"They can be stored at any SoC"
I disagree, from my personal experiences.
The kid would take the AA nicds for her walkman (or whatever).
When they went flat, she'd take more and drop the dead ones in a desk drawer, or on the floor to get kicked under her desk or bed or somewhere.
Might take a month or 2 before an adult would find them, and half of those were toast (some came back after sparkin-the-wiskers).
That said, I know I have used others well over 1000 cycles that still work quite well (but obviously below the rated AH).
Shortly after we bought this house, I saw a GREAT deal on a couple cleance price cordless phones (I opted for the wierd purple and the nasty green... no wonder they didn't sell).
The purple one had the pack (3 flat-top AAs) changed some years ago (thanks BruceS).
The green one still has the factory nicd pack.
These are the primary (only) phones in the house, and they got a LOT of use (back when there was a wife, pre-teen then teen then 20s girl without a cell phone, a business, 3 phone lines, and a cell phone we did not use often).
Can leave them off the charger for a week, and they both still work fine to this day.
And I bought them 16 years ago.
That's almost 6000 days.
G-