CPSC says resale shops can sell used kids clothes, but...
Filed under: Kids and Money, Shopping
Thrifty shoppers, Goodwill, and those planning to hold a yard sale anytime after February 10 all took a deep breath of relief yesterday, only to be replaced with a gasp of continued disbelief over the CPSC's new children's products act. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which cracks down on lead and phthalates in children's toys, clothing, and gear of all sorts, requires that manufacturers or sellers test for lead using very expensive equipment before selling any item (from a toddler's cotton jacket with a zipper to a BMX bike) that might possibly contain it. While most of the onus on providing the tests falls to the manufacturer (which has lead to an outcry from small toy and clothing manufacturers who will now be required to conduct very expensive testing and certification, even for "natural" products like wood blocks and cloth diapers), the penalties -- and the responsibility for providing certification to the CPSC -- would belong to the seller.[Update: As of February 6, 2009, the future was still uncertain, though consumers and retailers had hope thanks to an amendment to be introduced by South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint and calls for CPSC Chairwoman Nancy Nord to step down.]
Some thrift stores were holding clearance sales on children's items, and refusing to accept more toys and kids' clothing for resale, fearing that the entire market for children's thrift would turn into hazardous waste overnight.
Yesterday, the CPSC released a statement indicating that "Sellers of used children's products, such as thrift stores and consignment stores, are not required to certify that those products meet the new lead limits, phthalates standard or new toy standards." In other words: Goodwill is safe. Or is it?
The very next paragraph of the statement qualified the safety of thrift stores entirely:"resellers cannot sell children's products that exceed the lead limit and therefore should avoid products that are likely to have lead content, unless they have testing or other information to indicate the products being sold have less than the new limit. Those resellers that do sell products in violation of the new limits could face civil and/or criminal penalties." The statement went on to threaten penalties for any seller which offered a recalled product for sale.
While I certainly don't agree with reselling recalled products knowingly, telling sellers that they don't have to test for lead, but they certainly can't sell anything with lead in it, is talking out of both sides of the agency's mouth, and will have a chilling effect on the industry. I predict many thrift stores will get out of the business of children's products entirely. Why risk being the next business investigated on the News at 10! as selling toxic t-shirts? It's just not worth the pain for many business owners.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-10-2009 @ 9:04AM
Ruby said...
I am outraged! Don't they know that some of us can't afford to buy our things at Walmart? This is going to hurt the people who are already hurting the most. I would check to see what manufacturing groups may be behind this move. I ask you this...When a child has no clothes, is it more important to protect him from lead or from cold when you can't do both?
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1-10-2009 @ 10:57AM
karen said...
This is CRAZY!!!!!
Who started this? I've been buying used stuff for years and my kids are fine, now I'm buying used items for my grand children.
I have always felt it was good for the enviroment to reuse.
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1-10-2009 @ 12:01PM
outraged! said...
this has NOTHING to do with lead OR children. this has EVERYTHING to do with the ECONOMY!!!! people have no money right now and are doing their best to be frugal - buying used whenever possible. the economy needs to be stimulated because we're on this crazy downward spirial and this FORCES us to spend. end of story. this makes me sick! if there was really a big concern about this, it would have been handled LONG before now!!!
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1-10-2009 @ 1:42PM
Bill said...
Another question... Who in their right mind thinks for even a microsecond that people, even toddlers would try injesting a BMX bicycle? Just MORE big governement in the hope of keeping a few more nincompoops employed by elitist pigs.
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1-10-2009 @ 1:48PM
Amanda said...
I've been buying our kids' clothes and some toys at yard sales for years to help stretch the budget (we're a blue-collar, single-income family that considers it a good year if we make 25K), and this new law is making me crazy! How do these red tapeworms expect families like us to be able to clothe our kids and offload clothes they've outgrown afterwards if we can't go the yard sale/thrift store route? Spending $10 for one item of clothing that's either slutty-looking or covered with cartoon characters from junk TV shows when you can buy so much more, better-quality clothing at yard sales is STUPID, to say nothing of the fact that some families out there can't even afford to buy clothing at Wal-Mart! Somebody had better rethink this law, and FAST!
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1-10-2009 @ 2:26PM
Bill said...
Proof again that the lust for money is the root of all kinds of evil, and that money is far more powerful to politicians than any common sense or morality are.
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1-11-2009 @ 12:08PM
Gary E. Sattler said...
Truly, this move by government regulators borders on insanity.
It's all about jamming money upward towards the pet corporations of politicians, and has very little to do with actually protecting kids.
It's purely asinine.
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1-13-2009 @ 5:25PM
Cheryl Fleener said...
I found your site through a fellow blogger, Tanya in Iowa. I am grateful for the information. I will be calling the 800 number this afternoon to get the number of the law and who sponsored it! There are ways to rebutt, but yes I agree the law sounds like they are trying to panic people into closing the selling of the children's items and then their livihood! Nothing surprises me! I am not happy about this! Sincerely Nana C
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1-15-2009 @ 5:31PM
Gail said...
Our freedom is slowly being taken away and alot of people don't realize it. The United States will not be known as land of the free or opportunity. What are we to do with our clothes that our children has outgrown? What about the clothing drives that our schools have cause of the many parents who cannot afford clothes for their children? What about the families who has suffered through a disaster and rely on donations from other families but cannot get clothes for their children because of this stupid law. I guess their kids will do without and kids will be naked.
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