January 11, 2009

Real News & Something to Blog About....
Save Kid's Clothing Resale, Consignment & Thrift Stores from Closing!


- February 10th deadline fast approaching! This is a letter from this website: http://www.rallycongress.com/make-second-hand-kids-clothes-legal-/, which you can email or have an actual letter sent to your local Senator. I signed the petition & I hope you will too if this issue is at all important to you!


Dear Senator/Representative:

When you voted to pass the CPSIA (Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act):

-Did you really mean to close thousands of resale, consignment and nonprofit thrift stores and make second hand kid's clothes illegal as of February 10th?
-Did you really mean to put thousands of Americans out of work? Bankrupt small store owners and a large part of an industry and remove a large source of income stream for charitable organizations across America?
-Did you really mean to make it illegal for parents to pass-a-long their gently used children's clothes by selling them online through eBay, Craigslist or through resale and consignment shops or at yearly children's consignment sales?
-Did you really mean to remove all environmentally friendly, alternative sources for gently-used kid's clothes for environmentally conscious, frugal or cash-strapped parents from our economy?-Did you really mean to send enormous amounts of perfectly useful children's goods straight to our landfills in such a time of increased environmental awareness and economic difficulty?

THAT IS WHAT YOU HAVE EFFECTIVELY DONE! NOW, ONLY YOU CAN CHANGE THIS! THE CPSC SAYS IT HAS NO CHOICE BUT TO FOLLOW THE LAW AS YOU WROTE IT! HELP US! THE DEADLINE OF FEBRUARY 10TH IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) as signed into law, attempting to be interpreted and carried forward by an understaffed CPSC, will make it illegal for parents to resell their gently used kid’s gear through any venue, come February 10th.

Yet, despite the increasing furor being unleashed on the internet, in calls and letters of protest to Congress and the media to pay attention by a wide range of affected industries, silence and inaction reigns. Are you afraid that the issue is too hot to handle? The broad scope of the complicated law, and it’s interpretation by CPSC has effectively made it illegal for parents to resell their children’s clothing and gear at a garage sale, on eBay, Craig’s List, through consignment stores or annual children’s consignment sales. If donated to a nonprofit like Goodwill or Salvation Army, those organizations can’t legally resell it, as of February 10th. That’s right. Hand-me-down clothing for kid’s age 12 and under will be illegal to resell. It will be a banned hazardous product. The fines of $100,000, potential jail time and label as a felon for violations are stiff. Without effective venues for parents to pass along their kid’s gently used items where does Congress think this massive amount of consumer product is going to quickly end up?

I am writing to you today because I believe that the retro-activity for children's clothing be removed from this law.

5 comments:

Amy said...

isn't that crazy. I just heard about it because I made all these really cute flower hair clips to sell at a boutique we had and a friend of mine told me I better sell them all by feb. 10th. She gave me a link and I read all about it. I do think we need safety rules to protect kids from lead poisoning, but I think they went WAY, WAY overboard. I can't imagine being fined 100,000 for selling my kids clothes at a yard sale. Is this still America????

JoAnna Anderson said...

That is exactly what John said....Is this America? I am just in shock over this. I need to make a trip to Vegas to hit up my favorite thirft stores & make sure I stock up. There has got to be more we can do to prevent this from going through....

The Special Reds said...

This is crazy! I can't believe it! I love searching the secondhand stores for good deals! I hope this doesn't pass.

Kami said...

Thanks for the enlightenment and I always love your family pictures! They seem to always turn out so cute. Your family is so photogenic!

libbie said...

what the heck???? this is the first i heard of this. don't worry, i'm sure Barack Obama will fix it. he's gonna fix EVERYTHING.