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Archive for the ‘batteries’ Category

This Sounds Too Good To Be True

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

This article from ABC News had me reaching for my calendar to see if it was April Fools Day. Nope, it’s still December.

The headline said:

Scientists Say Paper Battery Could Be In The Works

We sell a lot of batteries, particular around Christmas, and I am always surprised at how much the shipping cost adds to the final price. Unfortunately, a 4 Pack of D Cell batteries weighs over a pound. 25 pounds for a case of 72!

ABC News reported on work being done at Standford University in developing a special paper coating that can be applied in a manner that creates a new type of high-performance energy storage.

This promising development in nanotechnology may some day power the electronic devices that today require alkaline or rechargeable batteries. You might even be able to “wear” the battery that powers your cell phone and notebook computer.

Perhaps even more important, the scientists working on this development predict that the cost will be low and that they can see bringing this technology to the commercial market in the foreseeable future.

Not just lightweight, small electronics will be impacted. This new way of storing power may someday. This combination of supercapacitors and nanotechnology might even be used in electric cars.

We’re really looking forward to sending you your battery order in a #10 envelope.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape,Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords andOnStage Stand mic stands. New scientific developments in battery technology is always exciting news!

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Battery Wars! Just In Time For Christmas

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

Our battery sales always spike around Christmas. Between the number of special holiday performances that use wireless microphones and battery buying for Christmas toys and electronics, we ship lots of batteries.

It seems that CVS Pharmacies has chosen “battery season” to fire a major shot over the bow of Engergizer Holdings, the manufacturer of Energizer alkaline batteries. CVS, one of the nation’s largest battery retailers, has seen a major impact from the nation’s economic downturn on its alkaline battery sales. They’ve decided that the best way to respond to this decrease in sales is by reducing inventory.

The winner in this skirmish? The Duracell Coppertop.

CVS points to evidence that more consumers are buying their batteries from big box retailers or making their purchases online, where major savings can be realized.

CVS’s annual Energizer sales have been estimated at about $25 million.

Chances are that the long term results of this decision will reduce competition and cost consumers more in the end.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. We enjoy sharing our observations about audio-visual industry trends.

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What Big Companies Tell Us About Small Ones

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

Public companies, whether they like it or not, are required by law to reveal a lot more about their finances and operations than they probably want to. They are owned by their stockholders and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

An article in Pro Sound News about Harman International caught my eye over lunch. It was about Harman’s finances and it was as dry as toast. I read every word.

Why? Because Harman’s customers are my customers. This company that did almost $3 billion in sales last year sells some of the most desirable brands in pro audio. If you use equipment from makers like JBL, Souncraft, Crown, dbx or lots of other well known brands, you are a Harman customer.

Harman reported a decrease in pro audio sales of 26% in their last quarter. If your sound business is not strong enough right now to buy a new JBL line array, then you are probably not doing enough shows to need a lot of gaffers tape. If a new AKG wireless mic is not on your shopping list, then you probably aren’t going to be ordering ProCell batteries for it. No dbx processing gear means no Hosa patch cables.

Two years ago the stock price for a share of Harman International was $100.00. Yesterday, it closed at $37.00. That’s up almost 10% since the first of this month and a near doubling of the price since October of last year.

How goes Harman, so goes the pro sound industry. We wish them well.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape,Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Click here to sign up for our newsletter. Here’s a link to our new “How To” animation series.

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Put Some Power In Your Clicks

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

Google news alerts served up this article today about a new Duracell program to distribute flashlights and batteries to fire departments.

Duracell’s “Hours of Power” program will make donations to fire departments in New York, Chicago, Knoxville Tenn., Springfield Mo. and Wichita Ks. These local fire department will then distribute Duracell flashlights and batteries to city residents at no cost.

Best of all, you can participate and help maximize the value of Duracell’s program. Every time you visit Duracell’s Hours o f Power web site and click on the 100 Hours Button Duracell will increase the value of their contribution. To date, 49,600 “Hours of Power” have been donated. Their goal is 10 million hours which will convert to lots of flashlights, batteries and chargers donated to first responders and local citizens.

We live in a community that is regularly hard hit by weather-related power problems caused by hurricanes and ice storms. It would be great if theis program was so successful that Duracell extended it to some cities in North Carolina.

This program continues through Nov. 15.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape,Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Click here to sign up for our newsletter. Here’s a link to our new “How To” animation series.

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Why This News Stuck In My Mind

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

I normally don’t pay any attention to television in the morning, even though it is usually on in the house when I get up. It’s just background noise.

For some reason, however, a Today Show video clip from the Video Music Awards caught my ear.I don’t usually watch awards shows, but the story about Kanye West jumping on stage during Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech stayed on my mind all morning.

Finally, about lunch time, it dawned on me why i couldn’t get this off my mind.

We had provided all the batteries for wireless mics used at the VMA Awards.

The batteries in the mic that Kanye West grabbed out of Taylor Swift’s hand had come from us. About two weeks ago we shipped a huge battery order to Radio City Music Hall for Moonman Productions, the video production arm of MTV. It was a great order, but I didn’t really give it much thought. Now we’re a side note to entertainment history.

I am usually proud to proclaim the reliability of ProCell batteries, but, just this one time, it might have been better if there had been a catastrophic battery failure.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Click here to sign up for our newsletter. Here’s a link to our new “How To” animation series.

