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After the first of the year, or so say the toy companies, the consumer will be paying much higher prices for the toys they now are buying for Christmas. Buyers can expect to pay 10% higher prices for the increased vigilance of the toy industry and the stores that sell them. Due to 3 million lead-tainted toys from China, toy makers and stores are spending more on safety.
For instance, Barbie, which sells for about $6.99 now could go up to $7.70. The analysts say that this is the biggest single price hike in a number of years. They also say that consumers are likely to see higher prices on many other Chinese imported items like children’s clothing and fish.
Apparently, the largest increase in cost comes from the stores, toy makers and the third party testing sites who are making absolutely sure of the product prior to releasing it to market. The cheaper costs of the Chinese items have been due to Walmart and other discount stores campaigning for lower costs.
Companies have been in emergency mode for some time now since the last three recalls.They have removed items from the shelves and sent them to third party testing to make sure of the safety. Most of this is going to come out in the consumer prices on the shelves. Testing, overtime and labor will drive the price up in the short term but the ongoing safety vigilance will end up costing enough for the price to rise permanently.
The toy industry is pushing for federal regulations on mandatory toy testing and inspections but the Senators are interested in even more regulations than that like fines for selling tainted toys or failing to report such dangerous items.
This is only my opinion here but I believe that a certain amount of safety rules should be in place but I do not believe it is in our best interests for the government to put things like fines for selling and failing to report the toys. This is beginning to sound like it could end up being a witch hunt eventually. This is not a good idea.
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