I Tracked Down The Brand Numbers Of My Costco Battery

The store in Chula Vista may be Costco USA closest to the border.

And as for knocking the number of Mexicans bringing hundreds of millions of dollars to the USA, I say, GO FOR IT!

(In Spanish and verbatim reporting my conversation with the Costco store manager in Morelia, Michoacan)

"Sir this is this week's flyer for Costco USA. Why does this flyer state the normal price of this flat panel television is HALF THE PRICE of the Costco Mexico LG "pantalla plano" television"

Response

"This is not the USA" (swear to god)

And neither price included add-on taxes.

So when I priced a group 34 LTH battery at COSTCO in Ensenada it was four dollars and change less expensive than the one I bought in Chula Vista. Both cost in excess of one hundred dollars. The USA battery was subject to 8.25% state sales tax. The Mexico battery was subject to 16% national sales tax.

42 month outright guarantee of the USA battery versus 30 month guarantee of for the Mexican battery.

With the USA battery being four pounds heavier.

Let them come north and buy billions of dollars worth of USA merchandise! I am for FREE TRADE not just political diatribe but in reality.

A few Mexico old-hands have a saying with regard to too many young gringos in Mexico

The UNWANTED may be preferable

To the WANTED. Check USA law enforcement

mike-s wrote:

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
purchased at Costco, Chula Vista, CA. October 7, 2018

ksg5000 wrote:
Where did you buy this battery? USA or Mexico?

I'm pretty sure California is still in the USA.

Northern or Southern CA? :B

I love the "gauntlet" passing Mexican Customs returning from the USA. The vaunted RED / GREEN traffic light that they say USED TO randomly pick vehicles for customs searches TODAY...

Is used to slow traffic down to a crawl. You could walk faster...

Six lanes

And THREE customs officers (18-total)

To pass. They stare inside a car or in the bed of a pickup

Black windows. Newer car, single driver INSPECTION!

Pickup truck with drive-in theater screen TV in the bed INSPECTION!

Cars sagging in the rear INSPECTION!

Mexicowanderer with goodies on the floor in the rear seat, overload springs, forward tilt, no inspection. Non taxable stuff in trunk.

APPARENTLY for CAR batteries, COSTCO does not buy a vendor's lightest and least expensive model.

mike-s wrote:

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
purchased at Costco, Chula Vista, CA. October 7, 2018

ksg5000 wrote:
Where did you buy this battery? USA or Mexico?

I'm pretty sure California is still in the USA.

Chula Vista is often referred to as Chulajuana due to its proximity to Tijuana, and perhaps the high latino population percentages

And mark the fact that I have checked perhaps two dozen made in Mexico sold in Mexico batteries and none of them were as heavy as their premium made north of the border cousins.

My 34 is several pounds heavier, a group 65 is 6 pounds heavier and each GC220 3 cell is four pounds heavier and as far as wet batteries are concerned you do not get a choice - one BCI group size, one weight.

The Exide has a handle on it. At Costco I hefted it and there was no question it was significantly heavier than the LTH I checked and the Gohner I owned. And for similar dollar price.

One thing I like about a battery sold in Costco. No warranty hassles. Wal-Mart has given me nothing but chicken-**** static about tires and batteries and now the store is limited to selling me bed sheets, underwear and household items.

Having NOT lived in the USA for so many years I can asssssume that the 42 month replacement warranty is good at any USA Interstate battery vendor?

When I was contracted to a large battery warehouse in the USA I encouraged the vendor to use a hook, 36 months of free replacement for group 24 and 27 LTH Mexican batteries. He sold them like hotcakes and I simply do not remember him warrantying a single battery.

Oh, last shopping trip I found a 2019 expiration date on a bag of rock salt.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooo


A syntax hall monitor. God forbid.

Twenty lashes. Dismemberment and extermination of all family members?
Yes it was September. Writing a whole bunch of emails with the current date and the excuse might be...

Da Debble made me dew it...

Will I ever be forgiven?

But seriously thank you for pointing this out. I am rather fussy about errors. Put a smile on my face.

Exide eh? That's who makes the GC2 batteries that Rural King sells. $79

^^ He used his flux capacitor to make the purchase.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Brand numbers are branded into the lid on a finished product.

To the list of manufacturer's of batteries sold at Costco...

Please add EXIDE.

The manufacturer of my toad group 34 purchased at Costco, Chula Vista, CA. October 7, 2018

I wrote this to augment information and not as a statement other than of origin :)

OK I know that I get confused easily, but how do you purchase something 3 days in advance of today’s date.

Found this little tidbit on the net.

Interstate Battery System of America, Inc., a.k.a. Interstate Batteries, is a privately owned company that markets automotive batteries manufactured by Exide Technologies, Johnson Controls and others.