Toy safety is not a passing fad, and it is good to see what Wal-Mart is doing with its new tactics.  However, many of the makers of toys that should be on Wal-Mart shelves are not carried by Wal-Mart.  My hunch is that many of these smaller companies do not have the ability to "scale".  I think this is an opportunity for Wal-Mart teach small companies how to do this and also learn some of the practices that they could promote as part of their internal policies.

At Toys-U-Trust, you will find toy makers from all over the world, and not a single one that is manufactured in China.  In fact, the site actively removes toy makers that have too much of their product made by Chinese hands rather than their supposed country of origin.  The site is powered by Amazon, but reflects a great opportunity for what Wal-Mart could do.  When Wal-Mart takes this to another level and starts to use regional makers for instance or helps by placing enough orders and not try to "beat up" vendors on prices everyone can win. 

The reality is everything has gone up: gas, food, oil, utilities.  Parents will continue to buy toys, but people are not as dumb as you might think and even people in rural areas would be willing to pay more for a longer lasting and safe product than a cheap, short-lived, piece of junk.  This video explains quite brilliantly about why and how people buy more junk and stuff we don't need.

I really enjoy the candor of this blog.  I am not just a Wal-Mart shopper...I am THE Wal-Mart shopper!! Although I travel the world, my family lives in a tiny small town in Southwest Virginia who just got our first local Wal-Mart (Stuart, VA) about a year ago.  Times they are a changing! I would LOVE to see a permanent blog author to address the MUSIC side of Wal-Mart. God knows, with the shrewd genius behind the Eagles' deal (brilliant) and the fact that now with so much direct online music distribution...Wal-Mart is about the LAST major player in retail music sales.  How about a few blogs to address this topic? 
I own a music company (DreamSound Music Label & Studio) and am a noted artist in my own right (have played with Pink Floyd, Dave Matthews, Kenny Chesney  & Steve Earle).  I have a fan club which includes about 50 Wal-Mart employees who I love dearly (and who love my music and mob me in-store - it's fun!).   I'm an educated young man who enjoys Wal-Mart's product selection (at times) and is critical when the need arises.  But I LOVE this blog, and hope to see more music-related material.  Keep up the good work! Thanks! 
 

Yeah, I've seen those cute wooden animals, Schleich toys, craft sets and other toys from other parts of the world at Target for years.