Supermarket Own Brand; Sainsbury's; 003

Since the advent of the Supermarket as we in the "noughties" (2000's) know it, you've been able to buy "own brand" batteries just as easily as buying own-brand baked beans, toilet paper, or crisps.

Sainsbury's "Home" Long Life 1

I think the general feeling on own-brand Supermarket batteries is that they are certainly a cheaper product than a branded battery like the ubiquitous "Daddy" of all things batteries, Duracell, but that they aren't quite as bad as say, something you'd get in Poundland for... er... a pound.

I'm sure someone will correct me, but you often tend to find the same factories that are producing Heinz baked beans under licence are producing other competitor's products anyway, and the usual line is that they may be the same factory, but they use better ingredients when they are doing a "Heinz" run of beans, against lower value ingredients when producing a batch of say, "Happy Shopper" baked beans (sawdust and newspaper fibre spring to mind here). Bit like sausages where the top-price ones will be marked "98% Pork", and as you come down the price scale, that "pure" meat value comes down too, to 95%, 80% and so on... with the remainder being made up of filler like rusk and the like. Although, it does pay to remember that both a pork loin steak and a pig's anus are both 100% pork and can be classified and labelled on products as such, but I know which one I'd not prefer to have in my sausages...

Sainsbury's "Home" Long Life 2

I've not been able to trace just who makes these batteries for Sainsbury's, but I expect it's a large company that also turns out "identical" batteries for other third-party companies, such as "Strand Europe" perhaps? Do you know who it is?

You can also see the "not in the normal rubbish" struck-out "wheelie bin" image, along with a warning about being responsible when disposing of batteries. Guess that means no more throwing them out of a moving car window at people I dislike then...

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words; Kodak Super Heavy Duty; 002

When the brand "Kodak" comes to mind, I usually immediately think of camera film.. not batteries... but that is just what Kodak do sell now. In fact, what surprised me when I saw these on sale for the first time was that they were being sold in branches of "Poundland" in packs ranging from eight, to 12, to even 16 for just £1.

Kodak Super Heavy Duty

Not only those, but there was a whole range of sizes and types of Kodak batteries on offer there. Far more than you'd expect if they were part of a single "job-lot" or something. No, it was more like Poundland had gone into partnership with Kodak given the volume I saw, and the fact that months later, they are still available.

Looking at the Poundland web site, that certainly appears to be the case, as Poundland are listing Kodak as a brand here; https://www.poundland.co.uk/brands/kodak/

You may also be interested to know that as of September 2018, these were listed as the 2nd most purchased item in a Poundland survey (well, of one branch anyway) and you can read here; https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats-on/shopping/poundland-reveals-top-10-best-14355591

Why not have a guess as to what was number one before you click? It might surprise you...

I had a quick look to see just when Kodak started selling batteries and found that was a surprise too; it was back as far as 1986, if you have a look at their company "milestones" history page on their web site.

From my research, these batteries are made in China by "Strand Europe", who are located here in the UK, in Berkshire. Strand Europe boast to have the Kodak Battery license globally too. 

At £1 for 16, that represents a cost of  just 6p per battery! 

I've used these myself for children's toys and not really felt they were running out more quickly than any other standard "cheap" zinc battery either. Have you?

The Start Of The Year... And A New Project...GP Ultra; 001

Battery recycling is the recycling activity that aims to reduce the number of batteries being disposed as municipal solid waste. Batteries contain a number of heavy metals and toxic chemicals and disposing of them by the same process as regular rubbish / trash has raised concerns over soil contamination and water pollution. When I see the large collection buckets or "bins" for collecting dead batteries for recycling inside stores, usually overflowing with the things. I'm still amazed at the sheer variety of brands that are available, especially those for probably the most common of batteries, the humble "AA" or "Double A"-size.

I wondered just how many different brands or varieties out there, and thought it might be fun to see if I could find and post a new design or type every day (or where time allows)  for the whole of 2019... ergo; a target of 365 different AA-size batteries.

I've decided to allow myself to count variants of the same brand as "different", so unless I hit 300 and find more new ones, expect to see more than one Duracell version and the like.

So, on with the show...

To start off this inaugural post, I thought why not pick out a "Christmassy" battery... What on earth is a Chrismassy" battery, I hear you ask; well, I am thinking of one that attempts were made to try and sell to me personally, in the run-up to Christmas;

GP Ultra 1

So, what makes this GP Ultra-brand Christmassy then? Well, it's because it's the brand that is sold by "The Entertainer" chain of toy shops, and the one they push when you buy anything needing batteries in one of their stores. It's also worth mentioning that the famous consumer-testing organisation Which? featured the GP Ultra brand in a recent "power-off" competition between battery brands, and although you have to sign up and pay to see the report, a member of their staff was overheard telling a customer that they had come in very favourably against the competition (I forget the exact words they used, but it was along those lines).

GP Ultra 2

The one thing I just bet you are dying to know is just what the "GP" in the name actually stands for... it's not "Golden Power" as I assumed; no, it's actually "Golden Peak" don't you know. If you have nothing better to do and can't get pr0n sites at your place of work, you may want to head over to their Golden Peak's world home site at https://www.gpbatteries.com/int_en/corporate-information and take a look at their Corporate Information page. 

In the 50 years (yes, surprised me too) they have been in business,  GP Batteries has rapidly expanded to become one of the world's major suppliers of primary and rechargeable batteries and being one of the largest consumer battery manufacturers in China. It supplies an extensive range of battery products to original equipment manufacturers, leading battery companies as well as consumer retail markets under its own GP brand name.

GP Batteries' production facilities are located in China, Vietnam and Malaysia, and has trading offices spanning across Asia, Europe and North America.  As of January 2019, the Group currently employs about 6,000 people worldwide and occupies a total floor area of approximately 260,000 square metres.

Prices are varied, but The Entertainer itself is selling packs of four, plus two free for £2.00 at present, meaning one battery works out to about 33p

So, that's my first post done. As it's the 3rd of January already, that means I'm two batteries behind... not a great start, but I do have at least 20 at home to write up, and I never envisioned having the time or ability to write one up every day, so you'll just have to be patient and deal with posts containing more than one battery. ;-) 

Did you get any of these for Christmas, or have used them yourself? Why not comment below on how good you found them or not... long life / short life etc.