Posts from — June 2007

I was browsing through the stats on the site this evening and noticed a referral from a Google Search for “Thomas Recall.”  I’ve managed to climb to the first page for that, but even more interesting is HIT Entertainment seems to have also bought that Keyword as well.  Check out the screen grab (click the image for a full size image):

Color me impressed, the ad links to the recall page on the Thomas and Friends web site that I noted early. Bravo for doing something to get the word out.

I don’t know what’s scarier, Mike Rowe’s crush on Arial, or that someone actually recorded this on their VCR back in the early 90’s.

Their foresight is our gain.

We had a company outing to the Brewers-Astros game last Monday and the baseball-obsessed son got to go. Here we are tailgating before hand. (Thanks to Pat Bieser for the photo!) Here he is enjoying a pretzel in the stands:

It looks like HIT Entertainment finally realized the train wreck (pun intended) it had over its licensee’s recall and posted something about it on Tuesday (at least that is the date of the release.) Specifically they mention that they’ve asked operators of the “Day Out With Thomas” events to discontinue sales of the affected products.

The real sad thing is it took me quite a while to to find the actual release on an actual HIT Entertainment web site. I originally came across it on some splog (spam + blog) looking site called “Lead Maverick” which offers a “Search Engine Marketing Tool.” The release had been posted several times a day over the past two days by a number of users, including “RC2.” Smells like Google Bombing to me, but then again, I’m not an SEO guy (who Jeff Attwood eloquently referred to as the new pornographers of the web.)

Front page of the Chicago Tribune today: Recalled Thomas toys in stores. As a co-worker of mine would say, “Shocker.”

The recall process is broken. RC2 isn’t pulling toys out of the distribution channel, or trying very hard. That was obvious in Green Bay, and now its been confirmed all over the state of Illinois. Even more interesting - it looks like the recall may get expanded.

This isn’t an easily visible fault with the toys we’re dealing with here, either. For the types of recalls where an item may break and expose sharp edges, you can only fault the company so much. Most parents can recognize when a toy has become dangerous - it’s called keeping an eye on your kids. But these are wooden toys that pose a long term risk. It’s not like your child becomes violently ill from lead poisoning right away. The effects, while quick, don’t appear immediately after ingestion.

And to all the critics who blame parents for “buying those cheap toys from China” I challenge you to go look at how much these trains cost. They are not cheap. Most cost upwards of $15-$20 for something that’ll fit in the palm of your hand. I really question how much they’d be if they were manufactured in the US. Yes, labor rates are a lot higher here, but the margins on those things has got to be astronomical. There is sure to be plenty of room to have them safely manufactured here, where there are regulations against things like lead based paint.

A friend forwarded on some more news coverage of the Thomas Recall from this weekend.  Susan Chandler and Maurice Possely of the Chicago Tribune filed this article.  RC2 is based in Oak Brook, a western suburb in the Chicagoland area.  Nice to see the hometown paper picking up on it.  They also note a complaint from February from Kansas City:

In February 2006, Julianne West, a nurse in Kansas City, paid a visit to a home because a child had tested high for levels of lead. While she was at the home, West and a colleague tested the boy’s toys with a portable lead testing device.
An orange metal toy train car tested positive. “The child had been mouthing it,” West said in the report she filed. “I advised the mother … and told her it would be best to put those toys up. It was one of his favorite toys. He was not happy about it.”

This time it was the “Take Along Thomas” line, which if you are a parent you’ll know as the trains they sell at Target that don’t fit on the wooden tracks.  According to the Tribune, West filed a report with the CPSC and never heard back.  The CPSC is not commenting on any individual incident reports or any open investigations.

Before he started doing the Ford Truck commercials and before the various shows on the Discover Channel, Mike Rowe was an on-air personality on QVC. A buddy passed on a link to some old footage from Mike’s QVC days where he still has the same sense of humor.

Someone pointed me to the official statement from HIT Entertainment via the PR firm, Bender/Helper Imprint on the NYT website.  That is dated June 19, which ran before Leonhardt’s story.  I went looking to see where else this was released, and similar copy is on the official Thomas and Friends website, dated June 13, which is the date of the recall. 

If they were “working closely with RC2 to ensure that consumers are informed and accurately advised” as of June 13th, why were recalled trains on sale as of June 17th at one of HIT Entertainment’s own events?  Fortunately, none of the ones we bought there were in the recall.  Our friends weren’t so lucky.

Don’t get me wrong, I can foresee us buying many more of these toys - both the boys love them. I just hope the company that owns Thomas starts doing its part to protect their own customers.  “A Day Out With Thomas” rolls into the Mt. Hood Railroad in Oregon this weekend.  I’m curious if there will be anything posted there.

Dell announced you can order their computers (sort of) crapware free by selecting “no software preinstalled.”  You still get AV software and crapware from Google, but they seem to be getting it.  Now only if HP would follow suit (though I think I’ve finally got everything off mine.)

My wife just called me that there was a piece on NPR’s Day to Day covering the Thomas recall. The interviews with parent bring up an interesting point - prying the toys out of your kids hands. We approached it with the fact that James was going to “The Works” for a new coat of paint (a reward often dished out by Sir Topham Hatt.)

How are you handling this?