I recently discovered that I had left the changer for my BlackBerry Tour behind (I’m in the process of moving, and left my changer at the old house), and needed a new one that night. So being late in the evening, my only option was a trip to the local Wal-Mart where I found the typical cheap off-brand charger for a somewhat pricey $15.
Had the quality been better, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought – but I’ve purchased a number of those changers in the past and they are poorly made and it never fails that they break within a few months.
Looking around I noticed a Tracfone package on the shelf that included a LG420G phone, a micro-USB wall charger (LG branded), a micro-USB car charger, and some other things (phone case, etc.), and all for $15. So for the same price as the cheap off-brand charger, I could get both a car and wall charger (both of better quality than the off-brand that Wal-Mart sells).
So it’s a better deal to by a cheap pre-paid phone and toss the phone than it is to just buy the charger. Kinda crazy, but true.