Apple, all I wanted was a battery

Posted on May 6, 2008 at 7:31 am by Jerad Hill 7 Comments

Over decorated battery

I have had a Macbook Pro since the initial launch of the Intel based Mac. It has been a great laptop with my only complaint being battery life. Now some year and a few months later I find myself needing a replacement battery because my current battery will only hold a 20 minute charge. I logged on at the Apple Store website and coughed up $138.51 after tax for a new battery. Upon opening the box I was a little frustrated because of how nicely packaged my battery was for retail display. I mean come on Apple it’s a fricken replacement battery. It does not need to have store shelf appeal, you either need it or you don’t. My frustration comes from the fact that I had to pay $138.51 for a batter when I’m sure it could have been less had they sent me my batter in a sheet of bubble wrap. I have no problem with getting my hard drives and other computer parts from Newegg in bubble wrap rather then a fancy retail package. I like saving money. Apple you should give discounts to people who could give less of a crap as to what their batter comes wrapped in as long as it arrives save. Rant complete.

Jerad

  • Constable Odo

    You didn’t have to buy a MacBook Pro battery from Apple. You could have gotten one from other stores for less money. For instance:
    http://www.calcellular.com/apple-lt.html?gclid=CLH21–7kpMCFQ-WGgodNwVUgQ

    There are a number of places that sell less expensive batteries for Apple laptops.

    I do understand your point, but I’m just giving you another solution if genuine Apple parts are too expensive for your taste. My late 2006 MacBook Pro’s battery seems to be holding less of a charge, too, so I guess I’ll get a replacement battery from another source than Apple.

  • steveH

    Jerad,

    You don’t seem to realize that, once the initial display packaging was produced, that offering the cheaper packaging for you wouldn’t actually save Apple (and in the long run, you) money.

    There would be duplicate part numbers (the battery isn’t the only thing that must be tracked/orderable), costs of developing/testing/producing/warehousing/etc/etc of the additional product, and all the other lifecycle costs.

    You just get insulated from all these concerns by being a consumer. (I haven’t been so sheltered, having been in product development for the past 30 years.)

    I hope this brightens your day a little.

  • http://www.ijerad.com Jerad

    In all reality no fancy retail box is going to help sell a battery, you either need an extra or you don’t. Steve, you do have a bit more product development experience with me but I owned a business for 5 years in retail. There were parts that needed to be displayed prominently in order to get attention, like aftermarket dirtbike forks and billet rims, but tire tubes and chain never needed fancy packaging. They were my best sellers and they came in a bulk box.

    I know that Apple packages everything nice and I will be the first to admit that I love their style. I just thought it was funny that I ordered a battery and got all of this fancy packaging. Sorry I touched a nerve Steve.

  • Brett

    At least your battery arrived intact. I assume it was double-boxed. Had the outer box gotten crushed in shipping (it happens), the inner box would have further protected the battery.

    How much cheaper do you think it would be if it shipped in a bubble wrap bag with a computer printed sticker on it rather than the “fancy” black box with an offset printed label? Maybe a dollar or two at most. And don’t forget that Apple would then have to manage two different items in inventory (the retail pack and the bare-bones version). The inefficiency of stocking two versions of the same battery would have added administrative costs.

    Face it, the battery may seem outrageously expensive, but don’t blame the packaging.

  • http://www.ijerad.com Jerad

    I can’t believe that people are wasting their time arguing with me about a stupid rant I went off on for two seconds that holds no value other then the fact that I felt like complaining on my blog about it. Never the less if anything it is a lot of waste created to send me a battery. Regardless of if it would save me fifty cents on the cost of the product or anything else I would rather not have any more waste then the box that was used to ship it to me. Yes the packaging is nice but it’s not something I would save and put on a shelf, though it is nice enough to do so. My argument is this, save some natural resources and be green since that is where the trend is going. Thank you to those of you who took the time to post, I am not trying to be a jerk or under-mind your opinion, trust me I am flattered that you took the time to even read my rant.

  • GoCat

    Blog. With commenting enabled. What did you think would happen? :)

  • http://me.dm Phil

    i totally agree with you dude, their also needs to be an upgrade plan for loyality. not that i would go anywhere else i am more than happy with the hardware/software that apple produce.

    I hear ya thou dude. batteries should be trade in discount etc.