Posted in Pro Sound, audio visual, batteries, microphones & mic stands | No Comments »

Wirelessmic.net

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

We’ve found over the years building “information only” web sites has been an effective way to drive traffic to our e-commerce sites. The ability to provide information and host a forum for the exchange of ideas is a great way to build a community.

One of our sites, wirelessmic.net, has suffered from lack of attention over the last several months, and there have been some very important developments in how wireless mics are used. We’re ready to get back to work posting new, useful information.

The changeover to digital television in June has changed how many frequencies traditionally used by wireless mics are allocated by the FCC.

If your church or school uses wireless microphones, you need to be aware of how the frequencies your mics transmit on have been affected by theis reallocation.

If you have info to share with other mic users about how these changes have affected you, wirelessmic.net is the place to join the discussion.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Click here to sign up for our newsletter. Lots more good ideas at our Twitter feed.

Posted in Pro Sound, audio visual, batteries, microphones & mic stands, web development | No Comments »

Copper Prices

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

I came across an interesting article in last week’s Wall Street Journal regarding the continuing strength of commodity prices based on demand in China.

This article speculated that a lot of the Chinese buying was a stockpiling of material for which China’s manufacturers had no real demand. If that’s true, then the Chinese buying binge may be over.

This may well explain the recent downturn in copper prices after a steady rise over the last six months. This rise made little sense in light of the overall worldwide decline in manufacturing. If this downturn is real, it could be a harbinger for lots of commodity price reductions.

Why do we care? The cost of extension cords (copper and rubber), mic stands (steel and aluminum), tape (cotton, oil and chemicals) and batteries (tin plate and many minerals) are all tied to world commodity prices.

Lets hope that if this recent reversal in commodity prices is real, that we will see it passed through to the products we sell.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and Entertainment One extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Click here to sign up for our newsletter. Lots more good ideas at our Twitter feed.

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I Doubt If This Is Going To Solve The Energy Crisis

Friday, December 5th, 2008

Duracell is getting lots of press for their promotional stunt of using a bunch of bicycle-powered generators to power the 2009 sign that will appear in Times Square on New Years Eve.

While this may get Duracell lots of notice for their batteries, it has to be the most inefficient method of generating electricity ever invented.

In order to light the four numbers in the 2009 sign for 10-15 minutes, visitors to Duracell’s Power Lodge in Times Square will have to pedal at least 230 hours to store enough battery power for this stunt.

Even at the minimum wage, that puts the cost of producing this power at over $1500.00 ($100.00 per minute), and that doesn’t include the cost of the custom “snowbikes”, the batteries (not Duracell) that will store power, and the cost of operating the Power Lodge for the month leading up to New Year’s Eve.

Before you invest in Duracell’s idea of how to generate green power, you probably ought to take a look at this video .

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Enterainment 1 extension cords , OnStage Stand mic stands and quality speaker cables.

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Customer Service At Lightning Speed

Thursday, October 16th, 2008

This blog seems to continually find its way back customer service issues, and I guess that it really is a passion of mine. Unfortunately, most of my postings address negative customer service issues, but I really enjoy having such a positive experience that it demands to be acknowledged.

I recently had to return my daughter’s digital camera, an Olympus FE230, for service. She has become quite a good photographer and was concerned that her camera suddenly seemed to only take”out of focus” photos.

She located Olympus’s online site for customer service and repairs and we shipped the camera off to an Olympus service center. I’ve been through this sort of thing before, and I was prepared for the usual fist fight-slow or no service, warranty claim denied, six week wait, etc.

I shipped the camera on Monday. Today is Thursday and she has the camera back in her hands. That’s right! In less than 72 the camera had gotten to the service center, been repaired, and returned to us. They had even made sure that the memory card she mistakenly left in the camera was returned.

In an age when consumer electronics have become disposable items, its great to find a company that stands behind its products and understands how to build customer loyalty.

I’m guessing that there will be something from Olympus under our Christmas tree.

Posted in Other News, audio visual, batteries, customer service, good business ideas | No Comments »

Is There A Place For Us In The Green Theatre Initiative?

Tuesday, October 14th, 2008

I recently came across an interesting article in Stage Directions magazine and it leads to a discussion that we need to be a part of.

The article, by Mike Lawler, features Gideon Banner of the Green Theatre Initiative . It is one that anybody involved in using or selling expendables to the theatre industry needs to pay attention to.

To date, the green theatre movement has primarily focused on infrastructure and on conservation. Its great that new theatre facilities building is taking into consideration concepts like solar lighting, water conversation, and environmentally sustainable construction techniques. Unfortunately, it takes generations for these sorts of changes to work their way through the system. Theatre buildings last for decades, and quite often they are not able to easily be upgraded in an environmentally responsible way, even if funding is available.

More immediate results can be realized from simple conservation techniques. Upgrading lighting fixtures to LED technology, using more efficient sound system components and addressing wasteful uses of energy and water are something that every theatre facility can address every day.

My concern, honestly, is how this green movement will impact our own business. It is regrettable that the nature of expendables means that a lot of what we sell will end up in the landfill at the end of the show. You can’t reuse tape, and rechargeable battery technology has not reached the point where sound techs are willing to trust them in wireless microphones.

We are always on the lookout for reusable solutions for cable management and we are working with Sanyo on their Eneloop rechargeable battery line in hopes of offering this product to our customers who buy batteries for wireless mics.

We are anxious to be part of the dialog and I welcome your comments.

Posted in Pro Sound, Pro lighting, batteries, gaffers tape, good business ideas, tape | No Comments »

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