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Amazon, the Brand Buster

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Re: Amazon, the Brand Buster

#61
post #60

I'm a little surprised so many people still buy large numbers of alkaline batteries. NiMH rechargeables are readily available, have a fairly low cost to get started with a battery/charger bundle, save a significant amount of money over time and have vastly better performance in higher-drain devices like cameras and flashlights.

Many devices can't deal with the lower voltage (1.2V vs 1.5V). About half of my AA/AAA devices don't work at all.

Re: Amazon, the Brand Buster

#62
post #45
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> CVS pays you to stock their product on their shelves Most retail works exactly the opposite - the manufacturer pays the retailer significant fees for shelf space.

There is even a word for it "slotting fees"

Yes, but even accounting for those fees, retailers still pay brands to stock their products.

Meanwhile on Amazon, brands pay Amazon to feature their products. Then they pay Amazon to stock/fulfill their products (FBO). Then they pay Amazon to feature their products (promotions).

Amazon is in a heads-I-win, tails-you-lose position vis-a-vis brands.

Re: Amazon, the Brand Buster

#63
post #60

I'm a little surprised so many people still buy large numbers of alkaline batteries. NiMH rechargeables are readily available, have a fairly low cost to get started with a battery/charger bundle, save a significant amount of money over time and have vastly better performance in higher-drain devices like cameras and flashlights.

I believe there’s a faster drop-off rate to dead on rechargeables, so they aren’t ideal for things like smoke alarms or even smart-locks.

Re: Amazon, the Brand Buster

#64
post #61
post #60

I'm a little surprised so many people still buy large numbers of alkaline batteries. NiMH rechargeables are readily available, have a fairly low cost to get started with a battery/charger bundle, save a significant amount of money over time and have vastly better performance in higher-drain devices like cameras and flashlights.

Many devices can't deal with the lower voltage (1.2V vs 1.5V). About half of my AA/AAA devices don't work at all.

Many rechargeables are also slightly larger than typical alkalines. This can cause them to be difficult to remove from devices where they're inserted end-on, such as flashlights and Xbox 360 controllers.

Re: Amazon, the Brand Buster

#65
post #60

I'm a little surprised so many people still buy large numbers of alkaline batteries. NiMH rechargeables are readily available, have a fairly low cost to get started with a battery/charger bundle, save a significant amount of money over time and have vastly better performance in higher-drain devices like cameras and flashlights.

beeing the "tech-guy" i have a bunch of alkalines in my backpack and at home because people often come to me to if their batteries dies and they need a new one quick. Other than that, it's mostly missinformation that's still around about rechargable batteries.

Re: Amazon, the Brand Buster

#66
post #60

I'm a little surprised so many people still buy large numbers of alkaline batteries. NiMH rechargeables are readily available, have a fairly low cost to get started with a battery/charger bundle, save a significant amount of money over time and have vastly better performance in higher-drain devices like cameras and flashlights.

It's hard for the pricing to work out unless you know you'll use them for a while. A 48-pack of Amazon AAs is $13.29 [1]. A 16-pack of Amazon rechargable AAs is $24.99 [2]. Ignoring the cost of a charger, the rechargables won't pay for themselves unless you go through 4 recharge cycles. If you add the $14.99 charger [3] for your first order, then you need 5 cycles on all of the batteries (80 cycles total) for it to be worth it.

1. https://amzn.com/B00MNV8E0C

2. https://amzn.com/B007B9NV8Q

3. https://amzn.com/B00TOVTZ7K

Re: Amazon, the Brand Buster

#67
post #61
post #60

I'm a little surprised so many people still buy large numbers of alkaline batteries. NiMH rechargeables are readily available, have a fairly low cost to get started with a battery/charger bundle, save a significant amount of money over time and have vastly better performance in higher-drain devices like cameras and flashlights.

Many devices can't deal with the lower voltage (1.2V vs 1.5V). About half of my AA/AAA devices don't work at all.

Those devices must have very short runtimes on alkalines. Even a 0.2A load on an alkaline AA puts it under 1.2V for most of its discharge capacity[0]. That's not an especially high load; it's the amount that will drain it in 11 hours of use, but if the device quits at 1.2V, it will only run for 4.5 hours.

It would not surprise me to learn that the designers of a consumer electronic device did a bad job, but I'd describe not working with 1.2V batteries when a device is intended for AA or AAA to be a pretty major design flaw.

[0] https://lygte-info.dk/review/batteries2012/Amazon%20basic%20...

Re: Amazon, the Brand Buster

#68
post #60

I'm a little surprised so many people still buy large numbers of alkaline batteries. NiMH rechargeables are readily available, have a fairly low cost to get started with a battery/charger bundle, save a significant amount of money over time and have vastly better performance in higher-drain devices like cameras and flashlights.

It's hard for the pricing to work out unless you know you'll use them for a while. A 48-pack of Amazon AAs is $13.29 [1]. A 16-pack of Amazon rechargable AAs is $24.99 [2]. Ignoring the cost of a charger, the rechargables won't pay for themselves unless you go through 4 recharge cycles. If you add the $14.99 charger [3] for your first order, then you need 5 cycles on all of the batteries (80 cycles total) for it to b…

I would be surprised if most people don't still have a use for AA and AAA batteries in a decade. A relatively light user should manage a charge cycle every couple of years, and NiMH batteries have a useful life longer than 10 years.

Re: Amazon, the Brand Buster

#69
post #60

I'm a little surprised so many people still buy large numbers of alkaline batteries. NiMH rechargeables are readily available, have a fairly low cost to get started with a battery/charger bundle, save a significant amount of money over time and have vastly better performance in higher-drain devices like cameras and flashlights.

I believe there’s a faster drop-off rate to dead on rechargeables, so they aren’t ideal for things like smoke alarms or even smart-locks.

That's true. I would recommend a regular charging schedule for such devices rather than waiting for them to complain about the batteries being low. A regular replacement schedule for smoke detector batteries is already a common recommendation from fire departments and insurance companies.

Rechargeable batteries remove the loss aversion associated with ensuring the batteries in a device are fresh, as there's essentially no extra cost to recharging a battery that may still have significant energy in it. Modern NiMH does not develop a permanent memory effect, and rarely even develops a temporary one.

Re: Amazon, the Brand Buster

#70
As someone who almost always buys generic brand from wherever I shop I'm pretty aloof to these complaints. Target, Walmart, and Costco all have in house brands.

The Amazon brand "Goodthreads" Oxfords I wear to the office are very impressively well made for the price. Compared to the Target "Goodfellow & Co" ones at the same price there's a higher level of quality and finish. They're better than the Banana Republic ones I had at half the cost.

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