Amazon, the Brand Buster

Receiving a counterfeit item must happen so very rarely, considering the (millions?) huge volume of these sales per day, and Amazon is obviously swift to fix the issue (much to the chagrin of sellers swept up by the zero tolerance rule) that I really doubt most consumers would ever receive a counterfeit item in this way. It seems more likely that consumers would buy the "cheaper" option from an FBA seller (perhaps unknowingly) and receive a knock off.

The major logistical advantages outweigh the very low possibility of abuse. If you asked the average consumer if they would like to receive their item 2 days faster, but risk a 1 in 1000 chance that they get a bogus item they will need to exchange with Amazon at no cost, I think the former would win by a mile.

> Capacity for LSD

It's probably safe to say that the average consumer can't be bothered with anything that isn't LSD. The fact that another option even still exists hurts the overall branding, if you will, of the product category.

> That is lower under extremely light loads than the best alkalines, but crosses over at a bit over 12 hours constant runtime since load has a relatively small effect on NiMH capacity, but a huge effect on alkaline capacity.

Then we've reached parity, assuming identical size and at least close-enough weight. Is size identical (or smaller for NiMH)? Last I handled some, weight seemed comparable.

Now that we have, take a look at when that happened. More importantly, take a look at when that happened at an affordable price point. Compare that to when NiMH first started gaining popularity and what the (price-competitive) capacities (and self-discharge rates) were then, keeping in mind that's what formed consumer perception.

Total elapsed time of product existence may not be the best metric for perception change, but it'll at least give you a starting point.

> Alkalines can leak corrosive electrolyte and destroy devices. This is a fairly well-known issue, but it doesn't seem like "always use rechargeable batteries so you don't ruin your stuff" is a widespread meme among the average consumer. I wonder why that is.

I can think of two reasons. The first is that a "fairly well-known issue" isn't a well enough known issue. Suppression of bad press (or word-of-mouth) is likely the impetus behind large battery brands replacing even fairly expensive ruined electronics when customers complain to them.

Secondly, the relative frequency of the two is vastly different. One ruined flashlight (or even Garmin or whatever) every few years (though I think it's really more like decade-plus) sticks in the memory much less distinctly than having ones TV remote stop working every week or having that same flashlight never work (because one only uses it occasionally, maybe not even monthly).

There's no mystery here.

> I was surprised by the consumer behavior until I learned

I guess the history is relatively tough to research these without having lived through it, since that's before the popularization of the web.

An interesting more modern use case is Apple's wireless keyboards when they used AAs. I'd suggest you check that out.

> I am not surprised that such a design flaw exists

I'd strongly suggest you consider the complexity, cost, and efficiency tradeoffs involved in RF (and other analog) silicon design, especially in miniaturized consumer products, before characterizing certain decisions as flaws.

Sometimes, worse is better.

> TV remotes are pretty low-drain, to the point that most people probably wouldn't notice their battery runtime unless asked to observe it.

That's my point. What they notice is how often they have to change (or recharge) the batteries. Historically, with rechargeables, that's been way too often.

To be fair, anecdotally, I've noticed this with some cheaper/off-brand alkalines, as well.

> A more compelling argument for NiMH in devices like that would be that alkalines often leak electrolyte that can corrode and damage a device wile NiMH is nearly immune to that kind of problem.

I think "often" is, at best, an exaggeration. Do you have published numbers to back that up?

My impression based on personal experience is that during the normal, useful life, it is vanishingly rare. I've only ever had leakage damage occur from fully-discharged (usually through self-discharge after over a year of disuse), and that was replaced by the battery manufacter, one of the advantages of paying more for brand-name.

I understand the concern, but never needed to pay that and I have over 70 orders there. They always say it's a sample or gift worth under 5 euro.

I think this is valid point in general, but I don't think it has much bearing on a discussion about Amazon, which doesn't contribute very much to taxes.