CPSIA - Some Random Thoughts

There are many developments brewing as we approach the dreaded "National Bankruptcy Day". I hear that large inventory write-offs are about to be announced by certain public companies under pressure to remove product from store shelves by their mass market retailer customers. This "war" between suppliers and retailers has long been predicted in my letters and in this space. As enormous piles of money gets shamefully shredded, presumably leading to significant job losses at manufacturers, their factories and their downstream retailer-customers, we can only hope Reps. Waxman and Rush are satisfied with their handiwork, making America "safer". It's all worth it, right?

In the dreaded news category, we are also hearing about increasing informal recalls of product ahead of implementation of the new standards. "Recall" may be too harsh a word for it, but by hook or by crook, companies are retrieving product from the marketplace, and then either reworking it or trashing it. The author remains confident that these actions are entirely motivated by legalities, not by any social conscience or any shred of evidence that the products in question are dangerous. Having been raised to treat money with respect and because these days it's clear that money is a limited resource, I regret such waste, but even more, I regret the implication of such informal recalls. I feel that these recalls will be taken by the marketplace (dealers and consumers) as some form of implicit acknowledgement that there was a serious safety problem in the first place. It is natural that anyone seeing sophisticated companies acting in such a broad and panicky fashion would draw this sad conclusion. This will make our opposition more difficult as it will feed the resolve of supporters of the CPSIA to hold their ground, and will likewise whip up fear among the most skittish consumers. Sadly, there is nothing we can do but watch helplessly - every such recall will hurt, both financially and dynamically, making us all look bad for no good reason.

The pendency of the new standards makes me think about how much safer we will be in a few short days. Obviously, the new standards are in our best interests, otherwise why would wise Congress take these draconian steps if not to protect us! So, if these standards are needed to protect us, I wonder how it is that we have survived this long without such necessary protection. It's certainly true that children have been checking books out of libraries for many, many years with only paper cuts to show for their reckless behavior. And thrift stores have sold children's clothing and strollers for years without incident, but apparently no one knew the "dangers" that lurked within. Indeed, all of these items have been considered safe until February 10, when magically they will become unsafe unless proven otherwise.

Let's focus on the last six months, when we all began to adjust to the new standards. If there was such a raging safety problem, why did recalls abate in 2008 (versus 2007)? The new standards were not in place in 2008 . . . . Why aren't we seeing many claims of injury from all the dangerous children's products still legally available in the market? Even more to the point, what about the ten zillion products already sold and in use in the United States? Surely the population of existing product already sold is enormous, dwarfing the inventory in the supply chain at any given time. Shouldn't we be seeing outrageous injury statistics right now, currently, that would only abate over time as the population of "safer" products slowly overtakes the quantity of older product in use by children everywhere? Hmmm. I don't recall seeing any such statistics or notice of such injuries anywhere. Any idea why that might be?

Here's a theory: There never was a problem with children's product safety. While I, and everyone else, regrets the death of one child from a lead jewelry bangle, that one tort does not mean that everything made for children was defective or that each American business catering to children needs Big Brother watching over its shoulder to ensure "safety". If safety really was a problem, there would be a problem TODAY, right now, and NOTHING in the CPSIA could change that fact for years - unless the law made the product already sold illegal and required its immediate disposal (which it does not). In other words, plainly, the "dangers" that the CPSIA intends to "cure" once and for all, never existed and don't exist.

Imaginary problems are best solved with imaginary cures. Unfortunately, the CPSIA is real.

Rick