I've found that store brands in soda are really just as good as the national brands.  And they are the only ones you get the interesting flavors in, like birch beer and pineapple soda.  I have a weakness for pineapple soda.

We don't have can returns here in NJ, though you can collect all of your cans and sell them to a recycling place for some cents per pound.  I did that a while back, but its too much of a hassle for the return now.