Protecting our children....

...from bargain shoppers like me

Apparently, starting in February of 2009, it will be illegal for thrift stores to sell used children's clothing and toys without first getting them tested for lead. (Click here for full story). Many stores say the cost of testing will be so high--that they will just abandon the sale of these items in favor of sending them to the landfill.

Uggh.

The purpose of this legislation was really so that all new products be tested. But instead of wording it as all those produced after February 2009, they said all items sold after February 2009.

Now I'm all for protecting children--but really is this the best way to go about it? I would like to know if they did any scientific sampling of thrift store kids' collections and discovered just how much of the inventory contained lead. I'm not anti-regulation, but at some point, parent's will have to decide for themselves whether an item will hurt their child or not.

We have a store here in Flagstaff, Zen Baby (sadly, I found out recently that they are selling the business). Its an awesome store. Everything inside is organic and/or earth friendly (toys made from recycled plastics or bamboo). It's nice to go into a store and not have to scrutinize a label. BUT I do not have children. I can afford to shop there for the odd gift for a friend--shopping there all the time is certainly cost-prohibitive. And think about all those items. Maybe a kid wears an organic onesy a few times until he grows too big. Doesn't it make sense for that item to go to another child?

The Price of a Bargain

Lately I've been engaged in the remodel of my kitchen. Since the purchase of my house, I've discovered that I have an endless imagination for what could be done and neither the patience nor the pocketbook to see everything to fruition. That being said, we are working very hard to build my "dream kitchen" through sweat and hard labor (and minimal impacts on the bank account). There are, unfortunately, items that cannot be produced through our own hard work--an oven for instance. While I'm sure my beloved could, if given the right materials and time, manufacture an oven that would bake a cake on its own, we do not have that kind of time nor those materials. So what's a girl to do? Craigslist.

I am a craigslist addict. I find myself checking the local ads religiously--even ads for things for which I have no interest. My favorite is the Phoenix Craigslist site. You can pretty much find anything you've ever wanted on Phoenix Craigslist. There is so much crap for sale in Phoenix, I can't even browse the listings--I have to search for individual items. So this past week I was dreaming of a nice new wall oven. My hope is to put the stovetop (gas) on a new island and have a separate wall oven (I know--pretty trendy). We were discussing what to do about the microwave (ours currently doubles as the stove hood). I then remembered that I had seen a combo wall oven/microwave at one of the local appliance stores. So instead of a double oven (largely unneccessary for the two of us), the top is a microwave and the bottom is an oven. Pretty nifty, eh?

Well being the bargain hunter that I am (the unit I'd seen costs about $1800), I immediately turned to Phoenix Craigslist. Low and behold, there was one for sale! Who would have guessed? (ok, so I would have guessed--but nevermind). Anyway, the asking price for a new, unopened unit was $900! Whoa! So I ran to the phone--not to call the seller, but to call Isaac who does all my bargaining for me--to tell him to get the scoop.

So here's what the seller said. He said that he had been working for a distributor and insteading of getting paid in cash for his work---he got the oven. What? I asked Isaac if the distributor knew they were giving the oven away. Come on now--with a story like that, we knew it was probably a "hot" item. Uggh.

Now I'm left with this dilemma. Ok, so I think the item was stolen--but I don't know for sure. It likely was not stolen from a person, but rather from a large corporation--which makes me feel a little better--but should it? I tried to explore my options: not buy the item due to moral issues, get a smokin' (pun intended) deal for a great oven and pretend I never suspected it was stolen, or call the Phoenix PD and get the scoop. The item is still wrapped--so it comes with a warranty. I checked the Whirlpool website and they don't seem to care who sold the items under warranty. So if the guy is trying to scam me--I can probably get Whirlpool to replace it. On the other hand, buying a stolen item is really no better than stealing an item--but really, how do you ever know if items you get on Craigslist or Ebay were legitimately obtained? And let's say the guy is telling the truth--but the crime committed was that the distributor was hiring illegal aliens and paying them under the table. So if I call the police, maybe this poor guy gets deported or something. All he was trying to do was to buy a few morsels of food for his family--and maybe a little toy train for his son--and crutches for Tiny Tim, and.... ok, you get my point.

Some advice from the masses is in order. So far, we've done nothing.