Retailers don't have a clue

[Former_Member]

Okay maybe I am not getting this, maybe I'm missing something but it is now past 02/10/2009 and from what I can see it is business as usual for these retailers...looking at packaging nothing has changed. I see no big removal of products off the shelves and the managers are absolutely clueless about this law at all; I've asked at Walmart, K-Mart and the GM of a huge local grocery chain. If this was supposed to be such a big change then why is there nothing on the packaging, no notice near the toy aisle. If the retailers are supposed to be getting compliance certificates from their manufacturers why am I getting blank stares from management when I ask for 1 as a consumer buying a product...also I am seeing a lot of plastic, which contains phthalates and no kind of certification at all and the phthalates stay was overturned so things in inventory before 02/10 are not excluded. I am really confused. Can anyone shed any light on this?

Dee

[Former_Member]

my grandson went to dollar general today pick up a toy and went to pay but the sales lady told him that she couldn't sell it to him. I thought these items were suppost to be pulled.

[Former_Member]

They are supposed to be pulled. They are not supposed to be sold at all, not just not sold to children under 12.

[StoryBlox]

This whole thing is surreal, I think the government was afraid of the backlash if the real content of the bill and it's repercussions were widely known, so they didn't bother really announcing it -- which has left most of the country completely unaware of it (and hence not complaining). The real upset will come when the CPSC is forced to start enforcing things - or the first toy is found with lead after this new law has been passed (and the company gets slapped with the first $15 million dollar penalty for not complying).

[Former_Member]

I have been in several places and have not seen any change. Don't get it?

[Former_Member]

i work at a big box sporting goods store and we had to pull alot of stock and send it back to the companies. even the kid's bats had to be re gripped by the manufacturer and sent back to us.

[Former_Member]

The only place where it is a hot topic seems to be here on Etsy..no one else seems to know about it around here either.
Imagine the overload at the Dumps!Perfectly good useable items discarded? and will probably be used in land fill

[Former_Member]

SunsetSurf, what does the company you work for have to give the customer that says those bats were regripped? I'm just curious as to how a consumer is supposed to know if anything is different or not.

[meredithdillman]

I think the GCCs are only needed to be sent to retailers to keep on hand, not handed out to retail customers.

[Former_Member]

This is all fricken' ridiculous.

[Former_Member]

I asked to see the certificate for 3 different plastic toys at 3 different stores and got blank stares and what law from 3 different managers.

[Former_Member]

Frankly the managers are only going to know as much as their corporate offices tell them. I am a manager at a department store and I have not heard a peep from our home office. I really expected to see a change in our children's department (albeit small) in the last couple of weeks. Nothing. In fact I am the only one in the store that has ever heard of the act. We even have a former lawyer now sahm, and she had no clue. If you want to light a fire under some behinds, start calling their home offices and bugging them. Maybe that will get these big stores on our side.

[TheWrapScrapPony]

Yeah, I went to Babies R Us today and didn't notice anything different. I though the shelves would be empty, guess nobody cares but us!

[Former_Member]

I was ordering a birthday present for my daughter at American Girl and asked about it. They too had no clue.

[Former_Member]

So sad really!

With so many real issues to be concerned about...why this?

[Former_Member]

rockglenbeads says:
So sad really!

With so many real issues to be concerned about...why this?
************
*This* feeds my family, so *this* is a real issue.

[Former_Member]

littlethings, I read rock's post to be aimed at the government, not you guys. Maybe I misinterpreted though.

[Former_Member]

TheButtonBoutique says:
my grandson went to dollar general today pick up a toy and went to pay but the sales lady told him that she couldn't sell it to him. I thought these items were suppost to be pulled.

_________________________

hah! i wonder if they will sell that same toy and adult.

that may be dollar general's idea of a loop hole.

[FantasticToys]

I was told by the CEO of a local toy store chain that, "They don't care! There is NO one working at the CPSC!!"

I happily took there purchase order for a boat load of my toys.

[Former_Member]

I can tell you that I work for one of the retailers mentioned in the first post, and I can tell you that we have pulled a ton off our shelves. The reasons you may not notice is because at the time we pull something we expand something else. The shelves are not to be empty.
Empty shelves are not good for business, and these company's still need to "look" a certain way for the customers. As for the certificates, that I can not answer since I have yet to see any in my store as of yet.

[SusanAnna]

The trial lawyers are going to cash in and it will take a little time. This is the the sort of thing that made so many of notorious politicians millionaires. Lawsuit, lawsuit, lawsuit. Wait ‘til Mattel, and all those evil toy maker companies get what is coming to them.

Oh! And then there are all those poor children affected by all these zippers and buttons and Oh! Yes, those Poky Little Puppy Golden Books, those dear children use to shred them in their cereal, and now their lives are destroyed.

In 5 or 6 years we will see some handsome lawyer come to the scene with millions to spare on his campaign and sell promotion, all from the earnings on these lawsuits. Oh! How he saved the lives of innocent children exposed to these dangerous “lead.” And we will love the lawyer because he is so full of compassion, and by then we will all think how did we ever accept and live with a Poky Little Puppy Golden Book with lead in its pages. What where we thinking?

And it will be then we will elect, this lawyer, deliverer of children to be our new Commander and Chief and we will all have been saved! Hurray! Hurray!!!

[VioGemini]

no changes; thrift continues selling toys and books a,d clothes. Sears is full of clothes, with plastic appliques on t'shirts, even little things to make light sewn on t'shirt with large loose stitches!!! I wouldn't buy it for my 15 months old son.

[Former_Member]

senseofstyle, I respectfully disagree...I was at these stores on 02/09/2009 and again on 02/10/2009 and things were exactly the same, nothing changed on any of the shelves. Plus I had been there the week before and the week before that in the course of my regular shopping.

[Former_Member]

which is why I am not changing a thing! I talked to the Librarian at my moms school...she had NO IDEA what I was talking about...these are the people who are supposed to know what is going on but is the mom and pops pulling their hair out over it. I'm sitting tight, keeping my eyes and ears open and not making a move...YET!

[StoryBlox]

SusanAnna I didn't get halfway through your post before I busted up laughing. I'm glad you have a sense of humor over this mess, I needed the laugh.