Spiderman Washing Windows in China

I thought this was an amusing post since many of the dollar store Spiderman toys, all the ones I have reviewed so far, come from China. It seems they get Spiderman to do many wacky things there. It might explain some of the toys that I found at the dollar store. Take a look at these pictures of Spiderman washing windows in China. Actually, if you look carefully, in the first picture you can see a second set of Spiderman hands washing the windows. I guess they got several workers to put on the Spiderman costumes for the cleaning. It would’ve been really neat to see the Spidermen cleaning the windows from the inside or outside. Apparently, having the workers wear the Spiderman costumes was done for a guest to make the cleaning more interesting. Not bad, but it makes me wonder what task they would get their workers to dress up as Batman for? But, if that wasn’t enough, there’s a link off that post to a young man in Singapore named Batman Bin Suparman(with picture of the birth certificate). Can you imagine growing up with that kind of name? Other than it being an oddity that both names end with “man”, you probably wouldn’t get made fun of. It’s not clear what the parent’s last name is and I am not sure how naming goes in Singapore, but wouldn’t the last name need to be the last name of the parents? I doubt the last name is...

Mad TV Chinese Toy Factory

There’s a funny skit on Mad TV about the toy factories in China. The skit involves a toy factory in China making a video to show their factory has high quality standards because of all the issues with high lead levels in toys. Bobby Lee plays the goofy lead tester. In case this needs to be said, for those of you who don’t know Mad TV, this is just a humorous skit and not real. I’m not implying that’s what’s going on. Many countries are at fault for the various recalls including Canada. If I find any funny skits about Canadian toy factories I will include them to. Bobby Lee also plays a Korean scientist, pretty much the same as the Chinese lead...

Reasons Why Sales Receipts From Dollarama Are Useless

Whenever you make a purchase at a store, you are most likely given a sales receipt for your purchases. With the holidays here, and the usual gift exchanging from stores afterwards, most people will hold onto the receipts just in case. The sales receipt lists several important information points for the customer such as the date and time they purchased the items, a detailed listing of what they bought and the price. The subtotal is taxed and a grand total is calculated. Customers can review the sales receipt for any issues like being overcharged, or they would need it as proof of purchase to return or exchange an item. Dates are listed on the receipt since most companies have a limited amount of time to return a defective item and they need to see the receipt. Another reason why there are dates on the receipt after a sale is so that people can compare and track purchase they may have used debit for. Unknown debit of 20 bucks? Oh, there is a receipt on the same day, same time and same cost for a debit from HMV. Case closed. They are also handy when halted by a store security guard should you be under suspicion of stealing. Having the sales receipt shows you paid for all such things you have, or not. For all the reasons you would need a sales receipt from a regular store, visiting a local Dollarama makes me wonder why they give them out. I remember my first visit to the the local Dollarama dollar store. Walls and shelves all covered in cheap toys and various other bargain basement items. No, this was not what prompted the creation of this site, this was a visit for material for the site. I had only seen small dollar stores and dollar section before. This dollar store was a giant dollar store and was sure to have a larger variety of dollar toys. I picked up my material and made my way to the checkout line, paid for my items and got my sales receipt. Little did I know that my sales receipt would be an example of how bad the dollar stores can be, and show me why they’re basically useless. All Sales Final First we have this gem on the sales receipt. No exchange and no refund. Do you know what items have no exchange and no refund? Items that the store is just dying to get rid of and not see ever again. Items marked...

Noisy Toys Can Cause Hearing Loss

Toys have been taking a big hit the last half of the year with massive recalls for high lead content in paint and other health risks. Now another health issue has come up which could affect toy sales and it is not something most businesses want to hear. According to Yahoo Lifestyle, it turns out that any toys with a sound feature could potentially damage hearing. The decibel levels in some toys could cause hearing loss with extended use or close proximity to the ear. I have wondered about the safety of the noise level of some of the toys I got. Some of the dollar store toys I have seemed to have ear-piercing sounds. Since they were from China and there were other issues with the toys, I figured there would probably be some sort of decibel level issue. So far I have reviewed the Spiderman Flip Phone and the sounds on that have been a little rough on the ears unless I covered the speaker. I also have several other dollar store toys that I have yet to review that could be too loud to be safe. I also reviewed a toy cell phone that warned misuse could cause hearing damage. I never got that one to work since the 2AA batteries that came with it were bloated and probably ready to leak. Parents will need to be extra careful when choosing toys for their children. Sounds and flashing lights are sure to get a kid’s attention but kids will most likely be unaware of the dangers of the sounds. When I was testing the toys I reviewed I knew immediately that the sounds were most likely not safe but, despite what others may think to the contrary, I know better. Any toys with sound could be dangerous, not just toys from dollar stores. Test any sound feature on the toy before you buy them, many toys with sounds or lights will have a “Try Me” feature. If they are hard on your ears, think of how hard it will be on your child’s ears. Parents should also be careful of gadgets that play music to. I often walk by teenagers listening to their iPods and I can hear the music they are playing, even with the earbuds right in their ear. I hate to think of the damage they are doing to their ears if I can hear the music to. Many of those earbuds don’t have anything to stop harmful volume levels. I hope everyone...

16.2 Million Products Recalled So Far This Year

A friend forwarded me this article from consumerist.com. The number of recalled products hits 16.2 million for 2007 due to lead contamination. That’s a disturbing number of toys to be recalled. According to injuryboard.com, the first excessive lead toy recall was issued on August 1 of this year by Mattel-Fisher Price. It has taken a mere 4 months to accumulate over 16 million products, the latest one being Aquadots because they were coated with a chemical that when swallowed acts like the date rape drug. Another somewhat disturbing statistic is from another article located on consumerist.com. It seems that the percentage of American importers reviewing Chinese supplies is a mere 22%. I think by now enough people know about it and will avoid such products so if most American importers do not want to review the chain, they will just lose revenue. You have to spend money to make money. I often wondered why lead would even be used in paint so I looked it up. Lead helps paint dry faster and tends to have brighter colors. Well, brighter colors would be more inviting to children but making a good toy will do the same thing. Makers of the toys could argue that kids should be supervised with dollar store toys, or any toys for that matter, but that does not mean they should be coated with a toxic substance in the first place. No doubt at this point people are wondering how long this has been going on. People are becoming less likely to buy toys, especially the dollar store variety, because of the concern for safety. With Christmas almost here, it will be interesting to see how the product recalls over the past several months will affect dollar store toy purchases. I don’t think anyone is asking for lead poisoning for Christmas. Do you think the recalls will have an impact on sales this Christmas or will people still go anyway because of the...