Consumers Could Face Higher Toy Prices

So they say someone is going to have to pay all the extra costs of making toys safer for our children. They say as much as 10%. If this is the case, it would be the biggest one time price hike in toys in several years, and more than twice the Governments measure of consumer inflation of 4.7% during the first 7 months of this year.

The price increase is said to begin January 2008.

I really hope that if the toy makers decide to increase prices of toys, that these toys are safer for our children to play with. This is not a time for anyone to take advantage of the consumer without results. We all know Mattel took a rather large financial hit, and has been communicating with their consumers extremely effectively.

I do believe if they say a price increase is needed, than I am confident they will do right by us consumers. On the other hand, we may have other toy Manufacturers that may tell us they are raising prices without efficient safety measures.

Most of the rising costs come from emergency third-party testing in the U.S. by both makers and sellers as they aim to root out any unsafe products, analysts say.


The U.S. Toy Industry Association supports a federal requirement to make safety testing and inspection mandatory and is working with the American National Standards Institute to develop industrywide safety procedures. But during Wednesday's Congressional hearing on toy safety, senators urged even more stringent

Anita Frazier, toy analyst at market research company NPD Group Inc., added that higher prices will stick around because some toy makers will shift a portion of their production from China to the U.S. or Europe, where labor is more expensive.

We shall see what happens. I actually would have no problem with paying any increase in price. I only hope the Major Retailers such as Walmart and Target are behind this and will not nickle and Dime these Toy Manufacturers.

Lets be honest, they are part of the problem.

Video report on the Legislation on the Safety Measures in the Toy Industry