At the dawn of the bottling of soda beverages, it was relatively easy to "get into the business". One just had to retire to the kitchen and whip up a batch of tongue tingling syrup that when mixed with water would produce an irresistible taste.   Step two required the mixing of the syrup with water, adding a dash of carbonation, pouring the mix into a bottle, loading the new concoction on the wagon, and selling the product door to door.

The most expensive part of the whole process for the early bottlers was the purchase of the returnable bottles for their drinks. A brisk black market trade developed for these bottles once they were sold.

To slow the misappropriation of bottles, and to deal with the problems of wide spread distribution networks, the bottlers decided to ban together, and in 1882, the United States Bottlers Protective Association (USBPA) was organized. The association lasted only three years but formed the basis for other groups to follow.

In 1889, the "American Bottlers Protective Association" (ABPA) was formed to serve the needs of both soda and beer bottlers. In 1918, the soda bottlers decided to form their own group, they called the "National Bottler's Association", until the "American Bottlers of Carbonated Beverages" (ABCB) evolved in 1919.

The ABCB emerged as a strong national soft drink association with forceful leadership which tackled many diverse issues affecting the bottlers such as, taxes, product standards, the Great Depression, Prohibition, rationing, and wartime price controls.

In 1921, the first industry-wide national exposition was sponsored by the ABCB in conjunction with their national convention. These annual meetings are still being held and have produced many unique and valuable collectibles over the years.

Changes in the industry along with new product packaging methods led to a name change, the "National Soft Drink Association" (NSDA) in 1967.

A wide variety of rare and colorful collectibles have been made over the years of existence of the various associations of soft drink manufacturers. Association bottles make up the most collected items and some of the older varieties have values ranging into the hundreds of dollars.