In article ,
wrote:
On Friday, 19 July 2019 18:39:51 UTC+1, wrote:

I opened a new package of Kirkland brand AA batteries but when I put
them in the device I got the flashing LED mesage of low voltage. Out
of 6 batteries 3 were bad. Measuring the voltages one battery measured
.82 volts, another 1.1 volts, and a third one measured -87 mV.
Negative? Really? Yeah, I thought that too. But I made sure the meter
leads were correctly placed. So I guess something weird is happenening
to these batteries while they are sitting in the package.

I've had some with small negative v too. No idea what the chemistry is that's making that happen.

As for brands, most are much the same. ZnC and alkaline certainly aren't, but otherwise they're not a lot
different. All are liable to leak when flat. ZnC sometimes leak when half flat.

A decade ago, I was happily buying the Kirkland-brand AAs from Costco,
getting good in-service lifetime and no problems to speak of.

A few years ago, something changed. I began to find their AAs
starting to leak, while still fully charged (never put into service),
while still in the original storage box or shrink-wrap package, well
before their labeled "use by" date.

I don't know whether they changed suppliers, or whether their old
supplier's quality fell through the floor... but the result was the
same. I've stopped buying the Kirkland batteries.