3 Comments

  • OK,

    I feel for that guy. I think there might be a solution, however.

    Give smaller businesses (I am not sure where to draw the line) a choice. Either do the testing or require the businesses selling non-tested products to have a warning label that reads something like: “We have not tested these products for bad stuff. We want to, but we have not got enough money to do that and offer you good prices. As a result, the products we sell may contain bad stuff that might cause bad things to happen to you. Also, the bad stuff has really bad consequences for children. You can buy this stuff anyways, because, given that you want to buy, it has some useful purpose. Just don’t come back to us or the manufacturer claiming that this stuff injured you or made you sick.”

    Have the shops post this prominently in the customer areas and require that they give customers a copy of it in English along with a government published book where others can read the notification in their native language.

  • On the recall notices,

    It would seem like a good business plan to maintain a database of recall notices and charge a small fee for people to use them. Especially if you made it mobile friendly. have the search be as flexible as possible in case things like model numbers or serial numbers aren’t apparent.

    Charge a fee that will let you make money, but won’t scare off any potential customers. Helicopter parents might even subscribe if it is priced right.

    There you go, go make a million dollars.

  • Don, the govt maintains this site. CPSC.gov will give you all this information. Generally the people shopping 2nd hand are rational individuals. Just the very idea that they aren’t the group that wouldn’t dream of “USED” for their children moves them in the direction of sanity.