3 ms·

I think this illustrates the unfair advantage pretty well: https://www.amazon.com/s/&field-keywords=batteries https://www.amazon.com/s/&field-keywords=batteries

User23 8y ago
You're right. It's absolutely unfair that Energizer is ripping customers off to the tune of 30%. Also wow this is terrible reporting. "Around 2009..." is it too much effort to find a real date?
- p1mrx 8y ago
  The real ripoff is that none of the alkaline batteries have a mAh (or mWh) rating. They literally sell energetic cylinders without telling you how much energy's in them; how is this still a thing?
  - tempay 8y ago
    Giving alkaline batteries a mAh rating is difficult as it is highly variable depending on the environment and load characteristics. You can find data sheets for the major manufactures on their websites for example: http://data.energizer.com/pdfs/en91.pdf http://data.energizer.com/pdfs/en91.pdf
    - Theodores 8y ago
      This could be solved much like how automobile 'miles per gallon' figures are given, there is the 'urban' cycle for city driving and the figures for 'highway' driving and then there is the 'combined cycle'. Everyone knows that in a month of Sundays you aren't going to get anything near that '54 mpg combined' figure shown on the sticker for that Prius but you will get more miles per gallon in that car rather than that GM dinosaur advertising '14 mpg combined'.
graton 8y ago
On a somewhat related note: https://www.wsj.com/articles/demand-for-batteries-is-shrinking-yet-prices-keep-on-going-and-goingup-1523871000 https://www.wsj.com/articles/demand-for-batteries-is-shrinki... I was able to read it via a google search: https://www.google.com/search?q=duracell+energizer+high+prices https://www.google.com/search?q=duracell+energizer+high+pric... From the article: Shoppers are paying more for disposable batteries even though the proliferation of toys and consumer electronics powered by built-in rechargeable batteries has reduced U.S. demand. That is because the two biggest disposable-battery brands, Duracell and Energizer, control over three-quarters of the market. As both focus on profits, they are no longer offering deep discounts as they did when they were racing for market share. Batteries on average cost 8.2% more than a year ago, while prices in the overall household-care segment rose only 1.8%, according to Nielsen. At a time when prices are stagnating on everything from toilet paper to diapers, such pricing power for a product that is increasingly obsolete has confounded shoppers.
- ajross 8y ago
  That's my intuition too. I mean, there is obviously the potential for a retailer like amazon to disrupt existing markets in an unfair way. But this market was really in need of some disruption. Are Amazon Basics batteries so successful because Amazon is leveraging its retail dominance or because the existing choices are overpriced?
- tomjen3 8y ago
  I wasn't able to use the google search, but the link works on archive.is http://archive.is/As0p5 http://archive.is/As0p5

User23 8y ago

You're right. It's absolutely unfair that Energizer is ripping customers off to the tune of 30%. Also wow this is terrible reporting. "Around 2009..." is it too much effort to find a real date?

p1mrx 8y ago
The real ripoff is that none of the alkaline batteries have a mAh (or mWh) rating. They literally sell energetic cylinders without telling you how much energy's in them; how is this still a thing?
- tempay 8y ago
  Giving alkaline batteries a mAh rating is difficult as it is highly variable depending on the environment and load characteristics. You can find data sheets for the major manufactures on their websites for example: http://data.energizer.com/pdfs/en91.pdf http://data.energizer.com/pdfs/en91.pdf
  - Theodores 8y ago
    This could be solved much like how automobile 'miles per gallon' figures are given, there is the 'urban' cycle for city driving and the figures for 'highway' driving and then there is the 'combined cycle'. Everyone knows that in a month of Sundays you aren't going to get anything near that '54 mpg combined' figure shown on the sticker for that Prius but you will get more miles per gallon in that car rather than that GM dinosaur advertising '14 mpg combined'.

graton 8y ago

On a somewhat related note: https://www.wsj.com/articles/demand-for-batteries-is-shrinking-yet-prices-keep-on-going-and-goingup-1523871000 https://www.wsj.com/articles/demand-for-batteries-is-shrinki... I was able to read it via a google search: https://www.google.com/search?q=duracell+energizer+high+prices https://www.google.com/search?q=duracell+energizer+high+pric... From the article: Shoppers are paying more for disposable batteries even though the proliferation of toys and consumer electronics powered by built-in rechargeable batteries has reduced U.S. demand. That is because the two biggest disposable-battery brands, Duracell and Energizer, control over three-quarters of the market. As both focus on profits, they are no longer offering deep discounts as they did when they were racing for market share. Batteries on average cost 8.2% more than a year ago, while prices in the overall household-care segment rose only 1.8%, according to Nielsen. At a time when prices are stagnating on everything from toilet paper to diapers, such pricing power for a product that is increasingly obsolete has confounded shoppers.

ajross 8y ago
That's my intuition too. I mean, there is obviously the potential for a retailer like amazon to disrupt existing markets in an unfair way. But this market was really in need of some disruption. Are Amazon Basics batteries so successful because Amazon is leveraging its retail dominance or because the existing choices are overpriced?
tomjen3 8y ago
I wasn't able to use the google search, but the link works on archive.is http://archive.is/As0p5 http://archive.is/As0p5