Left Airpod not charging

Left airpod frequently does not charge. Right airpod charges fine. I've had this problem for years with multiple Gen 2 and Gen 3 airpods. Today I discovered a possible root cause, and work-around solution. The root cause appears to be that when the left Airpod is inserted into the charging case it goes in about 1 or 2 millimeters too deep and therefore the metal contacts on the bottom of the Airpod do not make good contact with the metal contacts inside the charging case. When I gently raise the left Airpod about 1-2 mm then contact is made and it immediately starts charging. (In my opinion this seems to be a design defect.)

Temporary work-around: Drop a small piece of non-conducting material - about 1-2 mm thick - into the bottom of the left Airpod well of the charging case. I used a very small piece of plastic. (Of course it rattles around and could easily fall-out when the Airpod is removed - so this is a temporary work-around.) However, with this work-around the top of the case does not close completely! I'm going to try to think of a different method to raise the left Airpod 1-2 mm when it is inserted into the case.