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Comment by Retr0id | Hacker News Reader

> Create a battery birthday club. Buy each friend a battery on their birthday until everyone has one.

At that point, wouldn't it be easier if everyone just bought their own? And then whoever has the latest birthday doesn't have to wait a year to get theirs.

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I think the point is that breaking it up makes the cost more palatable. It's also easier to convince people to spend a bit of money for people they care about than a bunch for themselves that they don't strictly need. People also often struggle to think of gift ideas for birthdays.

True, but you're still buying an entire battery yourself in the course of a calendar year.

I love the spirit behind this but it's strange advice. I consider myself lucky to have a healthy roster of adult friends, and I still think getting 16 of them to spend significant money on each other's birthday would be a big ask to pull off.

The first friend gets to share their experience with the group, that can then decide to keep buying for other members or not.

“Sorry y’all, now that I have mine I gotta say, not worth the price”

Yeah strike me off the birthday gift list

Best gifts are sub $5 and from a thrift store, like a funny shirt or mug.

But then you still have to buy birthday presents on top of that

If everyone's giving everyone the same gift, it's not really a "gift" any more, more of a p2p buy-now-pay-later arrangement (which isn't a terrible idea, but it's suboptimal for those with later bithdays).

Might as well just have an annual theme and try to negotiate a bulk discount.

Not everything needs to be optimized. Probably only rich people would engage in such a scheme anyway.

The whole premise here is cost optimization.

It's not cost optimization its payment on installments.. Personally, I find it less convenient to have more than 1 bill and a group of 30 paying on average every 12 days probably makes it less convenient for anyone. But there are some strange consumers who like to delude themselves.

it's simple. if i were part of an economy, we would all just act rationally. that way everything would be efficient

Yeah this pretty much just a “tanda” except everyone pitches in to get the battery instead of paying out to the birthday person.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanda_(informal_loan_club)

I've heard of people doing this kind of rotating "Everyone pays $X in each week/month, a different person decides how to spend it each week/month" thing. It's mostly for building social connection/community.

Think about it like a secret santa with a $20 limit - wouldn't it be more efficient for everyone to just do what they want with $20? You're "purchasing" time and connection with friends.

It is like an energy storage cost cutting rotating potluck. blitzar mentions bulk buying in a comment, which is a great idea to drive down cost. Not sure what the EU version of that looks like, the US versions are:

https://solarunitedneighbors.org/

https://www.brightsaver.org/

Europe has quote a bit of renewable generation currently that is curtailing or otherwise going unused, and needs all of the battery energy storage it can get (residential, commercial, utility scale) to convert curtailment into realized clean energy offsetting potential fossil energy usage (gas and coal).

Solar Power Is So Big in Europe That Electricity Is Being Wasted - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-13/europe-so... | https://archive.today/nAdiA - May 12th, 2026

> Hundreds of millions of solar panels have been installed in Europe, turning solar into the region's biggest source of power during summer months, but the system around it hasn't kept up. A record amount of electricity is being wasted because grids can't handle the surge in output, with about 40 terawatt-hours of electricity expected to go to waste in the coming months. The glut of solar power is pushing power prices deep below zero during peak solar hours, eroding returns for producers and forcing them to shut down plants, with consumers potentially paying twice for the subsidies and compensation.

No. This is how building societies work.

You may not have £100,000 but if you get 1000 people with £100 then you can buy a house.

Obviously the birthday system doesnt address the interest, but I'm sure your friends would be ok paying interest right?

Yes, but I think the missing ingredient is that building societies "bid" to decide who gets to go first. Whoever is willing to take the smallest loan/pay back fastest gets preference.

Reinventing building societies seems very cool to me -- it's a little more nuanced than the birthday thing, but it's a system that can work with assets that generate value.

It's just fantastically naive on so many levels.

That's step one, next is your friends.

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