I don't think this is the whole story, since as far as I'm aware the only people who get the redemption are people who put very low value on their time because it's inconvenient to actually redeem bottles.
"Pant"[0] is very common across most of northern europe- what you tend to find is that people will pilfer public trash cans to get bottles and cans to dispense, in Sweden where I live it's 1kr (or 10c in USD) for a can or small bottle, and large bottles being 2kr.
Not everyone is so fortunate to have gainful employment, especially not as gainful as the normal user of this site.
Same here in Helsinki, Finland. People will root around rubbish-bins, and collect the cans/bottles. (Especially in parks, and next to tram-stops. Basically places where people are likely to have had a drink and not recycled themselves.)
How is it inconvenient? I have a bag where I drop all my cans and bottles, when I go shopping I take it with me. Every supermarket takes them regardless of where they came from. No extra trips or detours required.
Not everyone is so fortunate to have gainful employment, especially not as gainful as the normal user of this site.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Container-deposit_legislation