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Riddle of the Hour
May. 8th, 2005 04:34 pmIn trying to purchase a replacement battery for our cordless phone, I've unearthed one of the least impressive mysteries of the age. We want to buy a replacement battery for a Uniden phone.
Uniden will sell us one for $5, but will charge us $5 to ship it to us.
RadioShack carries the exact same battery, but charges $12.95 + tax.
BestBuy doesn't carry this battery, but will sell us an Energizer version that's compatible for $19.95.
(Sure, any number of flybynightbatteries.com websites will sell it to us for less overall, but I want security if this bugger fails.)
In what version of economics does any of this make sense? I understand that there are a gazillion battery types out there, so it's feasible that RadioShack and BestBuy are jacking the price to reflect keeping it in stock on the off chance that someone like me actually needs it, but at 2.25x and 4x? Yumping yiminee!
Uniden will sell us one for $5, but will charge us $5 to ship it to us.
RadioShack carries the exact same battery, but charges $12.95 + tax.
BestBuy doesn't carry this battery, but will sell us an Energizer version that's compatible for $19.95.
(Sure, any number of flybynightbatteries.com websites will sell it to us for less overall, but I want security if this bugger fails.)
In what version of economics does any of this make sense? I understand that there are a gazillion battery types out there, so it's feasible that RadioShack and BestBuy are jacking the price to reflect keeping it in stock on the off chance that someone like me actually needs it, but at 2.25x and 4x? Yumping yiminee!
