Recall Alert: Play Yards, Workshops, and Booster Seats -- Oh my!

I keep up with the CPSC recall alerts for baby and children's items, and I like to share the largish ones with you all, many of whom are concerned parents. The latest two recalls seem pretty big, on the order of over a million units each, so I thought I'd pass this information on to you. 

First off we've got a big Kolcraft play yard recall (involving a fall hazard) that's been in the works for awhile. They recently reissued the recall to include a few more model numbers (great), so for all the juicy details, plus pictures, go here. I've included one picture, but please understand that there are many different models included in this recall and that they can look very different from one another.

The other big one I'd like to feature involves various Little Tikes workshops that all include one pivotal piece: a plastic toy nail that poses a choking hazard. According to the CPSC write-up, one little baby has already choked (and pulled through), but this is clearly enough for them to recall the product. Go here for the details. Again, the picture I'm including is just one of many different workshops being recalled. Apparently these companies can't make just one fatal error in design judgment; they need to make this error over and over, resulting in over a million recalled products which all have the potential to, you know, kill. Death by toys and all. Sigh.

Both of these recalls really concern me because these are things that I could easily see myself buying secondhand without any knowledge of their flaws. You know me and my thrift store and garage sale-ing ways, and it's impossible to know what products are inferior unless they're shooting sparks or crumbling to dust in your hands when you touch them. This is why I subscribe to these recall notices: to stay informed. Please be an informed consumer, even if you're a second-hand consumer. Older things aren't necessarily "good old days" safe.

Oh, wait, here's a really good example: 

My mom and I found this booster seat at a garage sale, and we've been using it at her house for the boys. Sure, it's a cheap Target-brand product that doesn't look the most stable, but it was $2 and the boys are pretty trustworthy balance-wise. Now it's been recalled for a fall hazard. Fancy that. If I didn't keep my finger at the pulse of consumer recalls, then we might have continued to use this seat, oblivious to its hazards, until one day Jack was propelled from his chair, only to suffer a concussion, all due to this terribly-built product. Or you know, not, since regular chairs are only like 2 feet off the ground and I can't really see a minor fall from a short booster seat on top of a short chair doing much damage. Plus Jack falls from greater heights many times a day with nary an ill effect, so yeah. Maybe I'm just being dramatic.

Plus the directions for this recall instruct you to "take the item to the nearest Target store for a full refund," which is ridiculous, because has anyone else ever had to deal with Target's ridiculous refund policy? Yeah, right. They make you produce the original receipt, a snapshot of you purchasing the item, and your husband's mother before even thinking of issuing you a refund. Good luck with that.

And... the rambling moral of this story is: be informed!

(Once I received a baby gift, a book, from Target without a gift receipt. It was the third copy of such book we had received, so I took it back and pleaded for a refund, a gift card, anything. It was clearly from Target, but my unforgivable sin was bringing it in and having the audacity to ask for credit for it without producing a receipt. The girl took pity on my receipt-less soul and said I was allowed, and I quote, "one gift card refund a year without a receipt, but only one a year, so you have to decide if this is the one you want to use." I just looked at her like she was from the planet Mars, which might not have been untrue, since everyone working at Target seems perfectly content to wear red polos and khaki pants, a combination that makes my eyes bleed, all day long. I said, yes, I'll take the plunge and let this be my once a year gift card credit. She questioned me at least twice more, as if I were, I don't know, signing up to buy a car or get married. I finally got my $9 credit and promptly spent it on cute receiving blankets.)

(I really did not need another copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, y'all. I was willing to make a desperate decision involving Eric Carle at that point.)