What I was thinking was that my last pickup battery ( and many before), the store punched out the month and date of the sale on the little card on the top of the battery.

I'v never really LOOKED to see the manufacture or charge date -but I see the one in my van was manufactured in 2005 (can't read the month anymore). The "sold punch out date" is FEB 2007. That one sat around for a time. But it came with the truck when we bought it used in late 2007.