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Archive for the ‘batteries’ Category

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.

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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 »

Finally, A Little Good News

Friday, June 6th, 2008

It is something of a stretch for me to go from selling audio visual supplies to watching the commodity markets. Unfortunately, volatility in the base components of everything we sell means that this vital information just can’t be ignored.

Between the price of the petroleum derivatives in tape adhesives and the cost of trucking these very heavy products, the cost of oil impacts the cost of every kind of tape we sell. There has been some short term moderation in the price of a barrel of oil, so we are hoping that our suppliers can hold the line a little longer. It is hard to connect the price of filling up your car with what you pay for a roll of gaffers tape, but the connection is real.

After peaking at $4.00 a pound in April, the price of copper is down about 10%, closing at just over $3.60 earlier in the week. As our cable business expands, the cost of the most important, and heaviest component, in an extension cord or speaker cable has forced suppliers to raise prices several times this year. Maybe those increases are over for a little while. Hopefully, this decrease in will help battery makers hold the line as well

Unfortunately, it seems like what one market gives back, another takes away. Dow Chemical’s announcement that it will raise chemical prices by up to 20%, effective this month, is going to impact much of we sell. Tape adhesive resins, battery components and cable jackets all have chemical components, and even if Dow isn’t the supplier, most other major suppliers are sure to follow.

We are grateful to our loyal customers and will do all we can to work with major suppliers to address pricing pressure.

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

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Are You Sure Its Shure?

Tuesday, January 15th, 2008

I’ve written a couple of posts about counterfeit batteries. They continue to be a big problem for legitimate battery sellers.

Prosoundnews.com has an article today about a new counterfeit issue that the pro sound and audio visual production community needs to know about. Counterfeit Shure Microphones. The popular line of Shure Beta mics is apparently a new target for Asian counterfeit manufacturers. Anybody who purchases mics from small, unknown online dealers or any source they have no background on is at risk of being taken.

If you’re not particularly concerned about an industry giant like Shure losing sales or revenue, you might want to reconsider. If you buy a counterfiet mic, you may be a loser as well.

You may save some money on the purchase price, but there are several ways that your savings could evaporate in a hurry:

Use of substandard materials-Shure makes some of the most durable mics in the business. Counterfeiters do not.

Mics that do not perform up to spec-When miking a stage, you count on specs like “polar pattern” to get the best sound quality. It does not matter what you do if the mic doesn’t match the specs that Shure intended.

No warranty- You may not find out that you have a counterfeit mic until you return it to Shure for warranty repair. Don’t expect them to fix something they didn’t sell.

Not sure of the reliability of your dealer? Use this Shure Dealer Locator.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Look to us first to meet your microphone accessory and battery needs.

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This Experiment Didn’t Take Long

Tuesday, November 27th, 2007

As the raw material in batteries continues to increase in price, we feel real pressure to try and save customers some money. We’ve steadily watched the cost of alkaline batteries increase, so I like to test non-name brand competition whenever I can.

I’m sitting and staring at two glowing flashlights on my desk as I write this blog-one flashlight is using a couple of Duracell Procell AA batteries and an identical light contains a fresh pair of AA from a company called Permalife.

Unfortunately,it looks like the “Permalife” is going to be considerably less than “Permanent”. It’s already starting to dim.

We were excited when we got pricing information about the Permalife brand, as these batteries had real potential to save our customers some money. The savings evaporate in a hurry if it takes three or four batteries to match the performance of one ProCell.

It’s bad when a flashlight fails in use, but you usually get some warning. It gradually fades out rather than failing all at once. A wireless microphone is very different. Once its voltage in the transmitter falls below a certain point, the receiver becomes vulnerable to all sorts of outside interference. This can be disasterous or funny. Usually the former. Rarely the latter.

As the sun sets on this blog, the Permalife-equpped flashlight fades to black and our quest for a good no name battery continues. If we ever find one, I’ll let you know.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. We’re your source for honest battery information.

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Is This The Future of Rechargeable Batteries?

