batteries from Costco; country of origin contradiction?

[f355spider]

Latest Interstate AGM batteries from Costco have a contradiction in their country of origin.

Is there some Korea/Germany collaboration going on?
Some had one or the other...some had no country of origin on the label.

I asked the Costco employee what is meant if there is no country of origin, could I assume it is made in the USA?
He said, "based on these, I would say assume nothing" LOL

My suspicion on the batteries posted below is they are made in Germany, and the only label Interstate had at the time, listed the country of origin already with Korea listed. Other batteries on the shelf had Interstate labels that did not list a country of origin, then had a separate "Made in Mexico" or whatever stuck on it.

 

[GSCJR]

It's where the stickers are made

 

[1444buicking]

I would assume only the plastic cover was made in Germany.

Interestate can tell you.

 

[bdcardinal]

FWIW Motorcraft has had AGM batteries come from Germany, China, Korea, and Mexico. Lots of issues with the ones from China not lasting.

 

[JavierH19]

That's a new one.

 

[JavierH19]

FWIW Motorcraft has had AGM batteries come from Germany, China, Korea, and Mexico. Lots of issues with the ones from China not lasting.

I'm so "shocked"...

 

[Hall]

My suspicion on the batteries posted below is they are made in Germany, and the only label Interstate had at the time, listed the country of origin already with Korea listed.

No, Interstate wouldn't be that stupid. It's against the law in the US to mislabel or misrepresent a product's COO. Also, Interstate doesn't get thousands and thousands of batteries that they re-label with stickers. Those stickers are applied at the manufacturing facility.

 

[FoxProTwisty]

Made in Korea by Germans.

My guess is Clarios had a supply issue with cases at their Germany plant and used some from their Korea plant instead. Or vice versa. Or neither. Or who cares.

 

[SC Maintenance]

What @Hall said. The fine for mis-labeling COO can be huge if someone wants to push it. In the current environment I bet someone would push it.

The only product that doesn't require a COO is if its made in the USA, so no label you should be able to assume that. I don't know why manufacturers don't proudly label there made in USA products anyway - its the best marketing.

 

[Carmudgeon]

Latest Interstate AGM batteries from Costco have a contradiction in their country of origin.

Is there some Korea/Germany collaboration going on?
Some had one or the other...some had no country of origin on the label.

I asked the Costco employee what is meant if there is no country of origin, could I assume it is made in the USA?
He said, "based on these, I would say assume nothing" LOL

My suspicion on the batteries posted below is they are made in Germany, and the only label Interstate had at the time, listed the country of origin already with Korea listed. Other batteries on the shelf had Interstate labels that did not list a country of origin, then had a separate "Made in Mexico" or whatever stuck on it.

I suspect you're right; it's just sloppiness on the part of the employee tasked to (mis)apply the labels, or maybe they just didn't have the right ones on hand. Why they made the COO part of the Costco label to begin with is questionable, since it limits their application range. With the commoditization and multi-sourcing of vehicle batteries, it makes even less sense. All those labels require is the Costco branding, specs, and SKU information.

I've posted a picture before of the stack of Costco labels I spied at an Interstate distributor. They are applied at the regional/local level, not at the factory.

A peek inside the warehouse showed pallets of anonymous, if not generic, batteries waiting to receive their stickers with the appropriate branding.

Stickers on top of stickers, as illustrated above again (below the group size), usually indicates that the process is neither rigid, nor strict in practice. The round date stickers suggesting batteries from the future are further indication of loosely defined practices when it comes to labeling these things. The ones that are applied crooked are the easiest to spot, and betray the human factor involved.

 

[f355spider]

I would assume only the plastic cover was made in Germany.

Interestate can tell you.

No, that "Made in Germany" sticker has been used for about 6 or 7 years on all the Clarios sourced batteries from Germany (assumed a Varta plant).
See attached examples below: AC Delco, Interstate, WalMart.

 

[f355spider]

No, Interstate wouldn't be that stupid. It's against the law in the US to mislabel or misrepresent a product's COO. Also, Interstate doesn't get thousands and thousands of batteries that they re-label with stickers. Those stickers are applied at the manufacturing facility.

I disagree with you. It has been posted by Carmudgeon previously (and in this thread) that the Interstate branded labels are applied at their local distribution points, based on the customer they are delivering to. The individual "Made in xxx" stickers are presumably applied at the country of origin.

 

[Hall]

the Interstate branded labels are applied at their local distribution points, based on the customer they are delivering to.

Then I take back what I said - they are stupid. They really are breaking the law too.

 

[FoxProTwisty]

Clarios used to and probably still does have the largest AGM plant in the world in Germany. I've been seeing different variations of those stickers for many years on all kinds of their batts - Diehard, Duralast, Everstart, Acdelco, Champion, and on. JCI built the beast and they went full beast mode on it. And like the OP said, these are just their private labels as they also do countless OEMs for BMW, Volks, etc.