Post# 230 - Duracell: Why'd You Do Away With That Little Power Indicator Thing

This is part one of a two-part experiment.  Rival companies, the same complaint raised with each.  Will they reply in the same manner?  The issue is, back in the late 1990's, both Duracell and Energizer had a neat little power meter on the side of their batteries to show how much power is left.  The user would place his or her fingers on dots on either side of the meter, and some portion of the "power meter" would change color. It was a simple gadget, very helpful when encountering a drawerful of batteries.  Then, one day, it disappeared.  My letter to Energizer is HERE.   I sent this to Duracell on 7/10/2010:
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Dear Duracell,

As a sales rep for several battery powered, home-use products, can you imagine the embarrassment when my products don’t work, or work with very low power?

Back in the late 90’s, you had a great and useful feature on your batteries.  It was a tiny power indicator.  The consumer could touch two contacts on the battery (AAA, AA, etc.), and a little meter would show l how much power was left.  He or she could then gage whether a battery replacement was needed, based on upcoming use.

Why did you do away with this?  When did it become a bad thing to know how much power is left?  Is it better to leave us with our proverbial pants down, and end up with no power when we clearly need power?  Is the strategy to get suckers like me to replace our 50% or 75% charged batteries before an in-home demonstration, or bachelorette party, to avoid this embarrassment, because we can’t easily tell without a voltmeter from Radio Shack?  If so, that isn’t cool.

Let’s re-focus our attention on the customer on his or her needs, and maybe the bottom line will take care of itself.  If I don’t sell my wares, you certainly lose out on the battery sales that go along with it.

Power to the People!

Jerry

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Subject: Thanks for contacting Duracell. [ ref:00D7JViV.5007HkoqP:ref ]
Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2011, 10:38 AM

Dear Jerry,

Thanks for contacting Duracell.

I’m sorry you’re disappointed not been able to find a Duracell battery tester anymore. Unfortunately, Duracell has discontinued make battery tester and they are no longer available.  Generally, decisions to start or stop making products are based on consumer demand, so feedback like yours is extremely valuable. Please be assured I'm sharing your information with the rest of our team.

Since I don’t have a recommendation for you at this time, you can do a basic internet search to locate a battery tester online as there may still be some retailers who have this product in stock.

Thanks again for taking the time contacting us.

Veron S.
Duracell Team

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Subject: Re: Thanks for contacting Duracell. [ ref:00D7JViV.5007HkoqP:ref ]
Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Veron,

Thanks for following up.  I appreciate your efforts.  I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing- based on what you're telling me, we can't be.

This was a tiny feature on each battery- a means to tell how much charge was left. 

You're saying consumer demand dictates these things.  That implies, in this case, that people essentially stopped buying Duracell batteries because they did not like having a means to check the remaining life, right there on the side of the battery.  It wasn't intrusive- if they didn't like the feature, they could ignore it.  It didn't take up any space. 

In short, it was a grand tip of the cap to the yankee ingenuity of our forefathers.  I guess Eli Whitney can be glad that some focus group didn't wreck his cotton gin contraption.

Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Jerry
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Subject: Thanks for contacting Duracell. [ ref:00D7JViV.5007HkoqP:ref ]
Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2011, 4:28 PM

Hi Jerry,

Thanks for responding, however we do have batteries that comes with the Powercheck on them that you can test to see how much power is left in the batteries, these batteries are the Duracell Ultra Advance Powercheck.

Thanks again for writing.

Veron S.
Duracell Team
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Subject: Re: Thanks for contacting Duracell. [ ref:00D7JViV.5007HkoqP:ref ]
Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2011, 9:17 PM

Hi Veron, I see that now.  Some quick research shows that for over $1 per AAA battery, I can get a battery that lasts 30% longer, and the PowerCheck feature.  I'm able to get the standard (30% less power) battery for roughly 40 cents per battery. The powercheck used to be on normal batteries, batteries for the everyman.  Those were the days. Thanks, Jerry -------------------

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