Digital Camera Battery Shopping

Just a little reminder when shopping for a battery for you digital camera.  If you use the following description, WE CAN’T HELP YOU!  This is a quote, “The battery that I need is small, kinda square, rectangular lithium one.”  WTF?  That pretty much describes half or more of the batteries that go into digital cameras.

So if you are looking for a digital camera battery, at the minimum you need to know the make and model of your camera.  It may be okay if you bring in the battery, but sometimes they don’t cross-reference well.  It works best if you bring the camera and battery into the store.

Digital Camera Batteries

While I am bitching, I might as well give out to the digital camera makers out there.  When you started making cameras you generally sold plenty of cameras that used AA sized batteries.  That meant that we consumers and sales people could use/recommend alkaline, lithium, and/or rechargeable batteries galore.  Of course, battery life was abysmal, but at least the batteries were available nearly anywhere.

Now, however, the cameras all come with lithium recharge-ables.  This allows you to make small cameras, but the cost and availability of the batteries has skyrocketed.  Being a reasonable person though, I realized that the $60 battery is probably actually saving money in the long run if I was not already using a rechargeable AA previously.  The cost of replacing the AAs over the life of the lithium rechargeable would definitely be higher.  Yet I don’t think that the majority of people think that way.  They come in looking for the battery and all they think about is the $60 to replace the damn thing.  Plus, this person has been all over creation looking for this battery and then they have to wait in the store while the salesperson has to find the right battery.  Then they have to wait 1-2 weeks for the battery to come in, because 9 times out of 10 the battery in question has to be ordered.

So, my recommendation is to have at least one model of camera that will work on 2 AA batteries.  The thing may be a little bigger, but people will buy it for the convenience.  Also, all non-AA cameras need to have a bright orange sticker on them stating that it does NOT run on AAs.  This way consumers are not surprised to find out that it runs on some other type of battery.  You could also put a WARNING LABEL, stating that the battery will be next to impossible to find in stock at a store in over 90% of the United States.  Once again, just so the consumer will know up front.

By the way, a single “battery” is actually a cell and 2 “batteries” are actually a battery.

Cordless Phone Batteries

Trying to help people buy a cordless phone battery is like getting your teeth pulled without anesthesia. They walk in the store and announce that they need a cordless phone battery. The following ensues:

Clerk – “Do you have the handset with you?”

Customer – “No.”

Clerk – “Do you have the battery with you?”

Customer – “No. But I know what it looks like.”

Clerk – “Ok, but here are all the choices. By the way you need the right connector as well as the right size, voltage, and mAh.”

Customer – “Oh SHIT!!”

Sometimes the individual will insist that they know which one it is. 9 times out of 10 they guess wrong and they come back to the store for an exchange. There should be a federal law saying that people like this owe you a consultation fee for wasting your time. They don’t like it when we waste their time.