Segway batteries are an interesting item for many reasons. Beyond the technical aspects and steep price tag there is also the issue of stocking and selling them.  In this short article we will try to add transparency to our system of inventorying Segway batteries, why we do things the way we do, and why it is good for the end user.

    We have seen it more than once.  People come in with a Segway and the replacement set of batteries they just bought a few years prior are dead.  A quick read of the serial number on the battery and it is revealed the “new” set they have is four or five years old, not two or three as they thought.  Turns out the Segway batteries they bought and thought were new had been sitting in someone’s inventory for a couple of years prior to purchase! If you have read some of our other articles regarding Segway batteries you understand that age, not charges and discharges, tends to be the biggest killer of batteries.

    Since we understand that Segway batteries are an item in which age is a major factor we order our inventory accordingly.  We have no idea how long a set of batteries will sit (on offboard chargers of course) before being sold  so we order the minimum amount we can in to keep our Segway batteries “fresh”.  Since we have to order two sets (4 total) batteries to receive “volume pricing” we typically wait to order a new batch of batteries until our last set is sold.

    So why do we feel the need to explain this to our customers?  A big part of our business model here is always having items in stock and reducing turnaround time on orders.  Selling Segway batteries makes that a little difficult and sometimes embarrassing when we have to post things like “item is expected to arrive on “XX” date”.  At face value a message like that looks like poor inventory management but in reality we do it to maximize the time you have before you will need to make another large purchase!