As National Bankruptcy Day Looms...

My thoughts have strayed a little on the topic of the CPSIA.  Why?  Well because, tomorrow, February 10th, the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act goes into effect.  If you don't know what this means, read this or take a look here.  

So if tomorrow you see an empty toy shelf, books missing from a library, a local boutique closed- maybe a light bulb will go on and you will say "that is what those crazy people have been blogging and tweeting about".

  

However, my prediction is actually that you won't see much of a change at all.  Why?  Well, people are confused, for sure, there's a lot of "wait and see" happening.  But there's also something else...There are a lot of people saying "I won't get caught"  

The CPSIA is bad legislation, its poorly written, its timetables don't allow for the kind of clarification needed, and it has "unintended consequences" so far reaching that tomorrow's been dubbed NATIONAL BANKRUPTCY DAY, for crying out loud.  So I can understand people wanting to ignore it- to a point.  That's where my slightly veering off topic (but slightly not) point comes in:

in·teg·ri·ty

Pronunciation:

\in-ˈte-grə-tē\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

Middle English integrite, from Middle French & Latin; Middle French integrité, from Latin integritat-, integritas, from integr-, integer entire

Date:

14th century

1 : firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values

A lot of good people did the right thing as far as the CPSIA is concerned- they had their products tested via XRF guns, they stopped selling children's items all together, they followed the guidelines for creating GCCs.  For a lot of people, the right thing (as in abiding by the law) meant closing up shop completely, or at least temporarily, until they could comply with the new law.  These people, in my opinion, have integrity- and I can only hope that their honest actions are rewarded in some way.

I feel a lot less good will for those people that plan to continue to operate in defiance of the CPSIA.  How can you write up that next sale, knowing your competitor just voluntarily closed their doors and you are reaping the benefits of their honesty and integrity?

I have no idea what the answer to the CPSIA problem is, but I hope someone finds it soon.