Sunday, January 04, 2009

No Saving Money or Recycling for Parents

You'll notice a new little image on my side bar.



I've been promoting the "Save Handmade" campaign, but I never realized the CPSIA was this far-reaching: Gov't Says, Sorry, No More Reselling Your Kids' Stuff

I've sold and donated used kids' things. I buy consignment all the time. I prefer to buy kids' and maternity clothes from consignment shops. It's one of the tips I give for those trying to "Go Green," (if you reuse items instead of buying new, there will be less to fill the landfills). I've Freecycled lots of my kids' old things. I'm a big fan of garage sales. We wouldn't have been able to clothe twins all these years (and now their little brother and soon the new one) without consignment shops, garage sales and the kindness of friends with hand-me-downs.

This could be an even bigger disaster than I ever imagined.

5 comments:

Nancy said...

Wow, I'm stunned. I'd like to blog about this as well. If I mention finding out about it from your site, would that be okay with you?

Reiza said...

That's fine with me. Hopefully, if we get the information out there, something can be done to prevent this.

Phyllis Sommer said...

it is all pretty shocking and stupid. there has to be a better way.

TheFeministBreeder said...

Jeez Louise are they serious?!?? The entire "baby & kids" section of Craigslist would have to shut down if this were the case - and we have bought and sold most of what we have through there. It's a god send.

Talk about gubment stupidity.

The Library Lady said...

I think we can relax. This was discussed on a listserv I'm on, and I got a link that explains what's what:

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09086.html

The pertinent text:
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.....The new safety law does not require resellers to test children’s products in inventory for compliance with the lead limit before they are sold. However, 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.

Thank heavens. I've got a heck of a lot of stuff to consign this spring!