Etsy Bloggers Blog Carnival for January 5, 2009

CPSIA Law of 2008

This is my first blog carnival for 2009. It is appropriate that as the new year brings change my first blog should be about some big changes coming in 2009 for crafters and vendors of goods for children under the age of 12. These changes are legislated under the  CPSIA Law of 2008 (USA).

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) was penned in response to the breach of consumer trust by the large toy manufacturers who contracted with Chinese firms to manufacture their toys. As many of us on both sides of the USA/Canada border are aware many of those toys contained toxic chemicals.  The new law stipulates mandatory third party testing for products intended for use by children under the age of 12 to determine if these items contain toxic chemicals.

The new law comes into effect February 10, 2009. Toy manufacturer Rick Woldenberg, President/CEO of Learning Resources, named this day the  National Bankruptcy Day.  He was referring to the thousands of dollars to be spent on third party testing. For many small toy companies in the USA, Canada and Europe, crafters and artists, the cost of this testing will be prohibitive leaving them with no choice but to close their doors.

This mandatory testing does not only apply to toys. It applies to all products marketed or which could be perceived as being marketed for the use of children under 12 years of age. It applies equally to toys, clothes, books, furniture, art and craft supplies, shoes, hair and jewellry accessories, glasses, and many more items.

Etsy.com is an online venue for crafters, artists and artisans to sell their goods. Many of these items are or might be perceived to be for the use of children younger than 12. Many of these products are unique, one of a kind items. The shopkeepers in question are too small to be able to absorb the cost of having each of their items tested.

This will affect crafters in the USA, Canada, Europe and elsewhere who sell to consumers in the USA from venues like Etsy.com.

For more information please visit this link to the Storque on Etsy:

 

http://www.etsy.com/storque/craftivism/handmade-childrens-items-unintended-consequences-consumer-pr-3056/

Starting Your Own Toy Drive This Christmas

People tend to be more generous around the holidays. The easiest way to give this holiday season is to volunteer with a recognized group, such as Toys for Tots, Angel Tree or other local groups such as the fire department or hospital. By volunteering to help with these toy drives, you can help cut down on their workload and help someone in need at the same time.

If there are no local organizations that have a toy drive, you can start a new one. Begin by checking with the local city hall to see if there are any regulations as to how and where you may collect toys. Some towns may allow door-to-door collections; others may require a designated drop off location.

Once the decision has been made, decide if you want to do an all-new toy drive or new to gently used. Both can be successful but it needs to be clear what you are collecting. Either way, it is best to have the gifts that are donated left unwrapped so that the volunteers can screen the gifts and get them sent to a child that matches by age and gender. Be sure to check all toys for broken or missing pieces. It's also a good idea to check them against any recall notices.

Research stores in the area that may donate either toys or cash toward the drive. Some may even allow you to have their location as a drop off point. Don't limit your choices to toy stores. Check with the grocery or hardware stores. Check with the local library. It might surprise you which businesses are more than willing to help. Talk to the various churches in town. Many of them may already do a small-scale toy drive. If you combine resources everyone will be able to give more to those who are less fortunate during the holiday season.

Start getting volunteers to sign up in early November. This way people have time to plan and adjust his or her own holiday celebrations. Start advertising the toy drive by Thanksgiving. Contact the newspaper, radio and TV stations to see if you can get free ad space or airtime as a public service announcement. Set up dates to wrap and distribute the toys. Try to have the distribution as close to Christmas as possible, maybe even Christmas Eve.

Be sure to also thank all those who helped publicly. Again, have the media thank the community and businesses that assisted in the drive. Thank all the volunteers, maybe even with a small token, even if it's just cookies and hot chocolate for them after the work is all done.

Here is a link to the USA Recall Notices:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prerel.html

and the Canadian equivalent:
http://www.healthycanadians.gc.ca/pr-rp/pr-rp_e.php