Tuesday, November 13th, 2007

When whoever invented the USB interface (Universal Serial Buss) they probably had no idea how universal this connection protocol could become. The USB connector is starting to show up on all sorts of devices to serve a function that is no longer limited to data transfer.

We spend a lot of time watching trends in rechargeable batteries, and the use of the USB interface as a port for charging a battery powered device is really starting to become common. IPODs and other MP3 players, cameras, recorders and lots of other devices with onboard rechargables now use the USB connection for battery charging. You can use the battery charger supplied with the device is you want to, but the real value in this set up is that it gives your computer (laptop or otherwise) the dual purpose of being a universal battery charger. Best of all, the battery can be charged while you use the computer for its intened purpose with no slowdown in its performance.

Travelers who are tired of having to carry a battery charger for every device in their bag (think Martha Stewart facing down the CEO of Sony) can now look forward to having one powerful multipurpose device charge batteries in the background. You can forget about which computer platform you use as well. A device that charges off a USB port doesn’t care if you are a PC or Mac user. “Universal” really does mean “universal”.

Anybody considering a battery powered gadet purchase for a Christmas present (particulary for a road warrior) ought to be sure that the device is equipped with a USB connector that serves the dual purpose of charging the battery.

Perhaps this really is the beginning of the end for a different charger for every device.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands.
Look to us for all your battery needs.

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Aren’t We All Selling Something?

Monday, October 15th, 2007

I try spend part of every day visiting forums where there are discussions among hands-on users of the products we sell. You can get a lot of good information about how people use what we sell to solve problems and its possible to develop good theories about how trends will develop over the coming months and years.

Unfortunately, those who moderate these forums (a thankless task, I know) have become so concerned about members using their forums to sell products that they are denying their membership the chance to take advantage of some of the most expert opinions available in the marketplace.

We have a very large product user base of stagehands and theatre techs, and almost every problem they face is going to cost them something to solve. Why deny these hard working technicians access to information from those who know these problem solving products the best.

I tried for a while to post solutions and start legitimate discussion on some of these forums, but I was constantly being threatened with banishment because the moderators did not want any links in their forums to any commercial sites.

Here’s a couple of quick examples.:

A number of theatre techs were discussing how to best remove adhesive residue from cables. I’ve done a lot of this and we sell a product that does the job really well. A link to this product on one of our web sites might have saved somebody a lot of time. Not Allowed!

I came across a post from a church sound technician who was concerned about poor battery life in her wireless microphones. It turns out that the church was using old-style carbon batteries in an attempt to save money. A simple link to buybattery.com where we sell the most highly regarded wireless mic battery around at very competitive prices might have been of real use to this person. Not allowed!

I understand the need to control spam and prevent postings from people who are selling something completely irrelevant to the discussion, but as long as these forum moderators attempt to block information from those who have the most to offer, they are not serving their members the best they could.

Posted in Pro Sound, Pro lighting, batteries, duct tape, gaffers tape | No Comments »

Is Your ISP Giving You Your Money’s Worth?

Thursday, October 11th, 2007

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Duracell Continues Move Towards A Sale

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007

Proctor and Gamble has made a major move towards confirming rumors about the sale of its Duracell division with the announcement that The Blackstone Group has been retained to advise it on finding a buyer. The Duracell brand generates over $2 billion in annual battery sales, so this is a very big deal. The sale price may reach as high as $7 billion dollars.

While Duracell remains healthy, it apparently is not generating the sort of growth numbers that P&G expects to see. It has been clear from the point of view of distributors that P&G did not meet the same standards for dealer support that had been provided by Gillette when they owned the brand. It will be interesting to see if a new owner can improve product delivery.

P&G has owned the ProCell brand for well over a year, yet there is still no reference to the product on their own web site. Not even a link directly to the duracell.com/procell web site. A “brand” search at the P&G website doesn’t even acknowledge the Procell brand.

The Blackstone Group is an international leader in the area of mergers and acquisitions, so the public announcement that they are involved in this project means that a change is inevitable. Check back here regularly for updates.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. We’re a great source for entertainment industry news too!

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