Why did old batteries last a long time and new ones suck so bad?
Supposedly it's due environmental regulations, but I say also due to cheap ass corporations refusing to spend money and fix their products.
This was in a research paper:
"Gas can form in all of these [alkaline] batteries due to the corrosion of zinc. Zinc in the battery gets corroded into the electrolyte as the battery is used. This corrosion can cause electrolysis and can cause the generation of hydrogen gas in the canister. Build-up of hydrogen gas can cause the battery to leak, limiting the ability of the battery to function. Mercury suppresses this zinc corrosion, which is why it is added..."
The mercury ban means evolved hydrogen buildup is now a problem, the batteries need to "burp" without spewing electrolyte, but no seal can do that for $0.0000001
The plastic piston seal is a thin ring of bitumen, nothing else really can take the super caustic KOH. It's very hard on materials. I'm not sure bitumen is even used lately.
Duracell are absolutely the worst alkaline battery I've seen for leaking. When you phone them and bitch that your 289 got killed, they were just baffled. No battery goes in anything over $10 according to them. Remote control, toy, flashlight - that's all they might cover.
Regarding mega conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, please refer to the chart showing how many Duracell batteries are leaking in the world lol