yeah, 723. I don't know if this is company policy or this woman doing this on her own but either way over a day or a week someone is stealing a lot of money. Needless to say I will not be returning and neither will anybody I know, especially when I have confirmed suspicions they had themselves read more

A couple of reviews were less then positive so I actually counted our bottles prior to visiting The Can Man for the first time. The young man (wearing the toque) was so very pleasant, efficient and speedy I wouldn't have care if the count had been off but, much to my amazement, it was EXACTLY my tally...and I'm not talking a couple dozen, this was very nearly 500 bottles. My experience definitely rates The Can Man of the Binghamton locations the highest marks! read more

After going to the Can Man to recycle our cans and bottles for some time, we were ripped off on this last visit. We were short-counted by an employee who chose to 'count' them in large handfuls. After complaining, a manager went inside to 'watch it on video' and supposedly review the count. While this sounds good, there is no way to do that because of the way the first person counted. In addition, they comingle our recycling with others before the count is finalized so it is impossible to take back our items and take them elsewhere. We were told tough luck over the 20 item miscount. At the 6.5 cent rate that means they are losing our future business over $1.30. Fortunately, there are a number of competitors. read more

First visit I had a coupon that came in the mail 4 days earlier that offered 6.5 cents per can or bottle- showed it to the gruff bottle counter and waiting in the filthy, really smelly main garage area while he counted. They write up a little slip and escort you into a cigarette smoke filled office- the lady at the desk looks at the slip, at the coupon and then at me and declares they aren't taking anymore coupons- I ask what she means and explain that it had just arrived in the mail 4 days before- she replies 'listen lady, we don't take them but you can pick a free gift' the gifts are small keychain a and foamy pieces that keep your can cold... The place smells like smoke and rot so badly that I can't imagine why anyone would want to take part of that place home with them. She hands me some money (based on how many bottles I brought in it would seem like they give you 3.9 cents per can) and I leave, happy to escape to fresh air. Fast forward a month and I have more bottled to redeem- too many to take to a self serve place so I find myself back- this time it's slightly more crowded but the man who helps me works quickly. He's unable to accept 2 water bottles in the end so he takes a sticky, filthy plastic bag out of a nearly trash pile and puts them in it- this bag is sticky and dripping with stale beer- smells horrible like the rest of this place- he writes out a slip and hands me the plastic bag- which I take reluctantly and in confusion- we are escorted to the 'office' area and I realize my hands are drippig wet with whatever dregs were at the bottom of the garbage can where he got the dirty plastic bag from- the handsome woman at the counter is trying to hand me money so I put down the plastic bag and take it- try to escape this bizarre situation- as I'm getting in my car I realize this can-counter has followed me- yellig that I need to take the dirty bag- 'no thanks pal.' And he runs behind the vehicle and tosses it inside- what the heck is happening- only the can man knows- how they found such a confrontational can-counter is beyond me- my husband got out and tried to give him the dirty bag back, agreeing we would take back the water bottles but not that dripping piece of garbage that no one should be forced to touch and the guy had a 'lets fight' attitude. We're adult humans, I can't explain what an out-of-reality experience this was but I can truly advise against going to the can man unless you want to see a terrifying and upsetting segment of upstate New York. The good news is this time it seems we got a slightly better rate at 4.4 cents per bottle based on how many we're redeemed and what we were paid out. If anyone can figure out the formula for how the compute your return I'd love to know! Next time I'll drive a little further and avoid this dump. read more