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<p>I have a couple of theories, worth exactly what you paid for
them:</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>1) It's a well-known 'secret' that, in addition to the
order-of-magnitude lower wages, one of the reasons that companies
like to shift manufacturing overseas is the generally lower
standards of environmental protections. Spill some acid on the
floor in a US plant, it probably gets some absorbent material
thrown on it, then scooped up and put in a container for proper
disposal at a hazmat site (yeah, I know it doesn't always happen
that way). Spill some in, say, a Chinese or Mexican plant it gets
squeegeed or rinsed off the floor into a drain that goes to the
local sewer or, more likely, to the nearest river. Quality isn't
just a matter of assembling things, but maintaining an efficient,
clean all-around work environment; i.e. the 'who gives a crap'
attitude can become pervasive. I bet we all check out the
condition of any shop we take any of our cars to for maintenance
or repair, for just that reason.<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>2) Workers getting paid a sustenance wage simply aren't going to
feel any pride in what they're making, compared to a worker
getting an honest wage, some benefits and at least a little
respect; i.e. no 'skin in the game.'<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>3) Besides the machines and processes--fairly easy to
transplant--there is often a great deal of 'institutional
knowledge' involved in factory assembly processes. I read a
rather long article about the workers in one of the Midwestern
plants that are being exported. Although it was an automated
plant, one woman had run a particular machine for many years and
was intimately familiar with its quirks and idiosyncrasies. Even
though she trained the Mexican crew that was taking her and her
comrades' jobs they couldn't get the machine to perform as well as
when she ran it. No amount of oversight from a few gringos
cracking the whip was going to replicate the years of experience
she had working that machine.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>I think the 'recycling of lead' might theory might have some
relevance; it's possible some contaminants can't be removed in a
recycling process. I've noticed that the high-priced AGM
batteries all advertise that they use 'pure' lead. Recycling a
toxic substance like lead is a good thing, but it may have a
downside.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Bob<br>
</p>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 1/13/2018 10:06 AM, Jean Caron
wrote:<br>
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<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0">While I believe and
trust what you were told by your friend. I wonder sometimes
what really causes the problems with some of these parts and
accessories. I have a hard time believing that a company like
Interstate, just because their batteries are made in another
country, they cannot be of equal quality. Unless they change
the method and the standard under which these are assembled,
it should not matter whether they are made in Mexico, USA,
Bangladesh or China. The quality should be the same, the only
savings here should be that they are assembled by someone
making $1.00 an hour as opposed to someone making $12.00 an
hour and for all I know, they could be assembled by a robot,
so it should matter even less.
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0">If however, in order to
keep the prices down, Interstate changes the standard the
battery is supposed to meet, that is something else entirely.
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0">Jean<br>
</p>
<br>
<br>
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
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<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font style="font-size:11pt"
face="Calibri, sans-serif" color="#000000"><b>From:</b>
Healeys <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:healeys-bounces@autox.team.net"><healeys-bounces@autox.team.net></a> on behalf
of Bob Spidell <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:bspidell@comcast.net"><bspidell@comcast.net></a><br>
<b>Sent:</b> January 13, 2018 4:54 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:healeys@autox.team.net">healeys@autox.team.net</a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Healeys] 6 volt batteries</font>
<div> </div>
</div>
<div style="background-color:#FFFFFF">
<p>On another note, the guy who has rebuilt a couple
starters and a generator for me has this to say:</p>
<p>"<span style="color:#3366ff; font-size:12pt;
font-family:verdana,geneva,sans-serif">I was a
Interstate Distributor for 25 years, they were an
excellent quality battery. These batteries are
manufactured for Interstate by Johnson Control who was
manufacturing the batteries here in California, however
as all Companies want to make more profit about 5 years
ago they shut down operations in California and started
making the batteries in Mexico, well you can see what
that will do, the quality started to drop down
tremendously to a point were they have high battery
failure we had to drop selling Interstate Batteries.
Most mechanic will not install these batteries in their
customers vehicle's. Now you can buy Interstate
Batteries at Costco, even Triple AAA sells them, just
junk batteries. There is a battery which we are
currently selling called Deka,this battery is
manufactured in the USA and they have an excellent
record, we have been selling them for a while and have
not had any problems."</span></p>
<span style="color:#3366ff; font-size:12pt;
font-family:verdana,geneva,sans-serif"><font
color="#000000">I've had bad experiences with
Interstate--OEM battery for my Mustang--and Motorcraft
(also Hecho en Mexico but not sure if by Johnson
Controls). He thinks JC might still make batteries in
the US, but only the eastern states get them. He also
theorizes that recycling lead may cause problems. I
have a Deka in my Mustang and so far, so good.
<br>
<br>
FWIW, my 'source' is Mexican.<br>
<br>
Bob<br>
</font></span><br>
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